While the financial planning of Greece, Italy and Spain can be criticized, there’s no questioning the sense behind the diets of their populations. A new study has discovered that following a Mediterranean diet is not only good for your heart but is also good for your brain. Researchers from Columbia University and the University of Miami found that the cuisine of countries like Greece, Italy and Spain leads to less blood-vessel brain damage than does the American diet, which typically involves plenty of saturated fats, red meats and refined grains. The researchers asked 966 people to fill out a questionnaire on their diet and then sorted participants based on what closest resembled the Mediterranean diet, which includes a bigger focus on fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, and a lighter focus on red meats, refined sugar and wheat. Then they gave the participants an MRI and found that people with the highest ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats had the lowest amount of blood-vessel damage. In case you thought food only affected your physical health and appearance, now you know just how severely it affects the mind, too.
My Google-friendly fans often get confused when they look to the internet for advice on how to eat like Tony. They find articles on my vegan ways. They find opinions on the benefits of organic meats. They may even stumble on the P90X2 Nutrition Plan, which features a “grain-free” modification with a strong Paleo feel to it. “So which is it, Tony?” you demand. “What’s the right diet for those wanting to eat the Horton way?”The answer to that, my friends, is, “All of them.” Yes, I was a vegan for years -- and I felt great doing it. But the problem was that I couldn’t keep weight on, eating just veggies, fruit, beans, and nuts, so I had to rethink my strategy. I still eat tons of veggies, but I'm now a free-range chicken, wild salmon and other healthy fish-eating type of guy, too. I’ve also cut back on my grains, having discovered that the less gluten I eat, the better it is for my body and brain chemistry.You see, even if you think you've found the perfect diet, it won’t always be perfectly perfect. Making adjustments based on your ever-changing needs -- especially as you get older and wiser -- is normal. I like to refer to this philosophy as “flexitarianism.” Some define this as a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat. I beg to differ. To me, it means you eat with an open, observant mind, shifting your diet as needed to suit your personal nutritional needs.For some strange reason, this style of eating is news to most of us. As a society, we’re compelled to segregate diets into rigid categories, like we do religion, politics, or sporting team loyalties. Vegan, Paleo, raw, macrobiotic, pescetarian, pollotarian, or vegetarian. They all have their benefits. When it comes to food, there’s no shame in being a flip-flopper and taking advantage of all of them.That said, I think there are a few simple rules to keep in mind. First off, why do you eat what you eat? Hunger? Survival? Cravings? Boredom? Performance? It’s important to find the balance. If you don't stay accountable, then cravings for addictive comfort foods will cause all kinds of problems. On the other hand, overly restrictive diets will almost always lead to problems as well. Sooner or later, you’ll crack and binge. So, to keep your hand out of the proverbial (and literal) cookie jar, it’s important to design an eating plan that makes you feel good while eating it. If you do that, then you'll stop the weight-loss-weight-gain cycle.The diet guide in P90X and the one in my book Bring It! may seem entirely different, but they aren't. The strategies vary, but when all is said and done, they both recommend that you eat healthy food. P90X2 takes that philosophy a step further with grain-free, vegan and high-protein plans -- all healthy, varied options. Note the key word here: healthy.If you’ve found the perfect diet for you, great, but it might not always work, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Think of it this way. Over the course of your life, do you buy the same car over and over? Probably not. As your needs change, you might go from junker, to sports car, to family wagon, back to sports car (midlife crisis), to roomy sedan. As your tastes, needs and economic situation shifts, you require different vehicles. The same goes for food. Your 20-year-old body and your 50-year-old body have totally different needs. It’s important to honor that.Of course, I may be 100% wrong. Maybe there’s some magic diet out there that’s perfect for everyone. If you know about it, please tell me, because I’m willing to give it a try. After all, that’s the whole point of being a flexitarian, right? Detox Diets: Effective Weight Loss Or Waste Of Time?
I’m sitting here, a little jittery from my morning coffee, trying to think of something smart and funny to write. It’s a bit early -- OK, it’s way too early -- but that Don Julio Reposado on my shelf is looking like the right thing to take the edge off the caffeine and my adult ADD and get the ideas flowing. Lubricate the wheels of creativity, if you will. It’s not an unfamiliar idea -- a bit of booze gets you loosened up. How many times have you come up with a better episode of The Simpsons with two buddies and a case of beer between you? Sure, at season 23 and with a dearth of chuckles, that may not be much of a challenge anymore, but it seems our intuitions about the creative benefits of alcohol were right. A recently completed study by researchers at the University of Illinois found out what we intuitively and, drunkenly, asserted ourselves: That this guy right here is the best! Oh, wait, that’s not right. The study, called "Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving*," found that a moderate level of vodka-induced intoxication gave test subjects a noticeable advantage when solving creative problems like word-association (think copywriting). The closer the people got to the legal intoxication limit, the better they were at solving these problems -- they were also faster at answering than their sober counterparts. So, before you start making every coffee an Irish coffee, remember that these testees (great word) were not totally wasted, meaning they were probably not Irish either. *For our less learned readers, a “muse” is a small rabbit-like mammal that you find at the bottom of a bottle of Turkish raki.
Point guard Jeremy Lin has taken the basketball world by storm. “Linsanity” is in full effect after his 38-point outburst against Kobe's Lakers. With Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Baron Davis out of the game, this undrafted Harvard grad is the sole force behind the Knicks' recent wins. He's sparked not only TV ratings but a slew of pun-filled phrases. Here's our top 10 Jeremy Lin-inspired sayings.
10. Lin It To Win It!
A little corny, but we'll take it if game-winning shots start showing up in his repertoire. Lin shot 8 for 24 on Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves but iced the game with a late free throw. More wins also increases the likelihood of people saying the Knicks are on a "linning" streak.9. The Lin Crowd
Sell-outs at Madison Square Garden for basketball? You bet. Forbes.com reported that Lin's play could restore relations between the MSG network and Time Warner Cable, which would bring New York Knicks basketball back to around 2.1 million cable subscribers.8. Linsider
Could work as an alternative to D-Fence or make for a clever in-arena cocktail. Speaking of which, this Brooklyn restaurant will offer a free drink to anyone wearing a Jeremy Lin jersey through the end of the NBA season.7. Lint Condition
This could work as a smooth play reference or link to the fact that he used to sleep on his brother's couch (lint to mint?). A product of Palo Alto, Lin breaks down basketball stereotypes, which could be why he was overlooked in the first place.6. Ooh, Ling (Ewing)
Arguably, Lin has inspired the most excitement around the Knicks organization since Patrick Ewing. This comparison is bound to happen come playoff time (well, maybe). Besides Spike Lee (who "thanked" Golden State Warriors coach Marc Jackson for letting Lin go) or the duels with the Miami Heat in the late '90s, Lin is one of the most compelling things about New York basketball.5. Linscrafters
Lin can shoot well, so don't be surprised if you see this as a headline. He doesn't have an eyeglasses endorsement deal (yet), but even before his recent outburst, Lin had been under contract with Nike since late 2010.4. Linnin
The new Tebowing or a term to describe how he drapes (see what I did there?) over his opponent on defense? Either way, we'll have to wait and see on this one. It could also just mean "winning." Lin has spoken openly about his faith -- he said he uses basketball for "God's glory."3. Lin Time
Like Tim Tebow, expect Lin to be glorified for how he plays in the fourth quarter. That and the fact that Lin presents a huge globalization factor for the NBA brand. New York has the second largest population of Asian-Americans (1.6 million), after California. He may play in the New York market, but his reach is far greater.2. Lin Man
This kid is the first NBA player to finish with at least 28 points and eight assists in his first NBA start in 30 years. The last player to achieve that feat? Isiah Thomas. Oh, and he's the first American athlete of Chinese or Taiwanese descent in the NBA. College coaches (even the staff at Harvard, at first) didn't like Lin's slight frame. 1. Lin
This is a reference to the French word often seen at the end of films, "fin." Lin's last name alone signifies, hopefully, the "end" of his days of being overlooked on the bench as a third or fourth string player. Bonus: Other phrases that didn’t make the list: "Lin-sync," "All I Do Is Lin," "Linner Linner," "Chicken Dinner," and "LinkedLin."
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Apparently it’s not the person who spends the most time in front of it. A new study from the Institute of Psychiatry shows that spending 10 minutes in front of the mirror every day can lead to insecurity. Researchers were even surprised to find that participants who started the study content with their appearance gradually became more depressed the more they looked at their own reflection. The study used 25 subjects who were happy with their looks and 25 who were suffering from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which is an ailment that causes incessant worry about shape and appearance. They were put through two series of mirror-gazing sessions, with the first lasting 25 seconds and the second lasting 10 minutes. They also answered questionnaires about their looks before and after both times. The BDD patients scored themselves negatively, but to the surprise of researchers, the healthy contingent also developed anxiety in their results. The good news for guys is that we’re less self-conscious and only check ourselves out about 18 times a day on average, compared to women, who look at themselves a whopping 38 times per day.
Check out John Romaniello's fitness systems website. In the first installment of this series, I covered two very different but very effective means of training for mass gain: high rep and low rep. Today, I want to continue with a discussion of some other protocols for gaining size.In the first article, the methods were dependent on a high level of volume in a condensed time frame. In order for that to work, the frequency is generally low.
Split routines
Put another way, we discussed two training methods that fit well into the traditional bodybuilding “split” routine. In this model, each day is dedicated to one to three body parts, so terms like “chest day” arise. These methods are set up so that volume for each body part is condensed into a single day but the frequency is low. You get a lot of work on chest one day, but only do so once per week.Split routines work, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat, or, in this case, train a bicep. Today, we’re going to look at training methods that allow for greater frequency: full-body workouts.In the case of full-body training, you hit every muscle in every workout (as the name suggests). Because you’re working more muscle groups, the daily volume is much lower for each group. Instead of performing 2 to 3 exercises of up to 5 for a single body part (which can total up to 120 reps, as we discussed last time), you will perform 1 or 2 sets for every body part, totaling maybe 20-40 reps per workout.The daily volume is lower, but the weekly volume is similar and sometimes greater. For many people, the higher frequency leads to greater gains. Full-body workouts are great for someone who can only train a few times per week. I also like full body workouts for beginners. The frequent exposure to movement patterns will facilitate increases in motor learning and neurological efficiency, which will have a tremendous impact on results.Here are what I consider to be two of the best methods for full-body training.High-Intensity Training
It’s known as HIT for short, and it’s a hot button in the training community. Developed by Arthur Jones in the 1970s, HIT at its core is a system of training each muscle with one set to the point of momentary muscular failure. The workouts were brief, intense and infrequent. In the '70s, when Arnold and his cohort were advocating training twice per day, six days per week for nearly two hours at a clip, this wasn’t just controversial -- it was nearly heretical.You see, the fundamental principles of HIT are that exercise should be brief, relatively infrequent and intense. This was in direct opposition to what was considered standard bodybuilding training, “volume” training, as practiced by The Oak.HIT works the opposite way. Workouts are less than an hour long, and training is only done twice to three times per week. High-intensity training uses a system in which exercises are performed with a high level of “intensity,” which is more exhausting than volume training and therefore requires less work and more rest in order to facilitate recovery.What does "intensity" mean?
It’s important to note that HIT principles use the word "intensity" differently than the rest of the training world. In most weight training contexts, “intensity” refers to the amount of weight you’re using relative to your 1-rep max, whereas in the HIT model, “intensity” refers to how hard an exercise is, as determined by approaching or achieving momentary muscular failure.HIT itself is based on the theory that training to failure will stimulate the body to produce an increase in muscular strength and size. Advocates of HIT believe that this method is superior for strength and size building.As strength increases, HIT techniques will have the weight/resistance increased progressively so that it will provide the muscles with adequate overload to stimulate further improvements. In HIT, it is known that there is an inverse relationship between how intensely and how long one can exercise. As a result, high-intensity workouts are kept brief.After high-intensity training, as with any workout, the body requires time to recover and produce the responses stimulated during the workout, so there is more emphasis on rest and recovery in the HIT philosophy than in most other weight training methods.While many typical HIT programs are comprised of a single set per exercise in tri-weekly, full-body workouts, many variations exist. HIT workout tempo is generally stricter than most other types of training.
Sleep is the critical element that allows you to attain success in your peak performance, weight loss and longevity goals. No matter how clean you eat or how often you exercise, if you’re chronically sleep-deprived and stressed, or if you’re not getting regular quality sleep, you’re sabotaging your efforts.
Zzzzzz…
Early humans got more sleep per night because their circadian rhythms were more closely synchronized with the rising and the setting of the sun. Today we have artificial light to extend our active periods and many other distractions preventing us from getting adequate sleep. Although we all differ in the amount of sleep we need, some experts recommend that we get as much as nine hours of sleep per day. Unfortunately, about a third of us in North America are thought to be affected by chronic sleep loss or sleep disorders. A recent survey uncovered that many who are at risk of insomnia engaged in stimulating activities an hour before getting into bed: 90% watched TV, 33% were on their computers and 43% were doing household chores. That means, presumably, that watching TV shows about household chores on your computer would keep you up all night.The Goldilocks Principle
Sleep deprivation has profound effects on hormones that control metabolism, appetite, mood, concentration, memory retention, and cravings. It is associated with high blood pressure, elevated stress hormone levels, irregular heartbeat, and compromised immune function, and it drastically increases your risk for obesity and heart disease. Results from the 2004-2006 U.S. National Health Interview Survey indicated that adults who usually slept less than six hours were much more likely to smoke, drink more than five glasses of alcohol, not exercise, and be obese. Interestingly, adults who slept more than nine hours also engaged in these unhealthy behaviors. Researchers from the University College London found that lack of sleep, or too much of it, more than doubled your risk of death. Scientists are quite familiar with the links between poor sleep and cardiovascular disease, but they’re not sure why sleeping too much is also bad for you. A possible connection to depression and low socioeconomic status has been found, but this needs to be further elucidated.Cryptochromania
Cryptochromes sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but they’re actually a very ancient protein that is found in every single plant and animal on our planet. Sensitive to the blue light of dawn and dusk, cryptochromes are involved in our circadian rhythms and are found in the eyes and skin, meaning that our bodies can detect sunshine even if our eyes are covered. Ever wondered how blind folks tell whether it’s day or night? Cryptochromes detect diminishing sunlight and signal the pineal gland to convert serotonin, which has kept your mood elevated all day, to melatonin, which gives you a good night’s rest. When light increases in the morning, melatonin production is suppressed and serotonin rises, allowing you to wake up refreshed and recharged. This is why the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is such a popularly prescribed antidepressant. All people really need to overcome some cases of depression and anxiety is more sleep. Are You Not Getting Enough Sleep?Light kills Melatonin
Extended exposure to artificial light disrupts the natural rhythm of serotonin-melatonin production that we’ve evolved over millennia of living on earth. Melatonin is inhibited by light and brought on by darkness, so the longer you stay up, the lower your melatonin production will be, and that’s going to have some negative consequences on your mental and physical health. Research suggests that premature aging is related to low melatonin levels during sleep. Melatonin is involved in learning and memory and may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. It is a powerful antioxidant able to protect DNA from free radical damage and may prevent the development of some forms of cancer. A gloomy example can be seen in night shift workers. Recent studies show that their disrupted circadian rhythms and low melatonin levels puts them at an increased risk of developing cancer. If you’re a night shift worker, try to offset your diurnal tendencies by adopting a strict diet and exercise plan. If possible, negotiate a way to work the day shift every other month.Before you rush out and buy melatonin supplements, keep in mind that although this may help in the short term, it will cause your body to gradually produce less melatonin naturally. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is as restorative as natural sleep.
Have you ever wanted to march down to your boss’ corner office, three-hole punch him in the junk, hurl him out a skyscraper window, and declare yourself alpha drone o’er the cube farm? Me, too. But you’re not allowed to do that. Welcome to modern, emasculating, stress-inducing society. Sure, it’s got its perks, but it’s also got its suck. Sitting on your ass exacerbates the suck. In the old days, stress came from things like having a saber-toothed tiger wander into your cave. This was immediate, testicle-shriveling stress that kicked the flight or fight response into high gear. Adrenal hormones went berserk and you burned it off via valiant stabbing or cowardly fleeing. Either way, the hormone surge was short-lived. Soon you'd be eating paleo by roasting up tiger steaks or muttering that you didn't like that cave anyway and go off searching for a new abode to get your doggy style on. At least, that’s the one part I remember from that Quest For Fire movie. Fast-forward to today, and the tigers have shorter teeth and are behind bars at the zoo. Now, we get stressed out by performance reviews with brain-dead bosses, layoffs, traffic jams, balancing checkbooks, and parent-teacher interviews. The stress is prolonged but still causes hormonal disruption, yet it’s not conducive to fighting or flighting. I mean, fleeing. Whatever. Instead, you probably bitch at people and drink. This doesn’t help. This 2006 article published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences explained: "Stress responses can be elicited by emotional stimuli or professional and social stress." It takes just one negatively worded memo handed down from on high to get the glucocorticoids and catecholamines flowing, but these adrenal hormones go unused and are stored in visceral fat deposits, and this does bad things to you. It then explains how these stored adrenal hormones disturb gonadal function (no wonder Viagra is such a big seller), as well as growth hormone and thyroid function. These "metabolic disturbances" lead to "comorbidities including central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and endothelial dysfunction." In other words, unrelieved stress turns you into an artery-clogged manatee with thermonuclear blood pressure and a crappy immune system. Oh, and it's also hard on your brain. But cavemen didn't have to worry about heart disease and senility. They usually became food for something else long before their arteries clogged up or their brains turned to oatmeal. Progress isn’t all bad. What to do about modern life, though? The authors explained that exercise does a good job of dealing with the harmful effects of this chronic stress, and a 2006 study in Biological Psychology agrees, saying the more exercise, the better, especially when it comes to reducing blood pressure. There’s more. Some enterprising scientists tortured the holy hell out of some mice to prove a point about this. A 2011 study in the Journal of Neuroscience paired male mice -- usually loners -- in cohabiting situations in which one was a bully alpha and the other a submissive pansy. Then they let the terror reign. Just FYI, I had some pet mice as a kid. I saw the mom eat her babies. I don't feel much sympathy. Unsurprisingly, the submissive mice became twitchy, nervous wrecks -- but only the ones who weren't exercisers. See, there were two groups of submissive mice: lazy ones and workout warriors. The ones that got lots of exercise before the torture sessions took place were far more stress-resistant. They were still submissive, but the experience didn't have the lasting negative effects that it did for the non-exercising mice. The American Psychological Association has also weighed in on the subject of exercise and stress, noting that "physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people." This mood boost probably has nothing to do with that old myth about exercise unleashing a surge of happy-making endorphins, the statement adds, since there's really not much evidence for this popular belief. Rather, chemicals such as norepinephrine may be behind it. Still, the effect may be more than just chemical. "Exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress," according to the APA. "It forces the body's physiological systems -- all of which are involved in the stress response -- to communicate much more closely than usual." Of course, there are added bonuses to using exercise to relax. It burns calories. And it can help with your caloric intake, too. When you’re stressed out, you’re more likely to make poor eating (and drinking) choices, which will pack on the pounds. So, not only is stress killing you, but it's making you fat, which is also killing you. You can't beat up your boss, but you can beat up a pair of running shoes or pump some iron instead. You’ll get to keep your job, too. Oh, and if you are the dick boss, do your minions a favor and get started working out. It will make you less of a dick.
One of the stiffest challenges in modern-day medicine has been finding a way for men with erectile dysfunction to stay hard. Now there's exciting news to pass along, as researchers from Tulane University have had a breakthrough.For the first time, stem cells have been used to cure ED in rats with Peyronie's disease, which is a connective tissue disorder in the penis affecting between 3-9% of men.The original cure uses a material called small intestinal submucosa (SIS), which is taken from pigs to replace damaged penis membranes. Doctors from Tulane then added stem cells to find out if it would improve healing compared to just SIS alone, and the results were extremely positive.Within a couple of months after treatment, full erections were restored in the rats, and blood flow to the penis had significantly improved.It's a big breakthrough for deflated men who have excessively scarred penis tissues, which can arise from traumatic injuries or Peyronie's disease. As long as the treatment translates to humans, the new stem-cell therapy will be able to produce better healing and restore sexual function.
Click here to check out John Romaniello's official website. When guys attempt to decide on a training program, one of the first questions they ask is: “What’s the best set and rep scheme for gaining muscle?”Trainers get this question all the time, and it is one of the most difficult to answer accurately. You’ve most likely read a variety of training articles, each claiming to have the best formula for muscle growth. And while some are better than others, most of them work pretty well.So the simplest and most accurate answer to this question is “all of them.”Unfortunately, that's also the most complicated answer.See, it's like this: Your muscles are made up of various types of fibers, and the rep ranges you best respond to is going to be a factor partially determined by your particular fiber make-up.Of course, without dissecting you (which, while undoubtedly fun, would not be very efficacious in terms of your training), there really isn’t any way to tell you what your general fiber make-up is, or what type of rep and set schemes you’re going to respond to. None of which really answers the question, of course.Looking at it from a different angle, we can begin to decide on set and rep schemes based on a goal -- some are better for pure growth, and others for a mix of both strength and size.
Option 1 - Size and Nothing But Size
Let us assume for a moment that the training focus is entirely on growth, and not at all on strength. In that case, your concentration should be on the higher rep ranges -- sets of 10-12, 12-15 or even as high as 20 are on the menu. As for the number of sets, well, that is something that will be determined by the number of exercises you do for a particular body part.It helps to think of things in terms of total volume. If you are training with higher reps, I would try to limit a specific muscle group to around 120 reps per workout.Here is an example using chest exercises:-Bench Press - 4×15 (60 reps)-Incline Dumbbell Press - 3×12 (36 reps)-Dumbbell Fly - 2×10 (20 reps)We’re looking at a total of 116 reps there, give or take any extras your were able to squeeze out or reps you were unable to complete.The reason for the high reps if your focus is primarily on hypertrophy is, once more, fiber make-up. You are training for what is sometimes called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, or fluid hypertrophy, a term that is sometimes debated.Either way, high rep training is the simplest, fastest and most visibly obvious way for beginners to pack on mass. The drawback is that the higher rep schemes used in this type of training necessitate very light (in relative terms, at least) loads to complete the set.As a result, strength tends not to increase. In fact, in some cases, you may even notice a decrease if you attempt heavier training.This is typical “bodybuilder” type training -- all show and no go, as they say.You’ll look strong, but you won’t be strong. However, if all you’re going for is a good look in a tight shirt, this may sound like something you might be interested in.In most cases, when new trainees hit the gym, they do some incarnation of this, although in many cases it’s as simple as three sets of 10 for four exercises. (As an aside, even in this case, they’re hitting 120 reps.) They progress a bit and then stall out. As with all things, when it comes to training, everything works, but nothing works forever.From there, trainees look to change it up, and that bring us to option two.Option Two – Size and Strength
If you’re looking to get both big and strong, you have a more difficult road ahead of you, but with a greater goal at the end. In this case, we’d be talking about training with heavier loads and lower total volume.Strength increases are the result of training with heavy weight, which by default will place a pretty stringent limit on the amount of reps you can perform on a given set. Strength-oriented training relies on performing sets of 1-5 reps, with the average being 3.Heavy training is not only optimal for strength gains, but it can also be used to accrue a serious amount of muscle. Training with high weight recruits what are known as Type II b muscle fibers, which are the densest fibers and have the most potential for muscle growth. By lifting heavy, we activate these quickly, which can potentially lead to mass gain -- fast.As you might imagine, it becomes necessary to change things around in a given workout to meet your goals. It’s quite possible to increase size without strength, and the reverse is true here: You can get a lot stronger without getting bigger.Once more we need to look at things from the perspective of overall volume. In order to allow for the necessary weight, we need to keep the reps per set pretty low. If you followed the generally bullsh*t training most clueless meatheads drop on you, the upper limit for sets would be 3 or 4 per exercise. With heavy training, this would leave you at about 9-15 total reps. Your strength would increase, but this is just not enough to stimulate growth.
My favorite moment of the 2011-12 NFL season happened in Week Three. Being a St. Louis Rams fan, I didn't have much to like about this season, but this particular moment stands out. And it tells you everything you need to know about the Super Bowl rematch between America's Team, the New York Giants, and the most hated group of evildoers on the planet not currently on trial at The Hague: the New England Patriots.The Patriots were playing the Buffalo Bills, a team that, at least early in the season, looked as though it was about to make the jump to the big boys' table. The game was tied 24-24 with a little over 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter when this happened:Tom Brady, under absolutely no pressure whatsoever, bounced a quick pass off Bills rookie defensive tackle Marcell Dareus' head. It landed in the tender, loving, yet still masculine hands of that week's national hero, cornerback Drayton Florence. Florence crossed the middle of the field, turned on the jets and headed toward the end zone. But there was still one person to get by. The guy who spiked the ball off Dareus' head while standing in a pocket so clear of defenders that he could have thrown his helmet into the air and spun around like Mary Tyler Moore before tossing the pass. Mr. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady-Bundchen himself.With the game on the line, Brady-Bundchen had just served up a pick with a side of Caesar salad and a loaded baked potato. He had to make the play. Only he didn't. Tom, close enough to have laid one of his freshly manicured fingers on Florence, (perhaps knocking him out of bounds and saving the touchdown) slowed down. The QB all but shouted "Ole!" as he deftly steered clear of Florence and pulled his hands away in a dainty manner that can only be described as "small-girl-accidentally-picking-up-dog-turd."This play cost the Patriots the game. They lost 34-31 and if Brady had made that tackle, or just forced Florence out of bounds, there's a good chance New England's defense could have held the Bills to a field goal or even gotten a turnover right back.All that became even more likely after noticing Buffalo safety Jairus Byrd trailing Florence on the interception return. Byrd would have unquestionably laid into the half-heartedly jogging Brady-Bundchen as he girlishly pushed Florence toward the sideline. A hit that would have, undoubtedly, drawn a personal foul penalty negating a touchdown if Florence is able to avoid Tom's playful tickle-slaps or, at worst, backed the Bills up 15 more yards from the spot of the foul.But Tom Edward Cullen Brady doesn't want to get hit by Byrd, or even take the chance of ruining his French tips trying to poke Florence out of bounds. For Tom, winning the game simply is not worth it.Contrast all that to Eli Manning who was beaten senseless last week by the San Francisco 49ers defense and still put forth the best quarterback performance of the day, by far. The bigger the pass, the more dire the situation and the more likely Eli was to deliver and have to pick himself up off the ground, spit out a mouthful of turf and pull his chinstrap out from between his teeth afterward.Eli has turned into one of the best big-game quarterbacks of this era. Earlier in the season, against the Patriots, Eli was so fantastic in the face of pressure that when the game was over (a 24-20 Giants win where Manning tossed the winning TD with New England's Andre Carter right in his face) it seemed certain Tom Brady would immediately order a paternity test on his and Gisele's baby to make sure Eli wasn't the real dad.Eli has been playing with the house's money his whole life. The baby in a three-boy family, Eli has felt no pressure at all to perform. Older brother Peyton was forced to live up to Dad's (former New Orleans Saints QB Archie Manning) legacy and compete against his big brother Cooper. Just two years apart, Cooper and Peyton went to high school together, played on the same prep team and could probably pick out the individual food components of their farts after the thousands they have most certainly blasted into each others' faces.That's not to say Cooper and Peyton haven't each farted into Eli's stoic, emotionless mug. I'm sure that Eli has tasted the hot, malodorous effluvium birthed in the mephitic bowels of his two elder siblings. I'm not questioning that at all. If ever there has been a face that has been farted upon repeatedly, it is Eli Manning's.But with those farts also came love, not competition. Eli is six years younger than Peyton and eight years younger than Cooper. By the time Eli was playing prep sports, and then college football, Peyton was already in the NFL and Cooper had been diagnosed with a spinal condition and could never play again, so even the battle between him and Peyton was over. The Manning kids could just root for each other.Nobody was happier to watch Eli beat Tom Brady in Super Bowl XLII than Peyton. Eli isn't as good as Peyton and nobody thinks so (not even Eli). Peyton's real competition is Tom Brady, and watching Brady's chance at NFL history, a fourth Super Bowl Championship and a perfect 19-0 season go down the toilet at the hands of his little brother was probably too good to be true.But a lot of things happened as a result of that game, a lot of wonderful things. See, earlier that season the New England Patriots were busted for cheating -- specifically video taping the opposition's offensive and defensive signals and, maybe, recording a St. Louis Rams practice walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI.The Patriots deny that last accusation and we'll never really know if it's true because Roger Goodell, like a faithful dog, destroyed the tapes so they've never been viewed publicly. A congressional investigation (yes, the United States Congress) showed that by taping and analyzing the opponent's calls alone, the Patriots were able to predict about 75% of the plays being called against them.
It’s an inviting ad: A smiling, lingerie-clad woman reclines suggestively on a bed. But it gets quirkier: There’s a Facebook check-in sign covering her, ahem, southern region. The ad reads: “Matti Virtanen and 19 others were here.”The ad was published by the Finnish AIDS Council in an attempt to promote the use of condoms. Clever, most definitely, but at what cost?Since its release, it's been circulating through social media sites like a hot potato. Some women are screaming shame; others are saying relax and (metaphorically) "own it." Before anyone goes any further screaming bloody murder, relax: Matti’s mate is guilty, too. In a counterpart ad, a good-looking man sits back with -- you guessed it -- a Facebook check-in sign over the family jewels. Sanna and 34 others have checked in. (Time for a quick calculation of who’s winning.) In many ways, the ad succeeds by stimulating discussion. For that, we give major props to the Finnish AIDS Council for scandalizing the topic of safer sex because -- let’s be honest -- it’s never been about the number of girls you’ve scored (right?), only how you’ve treated them. So, gents, treat ‘em right: Regardless of how many Sannas you’ve checked into, the good man knows to keep it safe.
Super Bowl Sunday has become an international holiday, but a new survey conducted by Visa shows that spending won't be taking a break.Sure, we're all familiar with the extravagant dollars that are thrown at Super Bowl ads ($3.5 million for a 30-second spot this year), but Visa's research suggests that people will be spending a pretty penny on their parties, too.The average Super Bowl party host will dish out $118.80 this year, which includes food, drinks and all sorts of other knickknacks.Men lead the way with an average $123 in spending, while women come in at $114. As far as age groups go, the 35-49 category spends the most ($149) while the 25-34 year-old demographic spends the least ($117).Even though Super Bowl XLVI will pit two Northeastern teams together (the New England Patriots and New York Giants), Northeasterners plan to spend only $119, compared to Southerners, who are expecting to spend $128.Now if only they could only tell us how much money the average person plans to bet on the Super Bowl, we'd have some great Sunday conversation.
Today, we’re going to do a little role-playing. Ready? Imagine you’re a big, fancy CEO of a big, fancy company with about 1,000 employees. It’s a great place to work because, in addition to offering a great product, you treat your employees with respect, encourage them to stay healthy and make sure they all have jobs that matter to them. One day, you get a call. The CEO of a competing firm is ready to call it a day and he wants to sell out -- at a bargain price! Without delay, you assemble your team, fly down to meet with the CEO to get a tour of his facility. When you get there, it’s a stark contrast to your company’s healthy, vibrant workforce. These are good people, but they’re drained, sluggish and just dragging through the day. Where is the push and drive to be the best they can be? So you decide to have lunch with the CEO and his team, speaking candidly over your standard meal of broiled chicken, green salad and brown rice. They stare blankly at you as they order up heaping plates of pastrami, French fries and diet soda. Looking at their plates o’ slop and bulging waistlines, you get it. You see the leadership style of this company. No incentives to eat better or exercise. There’s no effort to keep themselves -- not to mention their employees -- healthy. When pressed with this, the CEO admits his concerns about health care costs and how his employees are always calling in sick, but he shrugs it off. Loss of productivity is just a business expense like any other, right? Wrong. You realize that this company culture just isn’t going to jibe with yours. You thank the CEO for the offer, turn it down and head home. What a shame. If only they’d ordered a salad. OK, so maybe corporate success isn’t as simple as ordering a plate of leafy greens, but the point is that everything is systemic. If the CEO had taken better care of himself, exercised and ate right, perhaps he would have attracted an executive staff who did the same and together they would have understood the value of keeping employees healthy as well. Then loss of productivity would have turned into a distant concept, not a daily reality. The concept of workplace productivity improving with the health and fitness of employees is a well-documented fact. For example, a 2006 study out of Leeds Metropolitan University in England showed that when office workers exercised daily, their job satisfaction ratings shot up 65% -- and that leads to improved productivity. You see, diet and exercise do more than just give you six-pack abs. A healthy meal plan assures that your brain gets the fuel it needs and prevents things like blood sugar crashes. Daily workouts produce endorphins, a chemical in the brain that promotes a sense of mellow well-being. Combine the two and, well, things just work better. If you don’t believe me, ask the two latest leaders of the Western world. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama are daily exercisers. All that basketball and bicycling helps them gain clarity and perspective -- something a leader needs no matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on. But you don’t need to be a CEO or a president to learn a lesson here. The same happy domino effect works for all of us, whether you’re an executive, an artist, a factory worker, or a stay-at-home parent. If you eat right and exercise, you’ll lose weight, your energy systems will become more efficient and your hormones will be better regulated. When these things happen, you’ll have more energy. If you have more energy, you’ll not only be able to work harder, you’ll probably enjoy that work a lot more. From there, name your bliss, and it’s yours for the taking. If you’re an achiever, all that hard work will lead to success. If you’re a leisure seeker, you’ll get the job done faster and you’ll have more energy to enjoy the moments when you’re not working. Either way, life will just feel better. All that from a little salad? Go figure.
There aren’t many good things that are associated with a shot to the balls, but a new study by the University of North Carolina might change that perception. That’s because scientists have discovered that an ultrasound shot to the testes could become a new wave of pain-free male contraception. In the study, rats were given high-frequency ultrasound into their testes area, which is the same type of ultrasound used in physical therapy. Two weeks after the treatment, their Sperm Count Index had dropped to zero, and sperm-producing germ cells were killed off as well. Clearly, the results don’t always transition from rats to humans seamlessly, but researchers believe that results for humans would be similar. It must also be determined whether the effects of this type of contraception are permanent or whether the effects are temporary and reversible. For men, the contraceptive menu includes abstinence, pulling out, condoms, and a vasectomy. Ultrasound treatment could be the happy medium that fits perfectly into that lineup.
People get fatter in winter -- it seems like a natural law. Whether it's because of all the feast-based holidays, the ton of comfort food needed to contend with the cold and dark, or the reduced amount of exercise, we all feel like we've put on about five pounds before spring shows its fat face. The fact is that we tend to overestimate how much weight we've gained. A 2000 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that we probably only gain about a pound or two during the winter season. The trouble is that this extra weight accumulates through the years and can be a major contributor to obesity later in life. Granted, it's only a pound, but winter doesn't have to be a bulking phase.
The Dark Side
In nature, winter was always a time of low food supply when all animals would rely on the fat pad that they had built up during the summer months. Those with low fat stores would be at higher risk of starvation and death, so our bodies evolved an acute insulin response to efficiently store carbohydrates. Long summer days meant continuously elevated insulin to store sugars from fruits, starches from tubers and caramel from your mocha latte. To mammals, including humans, continuously elevated insulin meant only one thing: winter was coming.Winter was cold, dark period when we would empty our stored sugar from our livers and muscles, and, more importantly, our accumulated body fat. Come summer, the entire cycle would repeat itself and our insulin would remain sensitive for the next four or five months.It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Through the miracle of technology, we've eliminated our traditional famine period. Light bulbs and computer screens provide the artificial daylight, and year-round access to carbs provides the food security. We have confused our bodies into thinking that summer is still here, and, frankly, you can't blame us. Summer is a time of feasting, frolicking and fornicating. Who wouldn't want that to last all year?But Mother Nature isn't easily fooled. In return for banishing darkness, we suffer from weight gain, seasonal affective disorder, depression, lower immunity, higher stress, and fatigue, all of which falls under the scientifically accurate term "winter blues."Follow these five steps, and you'll not only avoid putting on a few pounds, but you'll likely lose a few. Let the abominable snowman transform into an abdominal one.Step 1: Feed Your Hunger For Sleep
Light and dark cycles control insulin through carb cravings but also, more directly, through your stress mechanisms. When the lights are on, your cortisol levels stay up because you need the ability to fight, run and get stuff done. Cortisol mobilizes blood sugar, which means that insulin also stays up to disperse that sugar to your muscles. So staying up to watch Letterman keeps your insulin up longer than nature intended, and that means one thing: You get fat just by smelling a cookie. As a result, we crave carbohydrates only when we're tired, not when we need food. More and more research shows that chronic sleep deprivation leads to weight gain. So turn off the TV by 9 p.m., get to bed by 10 p.m. and try to get as much sleep as you can without getting fired or divorced.Click to find out what everyday foods you should cut out of your winter diet... RELATED VIDEO: How To Avoid Weight Gain This Winter
Click here to check out John Romaniello's official website. In my last article about intermittent fasting (IF), I gave you a brief primer on the practice. I provided a definition as well as some of the general aspects of practice that are consistent along various types of IF.To briefly summarize, let's look at what IF is -- essentially, abstaining from food for a predetermined period of time, ranging from as little as 16 hours to as long as 36 hours (sometimes longer, but not generally in the fitness industry).The benefits of IF vary from hormonal management to caloric reduction and decreased hunger (the benefits prioritized will be dependent on what "type" of IF you use).In this article, I'll give you a complete analysis of the most popular IF styles in the fitness world.The most obvious difference between each of these methods is the length of the fasting period, and that is how I've organized them.Got it?Great. Let's get going.
Feast/Fast
The feast/fast model, which I've been using consistently for close to eight years, is my own small contribution to the fasting community, although its inception had nothing to do with the benefits of fasting.Some time around 2004, I noticed that while I was getting a ton of benefit from cheat days in terms of fat loss and mental reprieve, the "digestive aftermath" wasn't pleasant. If I cheated on a Sunday, I would pay for it Monday in terms of intestinal distress. Not only would I be in the bathroom more than I wanted, but my stomach would hurt, and eating was a huge chore.I had come from the old school bodybuilding mentality of, if you fall off the wagon, get right back on, immediately. The old way of thinking essentially stated that even if you had a cheat meal/cheat day and you didn't go back to your regularly scheduled meals, then you'd do more harm than good. In my case, this meant a bowl of oatmeal and several eggs first thing in the morning. After a night of eating pasta, ice cream, brownies, and steak (yes, all at once), the last thing I wanted to do first thing in the morning was eat.After some time, I discarded the bodybuilding "rules" and started pushing my first meal of the day back by a few hours and then a few more. Eventually, I stopped eating altogether.And my results got even better. RELATED VIDEO: Is This The Secret To Losing Weight?The Benefits
When I started looking into fasting (mainly to justify my not-eating), I came across a few different reasons why the feast/fast worked so well. Some had to do with fasting, obviously, but there is some stuff that has to do specifically with the cheat day as well.Like any style of fasting, removing food for an extended period of time can lead to fat loss, because it often leads to lower caloric intake. Pretty simple.But the reason this works well is because it's coming on the heels of a cheat day. When you're dieting, leptin levels drop, which slows down fat loss. When you overfeed (cheat), leptin levels get bumped back up, increasing rate of fat loss. Putting a fast after a cheat, therefore, does two things:-Prevents any fat gain from the caloric spillover of eating, say, 14,000 calories worth of ice cream, by creating an immediate deficit.-Elevated leptin levels from the cheat prevent stagnated fat loss, allowing the hormonal benefit from the fast to proceed uninterrupted.More than anything, this is just a practical approach and was created to alleviate discomfort. I started using this method before looking into science of any kind, and it just happened to work.Drawbacks
The main drawback is that you're really looking at a 32- to 36-hour fasting period. If your last meal on your cheat day is before bed (assume 10 p.m.) on Sunday, and you don't eat at all on Monday, your first meal is breakfast Tuesday morning. For many people, this is a pretty difficult thing to do.I believe that with some practice just about anyone can abstain from food for an extended period of time with little discomfort, but for a lot of people, the idea of going without food for a day and a half is a bleak proposition.For these people, I let them keep the training wheels on for a few weeks by having a small dinner on Monday night to take the edge off of the hunger. This won't detract from any of the hormonal stuff, it just adds in some calories where there weren't any before.How (And When) I use Feast/Fast
I am a big fan of cheat days, so I use this method nearly every week. I like my cheat days to coincide with Sundays because, call me crazy, I like wings and nachos when I watch football.This means that Mondays, I don't eat AT ALL. I think this is a good fit for most people. Monday happens to be the busiest day for most people (myself included), so if ever there was a time where it helped to free up a few hours by not eating, this is it. Also, since people are busier, they tend not to realize they're hungry.Find out the intermittent fasting technique that's adaptable to your lifestyle...
Healthy Breakfast ChoicesKick-starting your morning with a healthy breakfast is imperative -- it is, after all, the most important meal of the day. Does breakfast in less than 10 minutes sound familiar? It’s far too easy to grab something on your way to work. I'm guessing this will usually be a bagel, croissant or other pastry, as that’s what I’m often tempted to pick up when I’m running late. But eating a healthy breakfast is essential for maintaining energy and attention levels, as well as for helping you avoid snacking, but there are variations you should focus on, depending on diet, fitness regime and your ultimate goals. We’ve chosen some of the most common athletic challenges and checked out what healthy breakfast choices are at your disposal when training.
The muscle-builder's breakfast
OK, so you can go the protein shake route, but really? They’re unpleasant and, unless you’re a complete muscle nut, no fun. You want to be enjoying your breakfast as well as building those biceps. Picking the right breakfast will not only help with muscle building but will also fill you with energy for the day ahead -- a perfect pick-me-up. We’re looking to kick-start your metabolism and get your body into an anabolic state by going for high protein, along with some complex carbs and healthy fats. An egg-white omelet with shredded chicken is a winner. Add some finely sliced chili to get the blood flowing and then serve with some avocado diced on top for a healthy fat. With a squeeze of lime (top off with cilantro if you have some), you have mastered the healthy breakfast choice.The marathon breakfast
It’s highly likely that if you’re running a marathon, nerves will get the better of you first thing in the morning and you won’t feel like eating. You’ll need to try and put aside these fears as best as you can, as getting in the same food you’d consume while training is essential. You’re going to need a boatload of foods that release energy slowly to keep you going across those 26.2 miles, but you also need to supply your brain with energy for mental stamina, another key factor in race success. You’ll also want to pack in electrolytes (essential for muscle contraction). Oatmeal is ideal: Eat porridge with a banana and a little honey for some added sweetness. You won’t be too full, and your body will have an easy time breaking down the foods to leave you ready to lead the charge.We have three more healthy breakfast choices next...
Lots of people in English soccer this winter have seen the movie Moneyball. Watching Brad Pitt play Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s general manager, got them thinking. If stats had helped Beane to revolutionize traditionally anti-intellectual baseball, might stats not help revolutionize traditionally anti-intellectual soccer, too? But there are one or two baseball-soccer differences that British viewers struggle to overcome. First, what’s with the scouts chewing tobacco? But above all, why does Brad Pitt play a GM? In the history of soccer, nobody has ever made a movie about a GM. In a soccer film, Pitt would have played the glamour role of head coach -- or “manager,” as the Brits call it. In Moneyball that was a subordinate role, played by defiantly unglamorous Philip Seymour Hoffman.Continental European clubs traditionally had the equivalent of GMs (“technical directors,” they often called them); British clubs usually didn’t. Either way, the guy just wasn’t taken that seriously. The manager/head coach matted.Yet, that ancient structure is now finally crumbling. As soccer slowly becomes more intelligent, more clubs are realizing that it was crazy to give one single coach total power. Even in England, last bastion of absolute rule by manager, GMs look like the future. The GM is coming, and sometimes he even wears glasses and spouts stats just like Billy Beane.
The dawn of the British GM
Possibly the first “general manager” in English soccer was Sir Matt Busby at Manchester United. As manager, Busby had resurrected United after the plane crash at Munich in 1958 had killed his team of “Busby Babes.” In 1969 he quit as manager, gave himself the title “general manager” and made Wilf McGuinness “chief coach.” Four months later he sacked McGuinness and became manager again. When Frank O’Farrell was subsequently hired as United’s manager, and walked into the office marked “manager,” he found Busby there. O’Farrell recalled later: “I told him, sorry, he had to move. He seemed OK about it.” But perhaps he wasn’t. O’Farrell was sacked after 18 months.Busby had set the template for general managers in England: They would always be seen as meddlers, forever trying to sit on the manager’s chair. Managers encouraged fans and media to take this view. In English soccer, the omnipotent job of manager has traditionally attracted egomaniacs and megalomaniacs. The manager typically wanted to run everything alone: buy the players, pick the team, run the youth academy -- everything. The “director of football” (as the GM came to be called in British) was a rival for power. For decades, English managers managed to keep him out. Yet, by the late 1990s, with the Premier League attracting coaches and players from around the world, many people in British soccer were getting interested in wacky foreign ideas. They saw that American sports clubs, and many serious continental soccer clubs, had GMs. And they could see that having a GM and a head coach made more sense than letting one manager run the club alone like Colonel Gaddafi running Libya. The English system of rule by “absolute manager” is “frankly bonkers,” writes Barney Ronay in The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football.Masters of the temporary fix
The basic problem with managers was that they were short-term messiahs. You hired them and gave them total power to rearrange the club, to buy and sell anyone they liked, but before long you generally sacked them and had to clear up their mess. The perfect case study is Tottenham Hotspur’s purchase of the Ukrainian striker Sergei Rebrov. In 2000, Spurs’s manager George Graham paid Dynamo Kiev £11 million for him -- nearly twice Tottenham’s previous record fee. Clearly Rebrov was meant to be a long-term investment. But months later Graham was sacked. The new manager, Glenn Hoddle, didn’t like Rebrov. The record signing was benched, sent on loan to Turkey, and Rebrov finally joined West Ham on a free transfer.More on soccer managers, next... 
Do me a favor. Stop reading this article for a second and listen to the world. Really hear what’s going on. Welcome back. How’d it go? What did you hear? The people at the table next to you breaking up? Your kids watching something on TV that they shouldn’t in the other room? A distant lawn mower breaking down? It's amazing what you hear when you concentrate on what’s happening all around you. There are so many stories in all that ambient noise. Now lets try it again, but this time turn the focus from external to internal. Listen to your body. What does it want to tell you? Maybe some injury is nagging you or it's too warm in this room or you’re in love and can palpably feel the butterflies in your stomach. Or maybe you’re just hungry. As much as I’d like to wax poetic about that love thing, I’m going to talk about hunger. It may seem like a no-brainer: If you’re hungry, you eat. But if America’s burgeoning waistlines are any indicator, there’s nothing simple about it. The human digestive tract isn’t just a fleshy collection of tubes. It’s a wildly complex system linked to, among other organs, your brain, which, in turn, is heavily influenced by hormones, external stimuli, past life experience, and a million other things. In other words, sometimes your hunger has nothing to do with a need for food. Maybe you’re bored or unhappy. Maybe you have an addiction to refined sugars. Maybe you’ve trained yourself to view a pint of Häagen-Dazs as a reward because, well, you deserve it. That’s not your body telling you what it needs. That’s your brain talking smack. So the ultimate goal is to learn how to truly listen to your body to determine your nutritional needs. Along the way, however, you might need a few tricks. For example, counting calories. If you want to get fancy about it, a calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. Huh? I’m already confused.Tony Horton explains why we shouldn't be counting calories, next...
Bad news for Mike “The Situation”: Narcissism is not only bad for relationships, a new study says it’s also bad for a man’s health. Researchers from the Universities of Michigan and Virginia concluded that vain men who registered strong characteristics of destructive narcissistic traits like entitlement and exploitativeness had far higher levels of cortisol, which is a known stress hormone that leads to high blood pressure and heart troubles. The study put 106 people through a 40-item questionnaire to measure their levels of narcissism. Three of the five narcissistic personality characteristics -- leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance and self-absorption/self-admiration -- are considered healthy. People who scored high in those categories were not found to have increased stress levels. But those who scored highest in the bad types were found to have the highest traces of cortisol, and therefore higher levels of stress. Interestingly enough, women were found to be just as narcissistic as men -- but are less affected by the stressful consequences.
Jon Finkel is the author of The Three Dollar Scholar: Awesome Advice for Acing Life’s Major Decisions and Mindless Debates. He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, ComedyCentral.com, and The New York Times, among other publications. Follow him on Twitter @3dollarscholar. I have written for Men’s Health magazine, Men’s Fitness magazine, Maximum Fitness magazine, Muscle & Fitness magazine, Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine and Muscle & Performance magazine. I have written dozens and dozens of articles on every possible fitness goal imaginable, from specific goals like getting thicker calves, to the all-powerful “lose X amount of weight in X amount of days” articles. I have interviewed Olympic gold medalists and hall of fame athletes in almost every sport, and in most cases, I have interviewed their world-class trainers and nutritionists. I have visited many of the top athletic training facilities in the country. I have spent 10 years writing about losing fat or gaining muscle in every conceivable way, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that no matter what you’ve heard or read or talked to your local Bally’s Fitness trainer about, achieving your fitness goals doesn’t begin with diet or exercise or a fitness plan or a DVD or a personal trainer. Getting in shape, whatever you define “shape” to be, all comes down to one word: Habit That’s the secret. If you have shitty eating habits, you’re probably fat. If you have shitty drinking habits, you’re probably fat. If you have shitty exercise habits, you’re probably fat. If you have shitty sleeping habits, you’re probably fat. If you have more than two of these shitty habits, you’re probably overweight. Three or more? Obese. If you have all of them, you might be morbidly obese. Habit. Habit. Habit. There’s no sense in lifting a single weight or walking a single mile if you haven’t evaluated the shitty habits you have that have made you into the fat version of yourself that you have become. Not being fat is all about breaking bad lifestyle habits and replacing them with good ones. There are no magical cures to your weight-loss dilemma. You won’t get thin overnight. In fact, you won’t get thin over a week’s worth of nights. But if you erase your bad habits, you will get thin. What follows is not an exercise plan or diet regimen. It’s not something to print out and take with you. It is simply an extremely easy way for you to get started in turning your health around. It costs nothing. In fact, it will probably save you money. Trust me. If you’ve never exercised or have spent most of your life 20 pounds overweight or more, following these easy steps to the letter will get you thinner over a fairly short amount of time. The good news is that you can literally start losing weight right now. Seriously. This very second you can start becoming less heavy. Ready? Let’s begin. Month 1: For one month, eat exactly as you have been, but the only beverage you can consume is ice water. Ice water with breakfast. Ice water with lunch. Ice water with dinner. Ice water when you’re thirsty. Ice water before bed. The icier the better. No more coffee, sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks, sports drinks, etc… Simply ice water. This will literally cut thousands of empty calories out of your diet every week. You’ll also slowly flush out some of the toxins you’ve accumulated and give your body a chance to hydrate. Even if all you ever drink are diet sodas and zero-calorie Crystal Light drinks, this switch will be highly beneficial for you. Just remember, you must drink water, and there must be ice in it most of the time. That’s it. There’s all kinds of science behind why ice water is good for you and I won’t bore you with it here. But do not add zero-calorie sweeteners, either chemical or natural. Add nothing. If you do this, you will lose weight. Lots of it. After the first week of getting used to drinking water, chug one full glass of ice water before you begin any meal. It will fill up your stomach and you will eat less of whatever you’re going to eat.Month 2: Continue drinking only ice water, but feel free to add a bag of green or black tea to the water for some flavor. Also, a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime or even orange is OK, too. A few slices of cucumber are surprisingly good in water as well. Now that you’ve proven to yourself that you can break your drinking habit on a day to day basis, it’s time to add a little physical element. Walk for 30 minutes every day. No exceptions. The 30 minutes don’t have to be continuous; could be 10 minutes after each meal, or it could be five minutes six different times a day. But you have to get it in. You can even pace around your family room during The Office if you want, but you have to keep moving. By finding those 30 minutes every day to walk, while drinking ice water with your meals, you have not only eliminated tens of thousands of empty calories from your diet, but you are now burning calories by getting your blood moving for an extra 30 minutes a day.You can handle that for two months, can’t you? More tips on forming healthy habits to lose weight, next...
It's time to break out the MBA again.But I'm not going to "proactivate" you with a bunch of management buzzwords, and that's mostly because I think the majority of hyper-detailed time-management stuff is a bunch of bullsh*t.
It's not that scientific
I will not preach a bunch of time management theories. Several books have been written on this subject; some of them are okay, others, not so much. I'm not a master of time management, and I have no intention of becoming one. To be honest, I'm dubious about it as a discipline. For me, it is closely aligned with what I call self-help bullsh*t.A former employer of mine had a policy where all management staff had to take a well-known two-day self-help course on being exceptionally productive through adopting a [lucky] number of mannerisms. I'm being deliberately obtuse because I'm going to slam the course now, and I've had enough threats of lawsuits about my writing to know I don't enjoy the experience.The course was the most mindless drivel I'd ever been exposed to. Two days of having common sense that you should've learned by the age of six twisted and "paradigmed" and "proactivated" into management mumbo jumbo until my brain turned into protoplasm. Then they try to sell you on day planners and software and… and you just want to barf. I'm skeptical if a time-management guru has ever really helped anyone manage their time better.Nevertheless, I didn't want to crap on the entire industry after taking just one course, so I read a couple of the most popular time-management books and they just confirmed my suspicions that this is common sense overcomplicated so someone can sell a book or a course, along with a bunch of add-on crap. I worked over a decade in marketing, and I know a scam when I see one.Anyway, I guess I can't just rant about how it's all a bunch of crap and not give you any advice at all, because that wouldn't be terribly productive, so here is my common-sense-based time un-management advice. RELATED VIDEO: Get The Perfect Body With These WorkoutsPrioritize
When it comes to time management, nothing is more important than prioritization. An oft-used axiom is that if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. You must make the decision that exercise is important to you and you will put it before many other things. Another axiom is that no one lies on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time at the office. Conversely, I think there are probably plenty of people who lie on that same bed wishing they'd spent more time exercising, especially since if they had then they probably wouldn't be dying right then.Also, know that being in great health can make you more productive at everything else you do. If you're in shape, then you can be a better husband, a better dad and even a better employee.If you make exercise and healthy eating a high priority, you'll find the time to do it.Plan
I've written about this before. You know your life and schedule better than anyone, so you need to do a bit of figuring your own stuff out. Figure out what time of day works best for you to exercise. Figure out your running or cycling routes. Figure out how you are going to fit in breakfast. Figure out which gym has the most convenient location for you. Figure out that spandex is a bad idea.Figure all this out, then make a schedule and endeavor to stick to it.Adapt
Does this even require explanation? Things don't always work out the way you plan, so don't give up on the fundamental goals -- just change the plan and try again.Remember what Field Marshal von Moltke said: "No plan of battle survives contact with the enemy."Be Efficient
Thirty minutes of going hard with the weights is far better than an hour of farting around in the gym. Running hard for 30 minutes burns more calories than walking for an hour. It also is better for your heart, lungs and cholesterol, and it improves your ability to train harder with weights.Efficiency doesn't just apply to exercise. You can pack an entire week's worth of gym clothes and take them to the office on Monday so you never have to worry about missing a workout because you don't have fresh attire. I found that lunchtime is a good time for weightlifting, and it allows me to skip those fattening coworker trips to the Chinese food buffet.If you get creative, you can think of other ways in your life to exercise efficiently.Think!
You've got a brain; use it. What do you do that wastes time? Where are the holes in your schedule? What do you need to do to fit exercise into your schedule?Time management: You figure it out.
When it comes to eating canned foods, common sense is in order. Plenty of myths abound about the impact canning and preserving have on foods, much in the same way they exist about frozen produce (a lot of which is actually healthier than fresh produce). The general argument is that vitamins diminish over time when produce is tinned, but this is actually just as (if not more) likely to occur with fresh produce, which often sits around in packing plants for lengthy periods before hitting the shelves at your local grocery store. Fruits and vegetables picked for canning are usually processed quickly. A study at the University of Illinois found that a great deal of canned fruit and vegetables contains the same amount of dietary fiber and vitamins as their fresh equivalents.Now that we’ve established canned foods ain’t all that bad, we ask: What are the best canned foods out there? And what can we do with them?
Canned salmon
The first heavyweight on our best canned foods list is the mighty salmon. It’s a worthy inclusion, as not only is this fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, it's actually better for you when canned because it’s packed with the bones intact, meaning more calcium for your bones and teeth. Also, some of the fat is removed, making it a healthier option.Try making a salmon Nicoise: Mix the salmon with cooked potatoes, quartered tomatoes, pitted (stoned) black olives, cooked green beans, and soft-boiled eggs. Dress with a vinaigrette made from olive oil, lemon juice and Dijon.Canned pinto beans
There is virtually no difference between the nutritional value of canned and fresh pinto beans; both require cooking for similar amounts of time. The canned beans are much more convenient and can easily be added to soups or stews. They’re a good source of folate and manganese, relatively high in protein, and rich in vitamin B1 as well as a slew of other minerals.Make a traditional tortilla soup (but lose the tortillas if you’re dieting) with chilies, tomatoes, chicken broth, avocados (a good source of healthy fats), cilantro, lime juice -- the usual suspects -- but add a can of pinto beans to warm through near the end of the cooking time. The soup will go much farther, and you’ll reap the health benefits from the beans.Canned tomatoes
Scientists have been talking about ketchup being a healthy part of your diet for a while now, and this is mainly because lycopene, the antioxidant component of the tomato, becomes more potent when heated. Thus, canned tomatoes are a high source of lycopene and are also rich in vitamins A and C while containing no fat or salt.Make a flavorful sauce to go with roast or grilled chicken. Gently soften sliced onions with garlic. Add torn olives and canned tomatoes, and let cook for a short while. Just before serving, throw in some torn-up basil, then serve alongside your meat.Canned smoked mackerel
Although cooked mackerel is generally healthier for you than smoked (as it doesn't contain any of the nitrates associated with this method of cooking), we’ve gone for the smoked because it is infinitely more versatile and delicious. Canned smoked mackerel is high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids and is very inexpensive.Make a smoked mackerel paste by blitzing the mackerel with cottage cheese, low-fat natural yogurt, cracked black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Eat with crackers or on whole wheat toast.We're serving up five more of the best canned foods next...
While the tall-man, longer-penis theory is an old wives' tale, a new report shows that taller men are biologically superior in at least one other way: They have better hearts. A new study of U.S. doctors found that taller men tend to have less heart failure than shorter men. The study followed 22,000 mid-50s male doctors for more than 20 years. In that span, about 7% -- 1,444 doctors -- developed heart failure. The tallest men in this study -- those 6'0" and taller -- were 24% less likely to develop heart failure compared to the men 5’8” and shorter. It’s possible that these doctors had very different childhoods; depending on whether they were rich or poor, their diet during upbringing could be affecting them later in life. Differences in early life activities were not factored. There’s no proof that those extra inches of height protect the heart, but one hypothesis is that their biology gives their heart more space to work with between the branches of the arteries and blood vessels, and therefore are less stressed over time.