Mmmmm...Massages.

Now, who doesn't love a massage? Honestly, you could list the 5 best things in the world, and getting a massage HAS to be on that list. But many people just get them on vacation, or once a year as a gift or something, but there are so many benefits from getting regular massages. This article went over tons of those benefits, and even gives you help in learning some techniques to master a massage yourself.

1) Relief from tension/stress - training is hard and strenuous and the main reason for getting a massage is to relieve that stress. By allowing the mind to relax and the body to recover, an all around feeling of being "fresh" will give you the perception of starting anew.

2) Dilation of blood vessels - a massage dilates blood vessels which increases circulation which in turn flushes out toxins that can reduce muscle soreness and swelling.

3) Increases muscle tone - stimulating the muscles this way will increase muscle tone and prevent fatigue and muscle atrophy. Aiding this will also decrease risk of injury due to lower risk of tightened and/or strained muscle and increase flexibility.

Some other great benefits of a massage are: lower blood pressure, emphasis on elimination of metabolic toxic wastes, improved lymphatic system, releases endorphins, reduces pain, improves sleep, delivers more oxygen and nutrients to muscles, stimulates slower breathing, allows relaxation and repair of muscles, etc.

Even though now-a-days a professional massage can range you anywhere from $100-$300 pending on length and style, it is a definite must in the fitness world because of all the vast benefits. So go out, save up some money, and enjoy a massage because now you know all the great aspects it will bring to your life. It is well worth it.

The Promise of Perfect Abs

Everyone reads articles about getting the perfect set of abs, the almighty "six-pack, because it's the "in" thing right now. Everyone wants the washboard instead of a gut because it brings out your great physique. And some people are told that you need to do a million crunches a day to get that, but you really don't. There are many myths out there about getting the great abs you desire, and that misinformation throws a lot of people on a curve. This article highlights the fundamental principles to get that definition you always wanted in your abdominal wall, and obliques!

1) Strict diet - it is no surprise that diet is a huge part of reaching certain fitness goals involving building muscle mass and definition. Maintaining that dense muscularity in your rectus abdominis muscles by eating small meals throughout the day keeping metabolism high will strip away that unwanted fat and bring out your abs.

2) Working the Abs Properly - like previously stated, many people just think doing 1,000 crunches a day will get them what they want, but the abs, like any other muscle in the body, benefit from high intensity workouts without over training. You wouldn't do 1,000 repetitions on the bench press in one day, would you? Hitting the abs from several angles with enough resistance will stimulate hypertrophy and bring out the abs you want.

3) Cardio - many people don't have the desired abs because of the layer of fat around their abdominal wall. These adipose sites will only be stripped by doing cardio. Many people reccommend doing cardio first thing in the morning before your first meal to make sure to burn the fat already stored in your body.

To see millions of abdominal workouts, visit Bodybuilding.com. You could do a different ab workout every day for a whole year, even though you shouldn't, I'm just emphasizing the vast amount of exercises they have to offer. Follow these few easy steps and you should be on your way to that great stomach you always wanted.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/building_perfect_abs.htm

Lazy? Busy? Need Some Energy?

It's getting close to the end of the school year, one month left, and it's getting nice outside. Who in their right mind wants to be in doing work every day of the week? Some people might not even want to be in the gym doing work when it's this nice out! This article sparked some ideas to increase your energy levels and to get your mind on the right track to keep up the good work...

1) The difference between knowing & doing - students know that they have work to do, and they know when they are putting it off and playing catch outside for hours, but it helps if you write down your goals, KNOW what you have to do, and set time aside to DO it. Write down your goals and write down all the great things you can do when your work is done for motivation.

2) Get a picture of a physique you hate - I really liked this one because during these nice spring/summer months, people might make some bad decisions, being up extra late and eating that pizza at 2 a.m., but if you carry around a picture that you don't like, maybe an old picture of you in your "tubby" days, it'll hold you back from eating that late night ice cream.

3) Download audio clips - this was another one I really liked because it's fun. Download some lines from your favorite movies and put them on your Ipod/Itunes. Being in the gym and hearing Kind Leonidas scream, "THIS IS SPARTA!" will really kick you into gear to get some extra pumps in.

4) Eat a good meal - not only will a good meal put you in a better mood, it will give you that extra energy to get your work done in the library, and in the gym.

5) Get enough sleep - an obvious one at the least, but getting enough sleep ensures that energy that you need to get through the day. With a full work schedule and hitting the gym, your body needs to recover for AT LEAST 8 hours a night, and the summer time is a great time to catch up on some sleep.

These are only a brief highlight of some ideas to increase energy because it is NOT good to have 8 Red Bulls to get that extra boost that you need to write a paper or go to the gym. So get some sleep, follow this tips, and enjoy these great months of the year.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/10_tips_motivation_for_energy.htm

"The Weekend Partyer"

Everyone knows that students in college drink. There's no way around it, it may not be good, it may not be legal, but it still happens. But how is it helping you with your muscle gains and fitness goals in the gym? IT'S NOT. This article went over a few very important key factors to being the best you can be in the gym, and alcohol was NOT one of them. In fact, alcohol is very detrimental to your workouts, and here is why:

1) Empty calories - for every "shot" of alcohol, there is about 100 calories in that little class, and that's about the same for every beer, well, a Light beer. Having anywhere from 5-10 of those a night will add an extra 500-1,000 empty calories to your diet, probably between the late hours of the night and early morning.

2) Dehydration - we already know how much water we should be drinking during the course of a day, and drinking alcohol severely distorts the retention of water your muscles should have. Without that water it is harder for your muscles to contract and relax and therefore affecting growth.

3) Lowers testosterone - little did we know that drinking alcohol does not make men "more manly", it actually decreases testosterone levels and increases estrogen levels, causing some side effects in men looking to "bulk up".

Along with many other reasons why one should not drink, or drink in moderation, just in case you DO decide to drink, here are some tips to help you out so you do not decrease severely in your fitness levels or muscle gains.

- drink plenty of water before bed to a) help dehydration and get that needed water back into your muscles and b) prevent that hangover that will keep you from skipping meals and missing the gym the next morning

- drink a protein shake or eat something dense in protein before hopping in bed

- and the next morning, eat a big breakfast filled with protein, calcium, phosphorous, and iron


So I'm not saying that no one should enjoy themselves but the fact of the matter is that alcohol does NOT help you "fitness wise" and it should be avoided, or used in moderation. Besides, most college students aren't even of age to drink yet, so if that doesn't hold you back, maybe these facts will.

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/bigalcohol.htm

Debunking The Myths!

Many people have heard all kinds of tom-foolery when it comes to health & fitness, but what can you really trust? Everyone has their own little unique ways of doing things, but science, proven science backed facts, are really the only thing we can all agree on for sure. Here are some common myths debunked that I found interesting in this article, and wanted to share with you.

1) High reps/Low weight = Muscle Definition & Tone...Really all that this routine does is increase muscular endurance, and if that's in your plan, fine, do it all you want, but if you're going into a routine to "tone", there really is no such thing. Following an all around healthy diet and constant physical fitness level will give you what you desire.

2) Spot Reducing Fat...doing 1,000 crunches isn't going to just cut down the fat around your abdominal wall and give you rockin' abs. You need to reduce the amount of fat in your whole body before you'll be able to see muscle like that.

3) More training = More muscle...nope, not going to work. Working out 7 days a week will lead to overtraining, which is the last thing you want to do in a quest to achieve muscle mass. You're body needs time to recover from intense training bouts. That's how you grow muscle.

4) All Calories are Created Equal...having 2,000 calories of pizza and chips in a day is NOT the same as 2,000 calories of whole-grain pasta, broccoli, lean chicken meat. Making healthy choices in the food court will lead to greater gains in the weight room.

5) All Fats are Bad...not true, because nuts have polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, which are healthy oils. Fat is an essential nutrient used by the body for energy.

6) Eating Any Food at Night is Bad...even though many people think eating at night will lead to weight gain or fat gain, the body needs some essential nutrients for that 8 hour fasting your about to do (sleep!). Having a protein rich snack or small meal before bed will help the body recover overnight.

7) Training Like a Pro is Best...these "bodybuilders" have been lifting for years and eating the right foods for years so really don't try to replicate a workout that you've seen them perform. Most of them are on drugs anyways.


So hopefully some myths have been debunked, for more myths and in-depth analysis go to the website and enjoy.
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/15_teen_training_myths.htm

Lacking Motivation?

A big problem for people when it comes to "the gym" is motivation. People are much more comfortable at their homes, on their couches, and less likely to say "You know what, I'm going to get up, get dressed, and go work out." Of course, we Movement Science Majors love that, but most people do not, and they need that extra motivation. This article hit on many aspects of my daily life, and I thought it would be great to share some of my favorites pieces from it.

1. Self-Efficacy - if anyone has taken Foundation II, they know what this means. It is basically your personal belief in yourself. If you tell yourself all day you can't go lift weights at the gym, you're probably not going to go lift weights at the gym, you might not even go to the gym. So its crucial to develop the attitude that you CAN do these things. "I can go run for 30 minutes today because I am in good shape, and will soon be in better shape."

2. Family & Friend Support - we all know that we have some friends who just hate the gym. By all means, that's fine, if they want to wade around town in their fat suit lacking any muscle what-so-ever, let em'. But its important to surround yourself with people who enjoy activities that you enjoy, like going to the gym, so they can help you, they can talk to you about new routines, etc.

4. An Action Plan - I learned this on my own, because I always used to go to the gym, empty handed, and do whatever I felt like doing. I'd always come out feeling like I didn't do enough, or did the wrong things, or didn't know what I was doing. Go into the gym with a game plan, a workout outline, and base your workout off of that. You can track your progress and see results.

8. A Role Model - Everyone knows someone, or can picture someone in their head that they want to look like. Guys definitely don't talk about how much they like Brad Pitt's abs in Fight Club, but they are certainly all thinking it when they watch the movie. Pick an image that you can obtain (don't choose some gigantic bodybuilder because they are on steroids, you hopefully are not). Females don't have to strive for the "Barbie" image that media tries to hit home but pick an actress or athlete who you can relate to, and try to base your routine around someone or something you like.

9. Knowledge - it is so important to know what you're doing in the gym, so READ UP. Bodybuilding.com is one of the best supersites you can go to for ANYTHING nutrition or exercise related. Find out what your muscles are doing when you perform that curl, take an Anatomy class and see what muscles you can work out. Build knowledge over the course of a lifetime and you will most certainly be a better person for it.

So if you feel like you don't have the motivation you wish you could, think of some of these things, and work on it. Tell a friend some of these things, and they should probably feel up to going to the gym. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your ideal body. Just know that everytime you may not want to go to the gym, someone else does.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark16.htm

What is the Most Important Meal of the Day? Every meal!

Since we were kids, people always ask the pertinent question "What is the most important meal of the day?" and more often than not, people say breakfast. Now a days some other people say you're post-workout meal, or even your pre-workout meal, which is all good and dandy, but why can't we just say EVERY MEAL IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL.

Everyone knows by now that diet is just as, if not more, important to a person's body than daily exercise is, but why have we always been told one meal is more important than another? You are what you eat, so why are we told to be important in the morning, but not at night? Proper nutrition throughout the day is important to everyone, no matter what their goals are in the gym.

To break it down a little more, breakfast is a very important meal, it jump-starts your day and keeps you going until the late hours of the evening. Breakfast can be your most abundant meal, because you have all day to burn off whatever it is you ate.

Pending on when you workout, let's say your next meal is your "pre-workout" meal, about an hour and a half before you hit the gym, late morning, early afternoon. Your car needs gas to run, and so do you. What you put in your body before you hit the weights or go running is the fuel that you need to maintain your workout and get the necessary energy to complete that last rep.

The next meal, fate would have it, is the "post-workout" meal, and I believe most "guys" shoot right back to their room and chug down a protein-shake, which is great, but you should also add some carbohydrates to that meal, because getting half of your daily amount of protein in one drink that goes down in 2 minutes isn't necessarily what is recommended.

Pending on your schedule, once again, let's say it's late afternoon now and you're going in for dinner. I believe dinner should not be a huge meal because, you're probably, or should be, going to bed in a few hours or so, and having all the food in your stomach over night just kind of stores itself, and no one wants that. But you should absolutely be getting your vegetables and some complex carbohydrates in this meal so you don't reach for that late night pizza run at 11 at night.

I'm a believer that it's not too too bad to eat a small amount late at night, maybe have some peanuts, or trail mix, something light, not too over the top to maintain your body and repair your muscles over night. If the "guys" want to break up their massive protein shake into two parts, this is a great time to have part two, because when you sleep you repair the most muscle.

Now I am certainly no nutrition expert, nor do I claim to be, but I totally believe that every meal is just as important as the other. Include a multi-vitamin, maybe some extra Omega-3 in the form of a Fish Oil capsule, if you don't get as much as you could have, and you're all set to go.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bodybuilders_most_important_meal.htm

Everyone Needs to Start Somewhere

Coming back from class today, I felt inspired to speak my mind on the topic at hand, nutrition, and fitness. We talked about Organic Foods and eating only the right foods all the time, making sure there are no processed foods, preservatives, added sugar, pretend sugar, and all these other "unhealthy" choices. Now, for sure, I am a strong advocate of eating right and making the right choices, but many people are turned away, or turned off, by a "JUST DO IT" attitude. So I'm here to tell you, that it's okay to start off slow, because everyone has to start somewhere.

I'm one who reacts strongly to a "JUST DO IT" attitude (not just talking about going to the gym, actually going and doing it/not just saying I'm going to skip out on dessert, actually saying 'no' to that piece of cake) but many people don't respond well to this. So for these types of people, it's best to start off slow, by making daily choices that you can build on down the road.

Say no to Burger King for lunch and make a turkey sandwich at home instead.
Or maybe get a single cheeseburger with apple fries instead of the double cheeseburger with french fries.

Take the stairs to Fourth Floor Wilson instead of the elevator.
Walk to Woodward during the day instead of taking the shuttle.

Instead of munching on that bag of Doritos during the basketball game, grab the Wheat Thins and have some of those instead.

Grab a whole grain muffin in the morning at Dunkin Donuts instead of that Boston Creme Donut.

Everytime you want a soda to drink during your meal, start off getting diet soda, and then work your way down to just having water instead.

Subway may be "bad" in the words of lovely Dr. Pantuosco-Hensch, but trust me, she won't be on your case for choosing a six-inch sub loaded with veggies over a Big Mac at McDonalds.

It's these small subtle changes that you can start making TODAY that will make a difference down the line. It may take a month, it may take a year, but soon enough you'll be divying up the organic foods between you and your friends on SuperBowl Sunday and making healthy meals for your whole family. The list of examples could go on and on, but you know what you can do to make the best out of your choices, so make the right ones, and build your life to it's fullest.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hardy8.htm

Water: The Most Important Drink Of All

"It is a fact that 95% of all Americans are dehydrated."

Does that statement shock you? It shocked me too, but then I began to think about it. Barely anyone drinks as much water as they should, and water constitutes 65-70% of the human body (85% of your brain, 80% of your blood, and about 70% of your lean muscle.) That's kind of a big deal.

Do you get enough water? On average, college students should have about a gallon of water per day. And that's if they do not exercise. If you do exercise, that amount needs to be increased, by about 6-8 oz. for every 15 minutes of working out whether it be running, lifting weights, etc. In the gym, water maintains muscle tone by aiding in their ability to contract, and water is practically an instant "pick me up". A great indicator for hydration is urine color. A light yellow, maybe even white, color of urine is a great indicator of hydration. A darker yellow, or amber color, of urine is a bad sign of mild, possibly even severe dehydration.

Another statistic that shocked me when reading this was "A person could eliminate about 50% of all diseases just by being hydrated and drinking enough water throughout the day." So grab the water bottle, fill it up a few times throughout the day, and ward of illness and disease for a lifetime. Many other health benefits can be seen by adequately supplying your body with enough water, and all of these can be read about in depth in this article.

http://bodybuilding.com/fun/kosloff2.htm

Overcoming Your Fear of the Gym

As a kid, we were all frightened by the show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?", but now as we age, and are in our prime years for peak physical fitness, I ask you, "Are You Afraid of the Gym?" This article sparked tons of interest in me because many of my fellow classmates, back in high school, and still in college, do not go to the gym simply because they are "scared" of what goes on in there. They don't know what to do in the gym, or are too intimidated by the people who are already in the gym. Well this article goes over 9 Amazing Tips to Overcome Your Fear of the Gym. Since you're probably not going to spend 20 minutes reading the link I will post at the end of this, I'll highlight the main aspects of the article from Bodybuilding.com that I loved...

1. The first tip was to exercise outside of the gym, and I could not agree with this more. Often times beginners go into a gym, see these huge "muscle heads" throwing around ridiculous amounts of weight, and get down on themselves for not being as strong as others. A great way to get these sideshows out of your environment, is to exercise outside of the gym! You don't need any weights or spectators to do push ups or sit ups outside on the track or on a nice patch of grass. You could even do them in the privacy of your own room. Go for a run out on the street or in the woods. Who needs a gym?

2. Avoiding peak hours is one of my personal favorite things to do. I love exercising in the morning when 80% of the college population is still sleeping, so you can try this too. You could even wait until the late hours of the evening to go, when most people are done for the day. The hours of 3:00pm to about 6:00pm are probably the most crowded with people, not that there's anything wrong with working out at these times, its just usually crowded and hard to get your work done. Plus socializing is a huge pet peeve of mine, you go to the gym to workout, not chit-chat; and you can avoid this by going when no one else is there.

3. The third, and possibly fourth, final tips that I want to highlight is, if you skip over tip number one about working out outside of the gym, and you are in fact, IN the gym try not to compare yourself to others who are working out at the same time. Yes, that is easier to say than it is to do but, don't worry about what other people can do or what they look like. "IF YOU WANT TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOUR BODY BY COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS, GO TO MCDONALD'S." Their gains will be much different than yours, so don't fret about other people's development, worry about your own. Also, I liked the piece they had about trying new machines and new work out styles, that just tied in with not being intimated by others and what they do, do your own thing.

Anyways, hopefully this article isn't too long for people, and maybe it'll even help some of you who are on the fence about going to the gym. It's a must for everyone now a days so don't let your fears of the gym change your lifestyle. Once you get in the routine and lose that fear, you'll be a regular in no time. It's never too late to start.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/9_tips_to_overcome_gym_fear.htm