I got my flu shot last week and I know that many people are nervous about getting a flu shot, let’s face it no one wants to get a shot just because it “might” help them stay healthy, but it really is important.

Studies show that even though a lot of press is made about the flu shot occasionally not being formulated to hit the right flu virus, more often than not the researchers are right on and a lot of sickness is avoided by getting a simple flu shot.

The flu shot may not just protect against influenza. A new study suggests it may also reduce the risk of developing a blood clot by as much as 26 per cent.

Researchers from the University Paris Descartes found that the flu shot was equally effective against two types of blood clots: deep vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in the leg, and pulmonary embolism, which is a clot in the lung.

A blood clot can be fatal if it breaks loose, travels through the bloodstream and reaches the lungs.

The research, which included more than 1,400 patients, also found that the flu shot: Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks for visiting. To get started why not subscribe to the 21 day fitness plan at the top of this page. Look in the red box, it is right there.. Thanks Bill

I was at the supermarket yesterday and while looking at the magazines I saw that Barack Obama was on the cover of one of the fitness magazines, I almost bought it to see why he would be on the cover but didn’t. I am still thinking about it today so I guess maybe I should go and pick it up this afternoon.

Anyway, back in May, Men’s Fitness magazine named Barack Obama one of its “25 Fittest” describing how Obama starts every day with a workout and generally skips fatty foods.

The magazine quotes former Duke University player and Obama staffer Reggie Love on the president-elect’s backetball skills “He’s wiry-looking but actually pretty strong,” Reggie said. “And he hates losing. He plays hard.”

Fitness advocates hope Barack can inspire Americans to get active just as he inspired young people, minorities and those who never voted to go to the polls. Read the rest of this entry »

What are the foods to gain muscle? I wrote a few posts last week that were about how to gain muacle and how to do weight workouts to gain muscle. One of the things that I kind of glossed over were the foods that you need to eat to gain muscle. Lots of this may just be a recap for lots of people but it is important to know what foods help you gain muscle and what your diet should look like.

Protein to gain muscle

The building block of all muscles is a combination of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and water. If you look at that as part of your diet then you need to eat lots of protein. Here I want to stress lean protein, you know fish, chicken, lean beef, not Kentucky Fried Chicken or deep fried fish. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a new batch of posts that I have run across that I wanted to let you know about. These are about all sorts of things but are all a really great read if you want to do more to keep yourself healthy.

12 Winter Depression Busters

We are entering Winter. If winter is not ourside of your front door then it is probably getting close anyway. Here are 12 tips that should help you stay healthy over the winter.

Checking your Vitamin D

Did you know that Vitamin D deficeincies happen most during the Winter? When there is not as much sun in the sky and we are outdoors less we do not get a chance to get as much Vitamin D as we may need. Dr Gabe Mirkin tells us about a blood test that we can get to check our level of Vitamin D in our system.

10 Commandments of Primal Gym Time

Zen to Fitness is a great blog and I loved the pic on this page of Arnold the Governator with his future wife probably taken back in the early 80s. Anyway the article itself is a great list of things to do to get the most our of your weight workout.

As we all know a faster metabolism will help you lose weight. One of the risks that people that are overweight hve is an increased risk of getting diabetes.

A new study done by a pharmaceutical company seems to show that taking a certain drug for raising metabolism also reduces the risk of diabetes.

Investigational drugs that mimic the metabolic effects of calorie restriction have shown favorable results in animal models, according to researchers here and in France.
Action Points

Read the rest of this entry »

I have not posted about this before, but about a year or maybe a little longer ago i wrote a little review on the Fat Loss for Idiots diet.

When I first read about the diet I was initially skeptical because that whole “Lose 9 Pounds in 11 Days” bit sounds more than a bit stupid  but I have certainly been proven wrong as many people seem to have lost that in the first week and then continued to lose for a few weeks after at least. Eventually of course most people need to really ramp up the exercise to lose tons of weight but initially at least there are some great losses to read about.

I ended up writing a positive review about Fat Loss for Idiots and since I have commenting on this blog turned on it seems that people have really taken to discussing how the diet is going for them and what they like and don’t like about Fat Loss for Idiots.

So far over 200 comments have been posted about the diet and I have been blown away by the amount that people are sharing and how supportive everyone has been to each other, it is really fantastic to see.

There are a few things that you can do to gain muscle weight fast. The first thing to remember is that to gain muscle weight fast you need to take care of your diet, you need to train correctly and finally you need to rest very well so that you can make the most of those workouts.

In the last article I pointed out that most people do not use weightlifting as a form of exercise although it is critical to do this instead of just cardio to help drive up your metabolism. There are a few problems though. Most people as they try to gain muscle weight fast make the critical mistake of overtraining while also not eating and resting enough.

So lets look at the proper way for eating, resting and training to maximize gains and minimize overtraining in your quest to gain muscle weight fast. Read the rest of this entry »

There are several reasons that people do not lift weights but several more reasons why it is important to add weightlifting to your health and fitness regimen.

This week I am hoping to write a few articles that will help you understand what it takes to lift weights as well as the how and why weightlifting is important, but today lets just start with the basics.

First of all did you know that fewer that 10% of the population actually does any weightlifting in their pursuit of fitness? I know that the number is low for a few reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Your chest is a large muscle muscle group the more scientific term is the pectoral muscles. The funny thing is that for most people the chest is undeveloped because we really don’t use it as much as a arm muscle or leg muscle.

The best chest exercises are Bench Presses and Flyes.

There are also different ways to hit the chest muscles using angles. Think about bench presses as an example. If you change the angle of the bench so that it is higher at the end then it will put more tension on the upper pecs, flat bench presses are great for hitting the entire pectoral muscle. If you can find a decline bench then bench presses on this will really hit the bottom part of your chest. You will find declines are easier to do heavier weights with and this is because there is just more muscle there. Read the rest of this entry »

I just watched the Biggest Loser and they had Dave from Mens Fitness on. In a challenge tonight it was a better food choice type challenge The contestants were supposed to be choosing one food over the other.

Multigrain bagel with light cream cheese vs a McDonald’s style have and Egg McMuffin

OK, I like the Egg McMuffin lots. Thesy are yummy and greasy and not good for you and neither is the bagel. The Egg McMuffin was deemed to be better but man that is a lot fo calories

Burritos vs 18 light beers

We all know that burritos are not really good for you and they were apparently a better choice than 18 light beers but come on. The kicker was that 17 light beers would have been better. Would either of these be a healthy choice? Beer will slow you metabolism, the Burritos have protein but are really fatty.

Calories are not the only thing that matters for healthy eating. Watch the carbs, watch the fat!

Then to make things worse the trainers tip from Bob Harper was to eat Dark Chocolate. Again I love chocolate but isn’t it a bit irresponsible to be touting the wonders of dark chocolate a couple of days before Halloween?

I am still watching the show on the PVR right now but just had to comment on that.