SIX REASONS TO TRAIN LIKE AN ATHLETE

1. BURN MORE CALORIES DURING AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT

Research from the Journal of Strength & Conditioning shows that super sets (two exercises in a row that affect opposing muscles, such as biceps and triceps) and multiple sets both increase energy expenditure during and after the exercise period. This increase in workout intensity means you increase the calories you burn during your workout as well as the calories you burn once your workout is over (also known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which boosts your metabolic rate due to a hormonal response).

2. CURB YOUR CRAVINGS

A recent study from the Technical University of Munich found that people who worked out at low intensity levels felt hungrier after exercising than those who engaged in more demanding workout programs. Researchers say HITT decreases the secretion of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates your appetite. Put another way: The harder you work out, the less you will eat.

3. INCREASE YOUR STRENGTH

Training like an athlete means gaining strength, but you have to challenge youself. When lifting weights, make sure that the last rep is hard to perform; if it isn't, increase the weight you are lifting. A study from Georgia Southern University found that heavy resistance training (two sets of eight reps) burned more calories than lifting two sets of 15 reps of a lighter load. Females don’t worry about bulking up female testosterone levels are one-tenth of the male levels, which makes it very hard to add muscle mass to our frames.

4. DEVELOP POWER AND AGILITY

HITT will add more spring to your step and help you in everyday functional movements. Research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning says that power and agility-oriented moves, such as depth jumps, jump squats and back squats, show more potential for increasing bone mass density than traditional athletic activities like walking or jogging.

5. EAT LIKE AN ATHLETE

Repeat after me: You’re not dieting; you’re learning to fuel your body. If your relationship with food is often rocky, working out like an athlete will have you eating like one. Athletes do not consider the way they eat as a diet per se. They simply learn that some foods are far more effective than others as fuel for their bodies and eat healthily without going on deprivation diets (a common mistake associated with fad weight-loss strategies). With practice, adequate nutrition becomes second nature, and you’ll never again feel like you’re making a sacrifice with every meal.

6. SLEEP BETTER

A Taiwanese study that analyzed sleep quality among female student-athletes found that the group that was subjected to regular high-intensity training sessions reported better scores in sleep quality tests than the students who engaged in normal exercise programs.

My background and experience as an exercise physiologist, strength and conditioning coach, and certified trainer has allowed me to witness how effective this approach can be, to the point that I ended up creating my own training method (MM21) based on sports-oriented fitness techniques.

Sports training applies to every exercise program, regardless of your fitness level or how long you’ve been training. If I’ve learned something from my own training, it’s that you don’t have to be an athlete to train like one, or to enjoy the rewards of a great workout. I’ll see you at the gym!

Top 10 cardio exercises that burn the most calories in 30 minutes.

1. Step Aerobics - One of the most favorite cardio exercises preferred by women. Step Aerobics mainly target your legs, hips and glutes, and can burn approx. 400 calories in 30 minutes. 

2. Bicycling - Stationary or outdoors is a great cardio exercises, depending on resistance and speed can but 250 to 500 calories in 30 minutes. 

3. Swimming - Like cross-country skiing is an excellent cardio exercises as it is a full body exercises. Swimming is a great cross-training for other cardio activities. Doing the breast stroke can burn approx. 400 calories in 30 minutes. 

4. Racquetball - Side to side sprinting makes racquetball and excellent cardio exercises. A 145-lb person burns over 400 calories in 30 minutes. 

5. Rock Climbing - Is not only a cardio exercises, but also uses arm and leg strength and power. Rock Climbing can burn up to 380 calories in 30 minutes. 

6. Cross-Country Skiing - Whether on a machine or outdoors on snow, is an incredible cardio exercises as it involves both upper and lower body. A 145 lb person can burn approx 330 calories in 30 minutes. 

7. Running - Running is an excellent cardio exercises because all you need is a pair of quality running shoes. Running burns serious calories. A 145 LB person can easily burn 300 calories in 30 minutes. 

8. Elliptical Trainer - Is an excellent cardio exercises and a great way to build endurance. A 145 LB person can burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes. 

9. Rowing - Is both a cardio exercises as well as giving your arms an incredible workout. 145 LB person can burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes. 

10. Walking - Brisk walking is a less strenuous form of cardio exercises. Walking can burn up to 180 calories in 30 minutes. Sprinting, adding hills or an incline can increase amount of calories burned.

Run for your health

Running is very good for your health. It provides a great cardiovascular workout, strengthens and tones your muscles. Regular jogging gives better overall physical condition as well as some other health benefits, including mental benefits such as relaxation and reduction of anxiety. Most importantly for many, running is a good way to lose belly fat and generally get fitter.

Regular Running and Jogging

Regular running and jogging is a good way to improve your health and fitness. You do not need to become a marathon runner to benefit greatly from running. Many people are concerned about long term damage to joints such as knees, ankles and hips, as a result of running. However, with good quality running shoes and a sensible approach, the risks are minimal, and the benefits of being fitter outweigh those possible risks.
Jogging makes the heart stronger. It increases the capacity of the blood circulation and of the respiratory system. This is essential for maintaining good fitness. It also speeds up the digestive system and can help to relieve digestive problems. Many people that live a sedentary lifestyle develop digestive problems that can be improved with a healthier diet and some regular exercise.

Running and Mental Health

Running can counteract depression, as all forms of exercise can help people cope with depression. It increases the capacity to work and lead an active life. The fitter you are, the more active you can be. There are so many more opportunities available to people that are healthier and fitter.
There are several beneficial effects of adding running to your weight loss program:

Does jogging help you to lose weight?

Jogging makes you burn fat and thereby helps to lose weight. In addition to increasing metabolism, jogging is an effective way to burn more calories, which helps you lose weight. If calories consumed in food are less than calories spent during exercise and other daily activities, you will lose weight. It is impossible not to! Many people have learned how to lose belly fat by starting a running program.

Jogging helps to reduce stubborn belly fat. Stubborn fat can be very hard to shift, but a running program can really help to cut down on the last of your stubborn fat.
If you suffer from poor appetite, jogging will improve your appetite. Along with all other forms of exercise – the harder you work, the more you need to eat to repair your muscles and refuel them. When you start to run longer distances you will start to eat to fuel your body, and may even find that you need to eat more food everyday, than you did when you were overweight.
Jogging will strengthen the muscles and bone density of your legs, hips and back. Long distance runners have very strong legs, even though they often look very thin and weak. Running does not produce bulky muscles, like weight training or even circuit training does, but it does increase leg strength. Also, the constant impact caused during running can increase bone density, so long as you follow a healthy diet.



Jogging makes you sleep better. Also, if you exercise well, sleep comes much easier. One of the most important factors for improving fitness after exercise and diet is getting adequate sleep. Overtraining can occur if you do not rest properly.

Learning to Enjoy Running

Running can give you both physical and mental joy, so long you do not exhaust yourself! When jogging is done correctly, you will actually feel less tired after you have finished a tour than before you began. You may even start to enjoy the feelings in your muscles during the jogging and afterwards.
Running is a great way of getting away from your usual daily environment. Running outside is often much more pleasurable than exercising in a gym. Even running in the rain can be refreshing and pleasurable. While running some people also get an euphoric mental feeling – a runners high!

Jogging Routes and Sessions

Jogging may be performed in a lot of ways. Long distance jogging generally covers 6-20km, at a moderate speed on even roads or paths. Short distance jogging covers 3-6km in a faster pace. Jogging upwards in a steep terrain 3-4km, in a speed adjusted to the steepness. Jogging in a hilly terrain with paths going both up and down 4-8 km. It is advisable to vary the type of jogging from day to day, and to find several different routes to run. By running different routes you create more variety, which helps to keep you motivated. Also, by having a set of routes of varying distance, you can develop a weekly running schedule, which includes both short fast runs and longer slower runs.

Planning a Running Session

You should start out at a slower pace for a few minutes if you have not warmed up already. Then you gradually increase to a comfortable speed. Once you become familiar with a few different routes, you will quickly learn the best pace for you, and also will know when to push yourself a little harder. Timing each run is a great way to monitor improvements. Some days you may feel that you have not run so well, but the time on the clock may show that you have actually matched your personal best.

A Few Health Benefits of Eating Eggs

A Few Health Benefits of Eating Eggs

Eggs are a good source of low-cost high-quality protein, providing 5.5 grams of protein (11.1% of the daily value for protein) in one egg for a caloric cost of only 68 calories. The structure of humans and animals is built on protein. We rely on animal and vegetable protein for our supply of amino acids, and then our bodies rearrange the nitrogen to create the pattern of amino acids we require.

Boost Brain Health with Eggs' Choline

Another health benefit of eggs is their contribution to the diet as a source of choline. Although our bodies can produce some choline, we cannot make enough to make up for an inadequate supply in our diets, and choline deficiency can also cause deficiency of another B vitamin critically important for health, folic acid.

Choline is definitely a nutrient needed in good supply for good health. Choline is a key component of many fat-containing structures in cell membranes, whose flexibility and integrity depend on adequate supplies of choline. Two fat-like molecules in the brain, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, account for an unusually high percentage of the brain's total mass, so choline is particularly important for brain function and health.

In addition, choline is a highly important molecule in a cellular process called methylation. Many important chemical events in the body are made possible by methylation, in which methyl groups are transferred from one place to another. For example, genes in the body can be switched on or turned off in this way, and cells use methylation to send messages back and forth. Choline, which contains three methyl groups, is highly active in this process.

Choline is also a key component of acetylcholine. A neurotrasmitter that carries messages from and to nerves, acetylcholine is the body's primary chemical means of sending messages between nerves and muscles.\

An Egg Breakfast Helps Promote Weight Loss

In a randomized controlled trial, 160 overweight or obese men and women were divided into 2 groups, one of which ate a breakfast including 2 eggs, while the other consumed a bagel breakfast supplying the same amount of calories and weight mass (an important control factor in satiety and weight loss studies). Participants ate their assigned breakfast at least 5 days a week for 8 weeks as part of a low-fat diet with a 1,000 calorie deficit. (Dhurandhar N, Vander Wal J, et al, FASEB Journal)
Compared to those on the bagel breakfast, egg eaters:

• Lost almost twice as much weight -- egg eaters lost an average of 6.0 pounds compared to bagel eaters' 3.5 pound loss.
• Had an 83% greater decrease in waist circumference
• Reported greater improvements in energy

No significant differences were seen between blood levels of total, HDL and LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides in either group, confirming what other studies (Ballesteros MN, Cabrera RM, Am J Clin Nutr) have shown, including a relative risk study presented at the Experimental Biology meeting: healthy people can safely enjoy eggs without increasing their heart attack risk. The relative risk study, a thorough scientific review of the major studies concerning heart disease causation, which was conducted by Washington, DC-based scientific consulting firm, Exponent, found that eggs contribute just 0.6 percent of men's and 0.4 percent of women's coronary heart disease risk.

Eggs and Heart Health

In addition to its significant effects on brain function and the nervous system, choline also has an impact on cardiovascular health since it is one of the B vitamins that helps converthomocysteine, a molecule that can damage blood vessels, into other benign substances. Eggs are also a good source of vitamin B12, another B vitamin that is of major importance in the process of converting homocysteine into safe molecules.

Eggs are high in cholesterol, and health experts in the past counseled people to therefore avoid this food. (All of the cholesterol in the egg is in the yolk.) However, nutrition experts have now determined people on a low-fat diet can eat one or two eggs a day without measurable changes in their blood cholesterol levels. This information is supported by a statistical analysis of 224 dietary studies carried out over the past 25 years that investigated the relationship between diet and blood cholesterol levels in over 8,000 subjects. What investigators in this study found was that saturated fat in the diet, not dietary cholesterol, is what influences blood cholesterol levels the most.

Helping to Prevent Blood Clots

Eating eggs may help lower risk of a heart attack or stroke by helping to prevent blood clots. A study published in Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin demonstrated that proteins in egg yolk are not only potent inhibitors of human platelet aggregation, but also prolong the time it takes for fibrinogen, a protein present in blood, to be converted into fibrin. Fibrin serves as the scaffolding upon which clumps of platelets along with red and white blood cells are deposited to form a blood clot. These anti-clotting egg yolk proteins inhibit clot formation in a dose-dependent manner—the more egg yolks eaten, the more clot preventing action.(That being said, it's still important to only eat the amount of eggs that fits within your own personal Healthiest Way of Eating.)

The Amazing Herb Black Seed

The Black Seed (botanical name “Nigella Sativa”), known as Black Cumin, Black Caraway Seed, and the Blessed Seed is a popular natural cure in Asia, Middle East and Africa. This seed has found traditional use in the cure for a wide range of ailments and conditions for the fast 14000 years, and tradition in these places consider the Black Seed as a "healing for all diseases except death."


The Black Seed herb and oil has been traditionally used to treat diseases related to the respiratory system, circulatory and immune system, stomach and intestines, parasitic infections, kidney, livers, asthma, bronchitis, rheumatism, common cold, and also skin conditions such as allergies, eczema and boils. Consumption of the Black Seed also contributes to other general health benefits such as increasing body tone, stimulating the menstrual period, increasing milk production in nursing mothers, increasing the flow of breast milk. Black Seed Oil calms the nervous system, quells colic pain, stimulates excretion of urine, helps pertussis, and improves digestion.


The black seed helps against all types of cold ailments and helps introduce the effective ingredients of cold medications to the areas affected by hot and dry ailments, as it helps the body absorb the medicine quickly when taken in small dosages.

Black seed is hot and dry in the third degree, eliminates, flatulence, extracts the helminthes (worm), relieves leprosy and phlegm fevers, opens clogs, decomposes accumulating gas and excess moisture in the stomach.

When it is ground, blended with honey and drunk with some warm water, it will dissolve the stones that appear in the kidney and the prostate and it is also diuretic.

It increases the flow during menstruation and the production of milk

When it is heated with vinegar and placed on the stomach, it will eliminate helminthes (worms) and when it is blended with wet or cooked colocynth water, it is more effective in removing worms.

It also cleans up, decomposes and relieves cold symptoms when it is ground in a rag and inhaled through the nose on a regular basis until the ailment is cured.

Black seeds oil helps against snakebites, hemorrhoids and spots. When around 25grams of it is drunk with water it will help against gasping and hard breathing.

When the black seeds are cooked in vinegar and then one rinses his mouth with it, it will relieve toothache resulting from sensitivity to cold. When one inhales powered black seed, it will help against water that accumulates in the eye. When it is used in a bandage while blended with vinegar, it heals spots and exposed skin ulcers and decomposes the acute mucus tumors and also hard tumors.

The oil of black seed also helps against facial paralysis when administered by the nose. When one drinks about 25grams of its oil, it helps against spider bite. When it is ground finely and blended with the oil of the green seed and used as ear drops, only up to three drops, it helps against symptoms, flatulence and various clogs.

When the Black Seed is fried and finely ground, soaked in oil and then drops are administered in the nose, it will help against cold conditions accompanied by intensive sneezing.

When it is burned and mixed with melted wax along with henna or iris oil, it helps remove the ulcers that appear on the skin of the legs, after washing the skin with vinegar.

When the black seeds are crushed in vinegar and laid on leprous skin, the skin affected by black pigmentation and on the head that is affected by dandruff, it helps relieve these aliments.

When the Black Seeds are ground finely and one swallows around 25grams of it each day with cold water, it instantly helps against the bit of rabid dogs, and might prevent death as a result of hydrophobia. 

The health benefits of Black Seed are not limited to curative purpose alone. Regular consumption of a teaspoon of Black Seed Oil mixed with honey after each meal contributes to better health and strong immunity to diseases.

Mental Benefits of Exercise

Few can deny the physical upside of working out regularly, but there are also several important mental benefits of exercise. This article examines some of the more obvious as well as perhaps lesser known reasons for hitting the jogging trail or gym a couple times a week.By MKDanielsson

Five Mental Benefits of Exercise

These mental benefits of exercise intersect to some degree, and there are more fringe benefits not listed, but here are five big ones:

Stress Relief

Insufferable coworkers, a pompous boss, and escapees from Bob's Driving School for the Blind on your way home is enough to get you in a state where you'd rather just punch someone. Give all this negative energy a positive outlet by pushing iron for a while. Afterwards, you can interact with family and friends like a human being again, which is just as important as the physical health benefits in the big picture.

Depression Prevention

These days, clinically depressed patients are almost always prescribed plenty of exercise. Sure, "happy pills" can take the edge off a bad depression, but it also comes with side effects -- the exact opposite of the impact of exercise-based treatment. You don't have to be truly depressed to reap these benefits, though. In fact, if you're merely feeling a bit blue and can't seem to snap out of your funk, odds are a brisk walk through the forest or a few hard sets of tennis will hit the reset button quite nicely.

Confidence Boost

Being active inevitably builds certain confidence in your physical abilities. If you get stronger in the gym, or shave a couple minutes off your jog, you have hard proof that you're capable of meeting and surpassing real goals. If you are able to pull this off in the gym, you can probably do it elsewhere, too. Likewise, you will experience temporary setbacks and disappointments, and learn to overcome them the next time around. This is another area that translates well from the field of exercise to social life or the professional world.

Improved Sleep

Insomnia and poor sleep are often related to residual stress that didn't get the needed outlet. You can't fix an overdue credit card or revive missed opportunities at work by obsessing about them at 2 AM, yet that is often what people end up doing. Not only does exercise provide a direct outlet for that pent-up stress as outlined earlier, but you also get the immediate, tangible effect of physical tiredness. If you spent the day in an office chair and the evening on the couch, your body never enjoyed real movement. Swim a few dozen laps after work, and at least you will be physically tired when hitting the sack.

Better Energy

Continuing on the previous point, it may seem like a paradox, but you actually get more energized the more energy you use. Not short-term, of course, but over the span of months and years. It's kind of like the old chestnut of having to spend money to make money -- but it's true, as your body is remarkably adaptive and soon adjusts to a certain activity level once you've made it a habit. This energy is as much mental as physical, making it a win-win scenario all around.

There are more mental benefits of exercise to boot, although they overlap what has already been mentioned here. For example, those who exercise regularly tend to be more fit and better looking -- a distinct social advantage that quickly builds self-esteem beyond what is already covered in the Confidence Boost point above. You can also discuss the social aspect of playing sports or going to exercise classes with friends, but the bottom line is clear enough: practically everyone stands to gain from regular exercise, both physically and mentally. Good luck!

Mental Benefits of Exercise

Few can deny the physical upside of working out regularly, but there are also several important mental benefits of exercise. This article examines some of the more obvious as well as perhaps lesser known reasons for hitting the track or gym a couple times a week. 

Five Mental Benefits of Exercise

These mental benefits of exercise intersect to some degree, and there are more fringe benefits not listed, but here are five big ones:

Stress Relief

Insufferable coworkers, a pompous boss, and riding the bus with school kids is enough to get you in a state where you'd rather just punch someone. Give all this negative energy a positive outlet by pumping iron for a while. Afterwards, you can interact with family and friends like a human being again, which is just as important as the physical health benefits in the big picture.

Depression Prevention

These days, clinically depressed patients are almost always prescribed plenty of exercise. Sure, "happy pills" can take the edge off a bad depression, but it also comes with side effects -- the exact opposite of the impact of exercise-based treatment. You don't have to be truly depressed to reap these benefits, though. In fact, if you're merely feeling a bit blue and can't seem to snap out of your funk, odds are a brisk walk or run, or a few hard sets of tennis will hit the reset button quite nicely.

Confidence Boost

Being active inevitably builds certain confidence in your physical abilities. If you get stronger in the gym, or shave a couple minutes off your jog, you have hard proof that you're capable of meeting and surpassing real goals. If you are able to pull this off in the gym, you can probably do it elsewhere, too. Likewise, you will experience temporary setbacks and disappointments, and learn to overcome them the next time around. This is another area that translates well from the field of exercise to social life or the professional world.

Improved Sleep

Insomnia and poor sleep are often related to residual stress that didn't get the needed outlet. You can't fix an overdue credit card or revive missed opportunities at work by obsessing about them at 2 AM, yet that is often what people end up doing. Not only does exercise provide a direct outlet for that pent-up stress as outlined earlier, but you also get the immediate, tangible effect of physical tiredness. If you spent the day in an office chair and the evening on the couch, your body never enjoyed real movement. Swim a few dozen laps after work, and at least you will be physically tired when hitting the sack.

Better Energy

Continuing on the previous point, it may seem like a paradox, but you actually get more energized the more energy you use. Not short-term, of course, but over the span of months and years. It's kind of like the old chestnut of having to spend money to make money -- but it's true, as your body is remarkably adaptive and soon adjusts to a certain activity level once you've made it a habit. This energy is as much mental as physical, making it a win-win scenario all around.

Other Benefits There are more mental benefits of exercise to boot, although they overlap what has already been mentioned here. For example, those who exercise regularly tend to be more fit and better looking -- a distinct social advantage that quickly builds self-esteem beyond what is already covered in the Confidence Boost point above. You can also discuss the social aspect of playing sports or going to exercise classes with friends, but the bottom line is clear enough: practically everyone stands to gain from regular exercise, both physically and mentally. Good luck!