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Boxing Heavy Bags And Healthy Weight Loss

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:19:27 +0000

While most people are heading to the gym for a quick cardio workout, lifting weights in their home or jumping on their bike to ride around the neighborhood for exercise, there is another crowd of people that are using boxing techniques to shed weight quickly. Taking part in boxing exercises is one of the fastest ways to get in shape. These exercises are a lot of work and really do a great job of addressing all parts of the body.

If you think that you have to enter the boxing rink itself in order to reap the benefits of these exercises, think again. Nowadays there are boxing workouts offered at gyms, on DVDs and you can find online workouts on the Internet as well. It’s just a matter of purchasing a few items and then you’ll be on your way to experiencing the ultimate full body workout.

You’ll have to look at boxing heavy bags so that you can do the mitt training, and you’ll want to invest in a good quality exercise ball. When you’re shopping for heavy bags look for free standing heavy bags for sale that don’t need to be hung up. Hanging bags can be quite difficult to install and must be placed properly to avoid damage to the ceiling.

Some of the exercises that will be included in your workout are the following.

Mitt hitting
Jumping rope
Short jogging
Bag punching
Speed ball or focus ball
Weaving

You’ll be following a series of drills that alternate between the above mentioned exercises. Usually 30 seconds is given as a break between these drills. Although these exercises are very exhausting at the beginning, you’ll quickly find your stamina improving after every session.

At the beginning you may want to consider working with a personal trainer. It can be rough getting through the starting phase and pushing yourself onto the next level. It can also be hard staying motivated since these are intense exercises that can really take a lot out of you quickly. If you start feeling overwhelmed it’s nice to have a trainer by your side to keep you going, especially when you’re first starting.

Are you getting enough sun?

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:54:29 +0000

: Yeah, that’s too much sun….

The word is fear! Not everyone has a moon-tan and stays completely out of sunlight, but the ones that do, are more than likely trying to prevent something they’re afraid of! And with good reason, skin cancer is scary shit!

But keeping out of the Sun could very well be what is allowing cancer to grow! There are multiple health issues that come with not catching some rays regularly, but the most common would be insufficient Vitamin D.

What’s Vitamin D good for?

Well before I list the common benefits, I’d like to mention that statistically it’s been discovered that most cancer patients have are deficiency in Vitamin D. Not to mention, scientists are also discussing the potential effects Vitamin D has on weight loss (or in particular fat loss) goals.

That might get your attention.

Most people reading this blog are looking to better their body image, while most people avoiding sun are looking to dodge cancer – when they could be doing the opposite! Why?

The only way we can absorb Vitamin D naturally is through exposure to adequate sunlight!

Vitamin D plays a role in absorbing Calcium and Phosphorus, it helps to regulate your immune system, and can also boost brain function as we age, protect us from low levels of radiation and help prevent a number of diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, and (as I mentioned earlier) Cancer.

But isn’t the Sun Bad?

The sun emits different types of UV Rays. Some contribute to cancer, while others help our bodies manufacture Vitamin D. So one of the first things people do when venturing into the sun is slap on some sunscreen and head out…

Sunscreen blocks certain rays from being absorbed and prevents sunburn. But most sunscreens don’t block the cancer causing UV-A rays! Which means you soak for longer, you don’t get burned, but you allow more of the cancer developing radiation to wreak havoc within your body!

The UV-B Rays are the healthy rays.

UV-B rays are what our bodies need to produce Vitamin D. The only problem is it’s harder to soak them up! They are shorter than the cancerous UV-B rays so they don’t penetrate the skin as easily. Most UV-B rays will be at their strongest in the middle of the day, but you need direct expsoure.

Sunscreens and even windows can block these rays out, and invite the cancerous UV-B rays in! Not good.

Even with the UV-A rays helping to cause Cancer, there are a host of other problems feeding cancer within our bodies.

Everything from our diet to our environment (steer clear of using that microwave!) is making the fight harder for us, but not impossible. Sticking to healthy food, consuming cancer fighting food and drinks (like green tea) and keeping our pH levels slightly alkaline (scientists have discovered Cancer cannot survive in a completely alkaline environment) are ways to help combat and prevent cancer.

Most people in the world these days are blocking the good rays, eating shit, and have a pH level far from slightly alkaline and live in an acidic body – the perfect breeding ground for Cancer. No wonder it’s been more and more common in the last few decades!

My advice, don’t be like most people.

So how much Sun?

The recommended time to be out soakin’ up is roughly 20 minutes a day, 2 or more days a week. You can also increase your level of good UV-B ray absorption by getting out in the middle of the day.

Allow the sun to hit large skin surface areas like you back or midsection to really soak it up. No Suncscreen!

What if I can’t get in the sun enough?

Well if you’re like me, there are days when you don’t have time to soak up some rays (or you simply refuse to still), so there are ways you can supplement this Vitamin D (the sun in a pill!) by using (you guessed it!) Vitamin D tablets like Country Life Vitamin D or even better, use the Vitamin D from the The Primal Blueprint Essentials Kit by Mark Sisson.

Just remember that Cancer Isn’t luck of the draw, and you can never completely wipe away the risk, but you can drastically minimise it! Just stick to a healthy, active lifestyle and get outdoors every so often!

Is Your Microwave Trying to Kill You?

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:55:54 +0000

No. It isn’t TRYING to, but a lot of evidence and discussion out there has a lot of people acting that way, and who am I to disagree? It could be true. Might not be.

Seriously though, as a person who pretty much lived a lifestyle of ‘nuking’ my food I had to really do some research when I was first told about the possible dangers of microwave usage, however reluctantly.

I didn’t want to be one of those people around the lunchroom at work saying “Don’t use the microwave man, it’ll get ya!” to which they roll their eyes and say “shit, another fruit loop…” But I simply MUST know, is it really out to ‘kill’ me?

The Word Around the Block…

‘The Block’ being the internet, there’s a lot of chatter about the radiation it causes, but more so about how the microwaves (inside the microwave itself) actually kill off the nutritional value of the food, and even convert some minerals into poisonous (even cancer feeding) cells that you then happily chew on and swallow to then go storming off into your body and ruin everything you’re made of.

In the past, I’ve lived off microwave food, and felt pretty good, but the claim is that the effects are long term.

Long term effects are those annoying things that pop up later in life, that are pretty much too late to go back and fix, so I’d say it’s worth the thought.

So What’s the Evidence?

While indirectly linked to the eating of microwaved food, there’s the case of Norma Levitt who was receiving hip surgery in 1991…

When the doctors had to give her a blood transfusion, the nurse found no available ovens to heat up the blood, so she used a microwave to heat it to the same temperature (no more no less). What they didn’t know is that the microwave killed the blood cells, and then in fact killed Norma when injected into her.

That sounds a little suss.

When a hospital uses ovens constantly for this kind of thing, a simple switch to a microwave just shutting someone down for good is a bit of a statement.

It’s been confirmed that when the microwave shakes all those little cells around violently (whilst cooking), it causes (according to Health, Wealth & Happiness):

“the food molecules to form new life forms called radiolytic compounds. These are mutations that are unknown in the natural world. Ordinary cooking also causes the formation of some radiolytic compounds (which is no doubt one reason why it is better to eat plenty of raw food), but microwaving cooking causes a much greater number. This then causes deterioration in your blood and immune system.”

I think I know why the Russians have banned Microwaves in their country!

Does it Affect Fitness Too?

These can be extreme health problems, but what about fitness? Yes, this IS a fitness website!

When you’re talking about a device that destroys the nutritional value of food, you can bet your results are affected. Apparently it’s proven to alter your hormone levels, which can be a major factor in performance, recovery, weight loss and muscle growth.

When you’re training to achieve your goals, you are (or should be) training pretty hard, that makes every once of good nutrition important. There’s been studies showing drops in nutritional value ranging anywhere from 30 – 80% just from microwaving…

So yes, microwaves BAD for fitness…

Should you even care? There’s an Easy Alternative…

Chances are a lot of people will put living without a microwave into the ‘too hard basket’, but it’s really pretty damn easy to live without one.

There’s a healthy alternative that take a tiny bit longer – use a cheap counter-top oven (something like one of these), and you’ll have the convenience of a similarly sized appliance that uses a similar amount of energy, takes only a few minutes longer to heat up most food and without any radiation or harmful processes).

Did I mention food tastes like a million times better when heated up in an oven?? The size of the oven doesn’t matter.

So I have no idea whether or not the increased risk of cancer or the killing off of healthy nutrients is true to microwave usage, but I really don’t care. I’ve got the counter-top oven, it does a better job.

As they say, “where there’s smoke there’s fire”. You can choose to ignore that facts, or you can take a step forward for your health and fitness (not just for you but your family), and just not use the microwave. Chances are you won’t be on your death bed as an old man or woman regretting having never used a microwave ever again. Too bad the same may not be said for the other case…

Insulin – The Lean Man’s Evil (Fatty) Arch Nemesis!

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:28:49 +0000

It doesn’t matter how strong or skilled you are, when Evil Insulin attacks you cannot defeat him! The power of insulin is something that cannot be fought, but you must simply wait until the attack is over, before breathing a sigh of relief, and cleaning up the mess- a storage of ugly, jiggly fat.

The safe way to be safe from these fat storing attacks that Evil Insulin makes, is to avoid his hiding places. Choosing only to call on these ‘danger zones’ when the timing is right, and make his attack more to your advantage!

All that is needed is for you to figure out where this Evil Insulin hides, why his attack is so fierce, and what you should do to keep a safe distance from his belly softening attacks.

Where Does Insulin Lurk?

The hiding places of Evil Insulin are the candy aisle of the supermarket, the ice cream man on the street, he fits into a packet of chips and even finds a cosy place to hide in your loaf of bread (yes, even wholemeal)! Anything that has sugar in it is where Insulin hides.

Steering clear of these sugary destinations will keep you safe from Insulin’s attack, away from the evil fat he’ll attach to your mid section, and those even more frustrating sugar crashes at your desk in the afternoon.

What Happens When You’re Under Attack!

Don't let insulin do this to you...

Where ever you find sugar, you’ll encounter insulin. Quite simply, when you eat anything with sugar in it, Insulin teams up with the sugar, carrying it around your body. At first it seems harmless, you burn the sugar (now converted to glucose) as energy, but then Insulin nearly always carries a little extra in his back pack.

This little extra is then shoved right into your fat cells! That’s when Insulin makes his retreat, and quite often tries to put you to sleep on the way out (sugar crash)!

He know’s his strengths – fat storage & dipping your energy levels. When carrying sugar through your blood into your cells, he grabs what fat is floating around too (from your meal) and does his very best to store that. He’s slowly killing you, your health and perhaps the one thing that’ll make you take real notice – YOUR APPEARANCE! (OH GOD NO!)

Even Worse, he knows your weaknesses – Candy Bars, Chip packets, soft drinks, sandwiches, and anything that tastes oh so sweet.

Turn the table on Evil Insulin!

You can fight back! Well, it’s more of an avoidance then a fight. Just understand his weakness!

Insulin knows your body will have a much more difficult time storing fat without him, that’s why he hides, and sneaks his way in. He knows you don’t want to store that fat.

Take advantage of this by avoiding the sugar and instead eating healthy meats, eggs, vegetables, and a little bit of fruit. Insulin’s power is basically non-existent in these foods. Look for the foods low in carbohydrates, and you can’t go wrong!

Taking Advantage of Insulin!

There are times, when Insulin’s evil power can be used for good!

Within an hour or so after finishing a heavy weight lifting workout, your body needs energy deposited into your cells for accelerated recovery and muscle growth. Drinking some juice, to bring about the power of Insulin, and adding a protein shake into the mix will actually do your a lot of good! (don’t drink juice and protein mixed, that’s gross. Try drinking juice, then drinking a protein shake, or vice versa).

The insulin spike from the juice, will carry the protein to your worked, sore muscles faster and will not result in stored fat!

You’ve just made Evil Insulin your bitch!

To Summarise…. in ENGLISH.

Want less fat? Then avoid sugary, insulin producing foods. Your body has a hard time storing fat without insulin, so keeping carbohydrate intake down below 100g a day is an excellent way to shred fat. But always remember to take advantage of that spike just after a heavy weight lifitng workout to boost your recovery and kick start muscle growth. Hope you enjoyed reading my crazy (and moderately stupid) article on insulin!

Give Yourself the Ultimate Test with these 3 Fitness Obstacle Courses!

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:35:02 +0000

If you consider yourself to be as fit or as tough as Chuck Norris, then you’re probably deluded. COME ON MAN, it’s Chuck Norris!!

But seriously, if in need of a challenge or a test, why not jump on what seems to be the latest fitness craze out there – almost torturous fitness obstacle courses.

You won’t be running against Chuck Norris (breathe a sigh or relief) , but other ‘normal people’ like yourself, in what has come to be a life changing experience for some, as well as a chance to indulge on some beer at the end and feel the camaraderie of your fellow athletes.

Below are 3 of the most interesting, and biggest courses in the world. They’re pretty damn tough but you can check them out for yourself.

Spartan Race

Voted the best obstacle course of 2012, Spartan Race is a hell of a challenge. It’s a series of courses a lot like a marathon but of course, with obstacles.

It was created by 8 ‘ultra-endurance’ athletes and Marines after their experiences from such massive undertakings such as competing in the Ironman, climbing Mt Everest and training for the Military.

There are three different courses you can undertake, with each one being different than the other:

Spartan Sprint
A 5k course which is meant as an introductory course for ‘Spartan Warriors’.

Olympic Super Spartan
An 8 mile course designed to take you to the next level, with more obstacles than the Spartan Sprint.

The Ultimate Spartan Beast
10 – 12 miles of even more obstacles that have you screaming like Leonidas (think Gerard Butler – 300) after a massive fight against the Persian empire.

There is another race which is not a distance race but designed to bring most people to failure, a competition called the Spartan Death Race. Sounds like fun…

Check out Spartan Race or View the Spartan Race calendar for information on the where & when the events are taking place.

Tough Mudder

As they say: Probably the toughest event on the planet.

Tough Mudder is an obstacle course that travels all over the world, and has a very loyal following. It’s a 10-12 mile obstacle course that hosts free beer at the very end!

Beer good.

Tough Mudder is not about racing but simply the challenge, as well as the camaraderie involved in helping your mates around you. Designed by British special forces, tey have the following pledge on their website:

As a Tough Mudder I pledge that…

I understand that tough mudder in not a race but a challenge.
I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
I do not whine – kids whine.
I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.
I overcome all fears.

Tough Mudder have managed to raise $2.5 million for the wounded warrior project, a charitable organisation aimed at helping solders in their return home with many services aimed to help them re-adjust to civilian life.

There’s not much else I can say about this event, it’s a hell of a challenge and probably the preferred if you don’t wish to compete, but instead challenge yourself. Check out their website!

Run for your Lives

ZOMBIES!

This a really friggin’ cool idea! Forget the fitness, I just want to run around being chased by zombies and pretend my life is is peril (because I’m sick in the head).

It’s an obstacle race, with a large amount of brain thirsty zombies chasing you – so no slacking off, or else…. no brain I guess.

There are obstacles along the way which are optional, however, avoid obstacles may void your chance or winning a prize (don’t do it, prizes ROCK).

Although the course is 5km, there’s no particular straight line, so the possibility of running an additional 5km through bad choices is very real. It’s as open as an obstacle course gets.

The most exciting thing – when you finish, you can get decked out to become one of the zombies!

HELL YES!! Time to eat some brain!

Check out Run for Your Lives official website.

Failing that…

…you can join the military. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from these obstacle courses, is that the military personnel love building obstacle courses, and torturing us lowly civilians! (Just kidding, we aren’t lowly). SO if you’re looking for that challenge, check out one of the courses above. If you do enter, let me know how you go!

Mark Sisson of The Primal Blueprint Video

Wade McMaster - ActiveBodi.com — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:49:27 +0000

If you read our post on Going Primal (eating animals and running around having fun!) not long ago, you may or may not want to know a bit more on Mark Sisson’s approach to health & fitness.

During some of my frequent surfs online I found a (not so new) 2 hour video of a Mark Sisson Seminar on The 21 Convention Website that really helps to further open up the Paleo style of eating and the lifestyle discussed in The Primal Blueprint.

Even better, it has the option to embed the video so I can share it on this site for anyone who’s interested in watching it.

So if you want to hear more from Mark Sisson, scroll down, check out the video.

If you like what Mark has to say read The Primal Blueprint, or check out Mark’s website.

Source: http://www.the21convention.com/2011/04/05/mark-sisson-t21c-2010/