5 ways to build lean muscle 

 

1. Use compound exercises that utilize more than one muscle group. Full-body moves like tricep dips, burpees, and bicycle ab crunches are great examples.

2. The faster your muscles work, the greater the results. Research has shown that one rep per two seconds is three times more effective than one rep per four seconds.

3. Keep going until your muscles are totally fatigued. Do the same exercises until you cannot physically do another rep.

4. Change it up. A good muscle building routine is lifting three days a week with rest days in between.

5. Resist the urge to rest in between sets. Rest periods should be about a minute or less.

 

Best drinks for before and after a workout 



1. Water - Pretty obvious. What may not be is that sometimes we are dehydrated before we even begin to work out. A study of a group of NFL prospects has found that 98% of them were dehydrated the morning of their workout! Experts say you should drink at least two to two-and-a-half 8-ounce glasses up to two hours before your workout, one 8-ounce glass 15 minutes before, and one 8-ounce glass every 15 minutes during your workout.

2. Coffee - A little surprising but a study has shown that that a little dose of caffeine can help increase endurance, boost your workout, and even help relieve post-workout soreness. Plus, caffeine can reduce your perception of pain and exertion.

3. Sports Drink -  You really need a sports drink to replenish your fluids after an intense, sweaty workout. A sports drink will help your body gain back lost carbohydrates and electrolytes; plus, the sodium in it makes you thirstier, and the combination of glucose and salt helps your body absorb water and hydrate faster.

4. Coconut Water - Some studies have shown that coconut water may rehydrate you better than water or sports drinks — but you have to drink a lot more of it to get the same results as drinking water. And while most tout the huge amount of potassium in coconut water, it’s lacking in sodium and carbohydrates, two other essential nutrients that need to be replenished post-workout.

5. Cherry Juice - Not the cocktail! A study has shown that runners who regularly drank cherry juice before and after a workout had faster muscle recovery. The antioxidants in cherries, namely the flavanoids and anthyocyaninsM, can alleviate inflammation and swelling post-workout.

6. Chocolate Milk - There's a reason it's the drink of champions. Chocolate milk has the right amount of protein and carbohydrates to replenish tired muscles. A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that milk-based protein promotes muscle protein synthesis better than soy-based protein. Plus, the amount of sugar and sodium in milk is just enough to boost insulin levels for the body to retain water and regain energy.

7. Beer - Suprisingly enough,  researchers in Spain have found that beer can rehydrate the body faster than a sports drink or water. Just like chocolate milk, beer has the right combination of carbs and protein to help the body recover faster and rehydrate faster. Plus, beer alleviates post-workout aches and pains.

 

5 Foods to Eat for a Healthy Heart 




Hey Everyone,


Try to integrate these foods for a healthier heart!  

Oatmeal is a good source of soluble fiber and contains beta-glucans, which help lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar levels. One half-cup serving provides about 4.5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. 

Salmon is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been associated with a reduction in heart disease risk. Salmon is also a natural source of healthy protein and vitamin D. One three-ounce serving -- the size of a deck of cards -- contains 17 grams of protein. The American Heart Association recommends including at least two servings of fish per week (particularly fatty fish).

 Broccoli is chock-full of the antioxidant vitamins A and C. It is a cruciferous vegetable, and part of the Brassica family, which also includes Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale, and collards. Members of the Brassica family are rich in phytochemicals, known to have antioxidant properties.

 Peanuts are rich in heart-healthy unsaturated fat and contain protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants. Regular consumption of peanuts has been associated with lower risk for coronary heart disease in people who eat them instead of other high-fat foods. Peanut consumption has been shown to improve lipid profiles in those with high cholesterol.

 Avocados are rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, which may help raise levels of HDL (good chol
esterol) while lowering LDL (bad cholesterol). They are also high in the antioxidant vitamin E.

F.I.T.PROS

Five Ways To Beat Flu Season - from Dr. Oz 

 

The flu is no fun (as if you needed us to tell you that!). Symptoms range from sniffles and chills to a high fever that keeps you home from work all week, or worse-flu lands 200,000 people in the hospital each year and kills more than 30 thousand in this country alone. There are antiviral drugs that can make you feel a little better and shorten the illness's duration. But of course your best bet is to not get the flu in the first place! Fortunately there are several simple and smart ways to defend yourself this flu season. And none of them requires full body armor or hiding in a bunker until April.

1. Get a flu shot. This one seems obvious, but it's amazing how many people don't get their flu shots. Only 37 percent of Americans got them last year, and it's looking the same this year. There's no guarantee that it will prevent your getting sick; the flu shot has been 60 to 70 percent effective in recent years. But it's definitely worth a shot! Go to your doctor, a local clinic or one of many drug store chains that offer walk-in vaccination. It takes all of five minutes, kicks in after two weeks and will keep you flu-free through spring.

 

2. Wash your hands … and your keyboard. And your phone. And doorknobs, faucets, the door to the fridge-any surface you use a lot and share with others. If the people around you are carrying the virus, they can spread it easily by touching or breathing on the stuff you use every day. And they might not even realize what they're doing: You can start spreading the flu a full day before you even get that I'm-coming-down-with-something feeling.

3. Keep moving. Regular exercise isn't just great for the parts of your body you can see. It might also help keep your immune system in tip-top condition. There's a clear connection between physical activity and immune function and researchers are trying to identify the specific effects. One early study found that women over 60 who kept active had more responsive immune reactions than their sedentary peers. Don't let the cold weather keep you huddled on the sofa. Get your body in fighting shape-inside and out!

4. Get plenty of sleep. If you do come into contact with the dreaded flu virus, it's important that your body is ready to put up its dukes to fight it off. Your immune system needs all the energy it can get to successfully battle viral invaders. The hours you spend sleeping are when your body can focus on rest and replenishment. Fewer hours in bed means less energy and a weakened immune state.

5. Supplement your diet. There are several foods you can eat or supplements you can take to give your immune system some added power. Vitamin D3 helps your immune system. It's hard to get enough from the winter sun, so consider taking supplements. You can also try chicken soup, large doses of vitamin C (500 mg every 4 hours), zinc lozenges, or anti-viral elderberry extract, all of which have been shown in studies to shorten the duration of colds or flus by 50 percent. 

Stay tuned next week for more FIT TIPS to supplement your program.

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5 Delicious Ways to Soothe Your Cold 




1) Hot and Sour Soup. Hot and soothing is good, but if you can add some spice to it, that's even better. (And by the way, all that salt is also helpful.) Chinese hot and sour soup clears the sinuses and gives you a little bit of a buzz so you can hang on until bedtime.

2) Pho. Along the same lines as hot and sour soup, but Vietnamese-style! This spicy, fish-sauce-spiked beef noodle soup is another dish that's easier to get via delivery.

3) Swedish bilberry and rose hip soups. Apparently they're winter staples in Sweden. The rose hip soup is especially rich in vitamin C. You can drink these hot or cold, and you can buy mixes online -- search for Ekstroms brand "blbrssoppa" and "nyponsoppa."

4) Hot toddy. Keep these ingredients handy in your kitchen in case of emergency! A hot toddy can be made with brandy or rum, but I think whiskey works best. Heat that with some fresh lemon juice, honey, and a cinnamon stick. Ahhh, so much tastier than NyQuil and just as effective!

5) Ginger tea. Like the hot toddy, this is easy to whip up at home as long as you're stocked with the right ingredients. It's great how ginger warms your throat on its way down when you're feeling scratchy. It's a lot like a hot toddy, but no alcohol.

4 Ways To Sleep Better And Be Thinner 

 

 

Sleep is VITAL to keeping your weight in check, building muscle and keeping your mind sharp. Instead of pumping yourself with caffeine in the morning and craving junk food all day, start doing these four things today to insure a more productive tomorrow:

1. Enforce an E-Curfew. 30 minutes before bedtime, don’t just shut off the TV, close down all tablets, phones, and laptops. Anything with a screen or a glow pulsates light all night. Cover up your digital clock too- you don’t need to know the time while you’re asleep! A study by Applied Ergonomics showed that the brightness from screens like iPads can suppress melatonin by as much as 22%. This tricks your body into thinking it’s morning when it’s the middle of the night, messing with your sleep patterns.

2. Eat breakfast as early as possible. It’s a fact that people who eat breakfast tend to be smarter, more focused and even more attractive than people who don’t. A study of 6,000 students found that the ones who ate breakfast had better grades than the students who skipped their AM meal. Breakfast eaters are also 40% less likely to develop fat around the belly, which can be extremely harmful to your overall health. By eating a protein and whole grain packed breakfast as close to your wake-up time as possible, you’ll raise your alertness and stay focused longer.

3. No Caffeine after Lunch. If you’re having trouble sleeping, it’s time to dump that 3pm latte. A poll from Sleep in America shows that 43% of Americans are “very likely” to brew a cup of coffee to help them push through a sleepy afternoon. That’s just wrong. A late afternoon caffeine boost can last anywhere from 3 to 12 hours, making it the reason you’re up playing words with friends at 2am. Instead of coffee, try getting up and running a flight of stairs when you’re crashing at your desk, or grab some energy from a piece of fruit or whole-grain carbs. This will perk you up for a few hours without turning you into a night owl!

4. Exercise 3 Hours Before Sleeping. Exercise can help you sleep better at night, but not if you start too close to bedtime. A study done back in 2008-2009 by Oregon State University showed that people who exercised regularly slept better at night than those who didn’t. But since this kind of cardio can raise your energy levels, make sure to leave yourself some wind-down time.

 

 

Foods that End Bad Moods 



Mood-Boosting Food #1: Mussels Mussels are loaded with some of the highest naturally occurring levels of vitamin B12 on the planet—a nutrient that most of us are lacking.

Mood-Boosting Food #2: Swiss Chard This leafy green is packed with magnesium—a nutrient essential for the biochemical reactions in the brain that increase your energy levels.

Mood-Boosting Food #3: Blue Potatoes Blue potatoes aren't a common supermarket find, but they're worth looking out for on your next trip to the farmer's market. Blue spuds get their color from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that provide neuro-protective benefits like bolstering short-term memory and reducing mood-killing inflammation.

Mood-Boosting Food #4: Grass-Fed Beef Animals raised on grass pastures boast much higher levels of healthy conjugated linoleic acid (or CLA), a "happy" fat that combats stress hormones and blasts belly fat.

Mood-Boosting Food #5: Dark Chocolate Turns out chocolate's delicious taste isn't the only reason it makes you feel so warm and fuzzy. The cocoa treat also gives you an instant boost in mood and concentration, and improves blood flow to your brain, helping you feel more vibrant and energized.

Mood-Boosting Food #6: Asparagus Your mom was on to something when she made you finish those green spears at the dinner table. This vegetable is one of the top plant-based sources of tryptophan, which serves as a basis for the creation of serotonin-one of the brain's primary mood-regulating neurotransmitters.

Mood-Boosting Food #7: Greek Yogurt This dairy pick is packed with more calcium than you'll find in milk or regular yogurt, which is good news for your mood. Calcium gives your body the "Go!" command, alerting your brain to release feel-good neurotransmitters.

Mood-Boosting Food #8: Honey Honey, unlike table sugar, is packed with beneficial compounds like quercetin and kaempferol that reduce inflammation, keeping your brain healthy and warding off depression. Honey also has a less dramatic impact on your blood-sugar levels than regular sugar, so it won't send your body into fat-storage mode the way the white stuff can.

Ways to burn more Calories! 

 

 

 

 Have A Cup Of Green Tea

 

 

 

Green tea offers numerous health benefits and will cause you to burn more calories daily. This beverage is very rich in antioxidant content and will help fend off free-radical damage that could lead to disease. Be sure to serve your green tea with some lemon rather than added sugar to prevent the addition of unnecessary calories.

Add A Few Hot Peppers 
Adding a few hot peppers to your meal is another quick way to instantly burn more calories. Hot peppers as well as chili peppers contain capsaicin which will cause the body to start expending more energy as heat, increasing your total calorie burn. If hot peppers aren’t your thing, then cayenne pepper will work the same way.

Power Your Meals With Protein 
One of the fastest, easiest ways to instantly boost your metabolism is to simply get more protein into your diet. Each time you eat a protein-rich food, the body is going to expend so many calories simply breaking it down, making this an ideal way to instantly increase your daily calorie burn. For each 100 calories of protein that you consume, you’ll only net around 75 of those calories, so you can see how this could easily add up.

Bring Back Your Carbs
Those currently on low-carb diets for extended periods of time are also going to be at risk of a sluggish metabolism. Your carbohydrate intake is closely linked to your thyroid gland function, so not eating enough will decrease its effectiveness, slowing your calorie burn. Start adding some healthy carbohydrates back into your diet before and after your workout as well as in the meals just following. You’ll be less likely to store them as body fat and notice a dramatic difference as a result.

Get Up And Move 
Another easy way to boost your calorie burn is to simply get up and move more. Sitting for extended periods throughout the day is really going to cause a reduction in your metabolic rate and lower your total amount of calories burnt. Try to set a timer and get up at least once an hour, if not every 30 minutes, and walk around for a couple of minutes. At the end of the day this
could add up to an extra 100-200 calories and make a big difference on your progress.


Play Sports
Performing short bursts of body-weight exercises whenever you have a free second is another great way to up your total daily calorie burn and strengthen your muscles. Every so often, get down and do 20 push-ups, bodyweight squats, crunches or, if you have a bar available, pull-ups. You’ll also energize yourself in the process.
Stop-and-go sports are an excellent way to rev up your metabolism and blast calories fast. The nature of these sports mimics that of interval training, so join in a game of basketball, hockey, soccer or football whenever time permits. As an added benefit, you’ll also boost your muscle strength and coordination by playing.

Prioritize Sleep
Those who don’t get enough sleep at night are also going to be at risk of suffering from a slow metabolism. In addition to that, getting enough sleep will also increase your glucose tolerance, so you’ll be able to handle any carbohydrates you consume that much better. This means you’ll have a lower chance of suffering from an increase in body fat.

Read Rather Than Watch TV 
Settling in at night to watch TV for hours at a time is one of the lowest calorie-burning activities, so why not make more of your free time? Instead, pick up a good and do some reading. Not only will you enrich your mind, but reading burns up far more calories as the brain stays active metabolically speaking. Since it runs off pure glucose, this means you’ll burn up more of the carbohydrates you’ve eaten while reading than when watching late-night talk shows.

Use Diet Breaks Wisely 
Being on a low-calorie diet for an extended period of time will also significantly decrease your total daily calorie burn. To help overcome this so that you can burn calories faster, implement diet breaks every four-six weeks while on the program. Two days of higher-calorie eating will immediately help reverse the resulting sluggish metabolism and help you burn more calories total
.

Do the following and Live Longer 




DONT OVER EAT If you want to live to 100, leaving a little bit of food on your plate may be a good idea. Author Dan Buettner, who studies longevity around the world, found that the oldest Japanese people stop eating when they are feeling only about 80% full. St. Louis University researchers have confirmed that eating less helps you age slower; in a 2008 study they found that limiting calories lowered production of T3, a thyroid hormone that slows metabolism—and speeds up the aging process.

Turn Off the TV Too much time in front of the boob tube can take a serious toll on your health. In fact, a 2010 study found that people who watched four or more hours a day were 46% more likely to die from any cause than people who watched less than two hours a day. Even cutting back a little can help; each additional hour you watch increases your overall risk of dying by 11% and dying from heart disease by 18%.

Stay Out of the Sun Avoiding too much sun can head off skin cancer, and it can also keep you looking young by preventing wrinkles, fine lines, and saggy skin. It’s never too early—or too late—to add sunscreen to your daily skin-care regimen (look for an SPF of 30 or higher). And don’t focus only on your face. Sun damage spots and splotches on your chest and neck will also make you appear older.

Reach Out Research shows that you’re at greater risk of heart disease without a strong network of friends and family. Loneliness can cause inflammation, and in otherwise healthy people it can be just as dangerous as having high cholesterol or even smoking. Loneliness seems to pose the greatest risk for elderly people, who are also prone to depression.

Drink in Moderation Women who have two or more drinks a day and men who have three or more may run into detrimental effects ranging from weight gain to relationship problems. But in smaller quantities, alcohol can actually be good for you. A 2010 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology linked light drinking (defined as one drink a day for women and two for men) to significant heart benefits.

Eat Fruits and Vegetables Getting fewer than three servings of fruits and vegetables a day can eat away at your health. Nutritional powerhouses filled with fiber and vitamins, fruits and veggies can lower your risk of heart disease by 76% and may even play a role in decreasing your risk of breast cancer. As an added bonus, the inflammation-fighting and circulation-boosting powers of the antioxidants in fruits and veggies can banish wrinkles.

Focus on fitness Daily exercise may be the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth. A 2008 study found that regular high-intensity exercise (such as running) can add up to four years to your life, which isn’t surprising given the positive effects working out has on your heart, mind, and metabolism. Even moderate exercise—a quick, 30-minute walk each day, for example—can lower your risk of heart problems.

Don't Smoke Quitting smoking is perhaps the single most important thing you can do for your health—and your life span. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that women who quit smoking by age 35 add roughly six to eight years to their lives. It’s never too late to kick the habit. Quitting can slow disease and increase survival odds even in smokers who have already caused significant damage to their lungs, like those with early lung cancer or COPD.

Amazing Health Benefits to Losing 10 Pounds 

 

 

 Take off just 10 pounds, and you’ll experience all of these health benefits and more: a better memory, a happier mood, shrunken fat cells, better sex, less pressure on your joints and a lower risk for diabetes.

 

 

Save Brainpower: Women scored one point lower on a memory test for every unit higher in body-mass index. Translation: Fat may make you forgetful. Shed that last 10 and, chances are, you’ll stay brilliant.

Get Faster: Flab’s a drag. Literally. For every pound of fat you lose, you run up to 4 seconds faster per mile; with 10 gone, that’s up to 40 seconds off your mile time. Your body won’t have to work as hard to go forward.

Improve Your Mood: You can feel more confident and upbeat by peeling off that tenner. It’s enough of a change to raise your body image and energy level; it may even help lift depression.

Be Ready for Baby, Whenever: Just a small amount of excess weight may alter pregnancy hormones such as progesterone—which can affect egg quality and prevent ovulation. If you can’t ovulate, you can’t get pregnant.

Shrink Your Fat Cells: Yep, you’ll actually make the cells smaller. That means a tinier waist and other big payoffs such as a healthier heart—ab flab raises your risk for heart disease.

Earn More Dough: Women with excess pounds make nearly $10,000 less per year than their average-weight coworkers. Possibly they are less assertive. Slim down and you may up your take-charge attitude and your take-home pay.

Sex Up Your Sex Life: The biggest benefits in the bedroom come from weight loss and regular exercise. Both put women in touch with their bodies in a positive way, which increases sex drive. Plus, there’s no lingerie sexier than confidence—and a small loss can take you there.

Dodge Diabetes: You know that extra pounds can lead to prediabetes (and diabetes!). But shedding 5 to 10 percent of your weight can slash that risk by nearly 60 percent. If you’re 150 pounds, a 7.5 pound loss may keep you healthy.

Stay Off the Sidelines: Downsize yourself and your risk for injury diminishes, too. Every pound of body weight translates to about 4 pounds of force on your ankles, knees and hips when you’re walking, so 10 extra pounds on your frame means 40 more pounds of pressure on your joints. Trim down slightly and your joints will suffer less wear and tear.