Choosing a Good Running Shoe

Good footwear for every occasion is essential to your comfort, health and well-being. Every foot is different, so the first step in buying a good running shoe is to examine your foot to determine what characteristics you want in a running shoe. You need to determine your degree of pronation. If you tend to over pronate, your foot turns in, you will have flat arches and the soles of your shoes will show more wear on the inside edge.

We divide our shoes into three main categories (cushioned, stability and motion control); and three minor ones (performance training, racing and off-road). The first three are everyday options and are categorized essentially by your biomechanical needs; the second three are more specialized and you’d often only consider them as second shoes.

If you are running primarily on grass, trails, or any surface that is slippery, you may want to consider getting trail shoes. These shoes usually have added traction, durability, and stability; these shoes will help you get through the mud and leaves and, somewhat, the water with less slipping and sliding. If you run trails a large portion of the time, you may want to consider trail running shoes. However, it's always a good idea to keep a regular pair of running shoes around for when you want to hit the roads.

If you are a competitive racer you may want to invest in a good pair of racing flats. These shoes are made to be fast and flexible, but do increase the risk of injury. These shoes should only be used DURING races, and to break them in.

Breathe Efficiently While Running

An efficient pattern of breathing while running is essential for personal comfort, which leads to endurance. For many people, the pattern is involuntary. For others, conscious thought is involved until a comfortable and unique rhythm can be attained. Start out with the basic pattern described below and adjust for personal preference.

Running requires fuel. Oxygen is your fuel source and you need lots of it when running. Breathing through your nose restricts air intake when running, and thus, will cause you to run with less running power. Breathe with your mouth and, push the air in and out of your body with your stomach. Take slow deep controlled breaths, this will help improve on your running efficiency.

Long distance runners can change up from nose to mouth breathing with no substantial change in their position while racing but the principles mentioned earlier still hold true.

Long distance runners may not loose a race due to breathing methods but sprinters might.

# Try slowing down before attempting to change your breathing.
# Focus on longer, deeper breaths.
# Breath more from your diaphragm (belly) than your chest (chest breathing is more shallow).
# Focus on exhaling more fully. This will remove more CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and allow for deeper inhalations of O2 (Oxygen).
# Allow air to enter through both the nose and mouth. This will allow for maximum O2 intake.
# Aim to take three footsteps for every inhale, and two footsteps for every exhale (3:2 ratio).

Sports Bra Benefits for Your Health

A good bra is as much a part of a good outfit as the outer garments and accessories are. Good support and comfort are equally important when choosing a bra. When a woman adds exercise to her beauty regimen, she still needs adequate comfort and support in her undergarment as she works up a sweat. Sports bras are designed to make exercise more comfortable for women. Sports bras have several benefits when compared to regular bras.

Sports bras have the primary benefit of decreasing the risk of damage to the ligaments connected to the breast tissue. When a woman exercises, the breast tissue can move severely and the ligaments can stretch over time without support. This results in the breast tissue eventually sagging and the breasts losing shape. Sports bras prevent this by minimizing the amount of movement the breast tissue can achieve.

Perhaps the most popular benefit sports bras offer is their ability to minimize breast movement. Breast movement can make participating in physical activities both inconvenient and painful. The right sports bra will hold everything in place without making your breasts feel squashed and uncomfortable. Full-figure sports bras offer maximum support for large busts.

Every woman should wear a sports bra while exercising or lifting weights to have a healthier back. No matter what size you are ‘A, B, C, D or even E’ when you exercise your back will take a beating. Your upper back will be affected whether you are doing a low impact exercise or high impact exercises.

Sports bra will help you keep your posture right and will give you the extra support that you need.

If you upper back is not supported and off balance it will affect your lower back. As we all know our spine plays an important role in our overall well being. So if your upper back is not properly supported due to our breasts, our upper back will not be aligned properly. This will in turn cause our lower spine to shift throwing our lower back off balance.

The Secret to Burning Fat up to 300% Faster

When is the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise? The answer is any time! The most important thing is that you just do it. Continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it. However, if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal – even if you’re not a “morning person.” Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has three major advantages over exercising later in the day.

First of all, morning cardio burns more fat! Early in the morning before you eat, your levels of muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are low. If you eat dinner at 7 p.m and you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., that's 12 hours without food. During this 12-hour overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on even while you sleep. As a result, you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar - the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbohydrate. How much more fat you'll burn is uncertain, but some studies have suggested that up to 300% more fat is burned when cardio is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state.

EXERCISE IN THE EVENING - Do the other half of your workout in the evening. For example, lift weights in the morning and then take a long walk after dinner. Exercising in the evening will keep your body burning fat all night long. You can burn fat faster with plenty of exercise.

Stretching After Running

There's an endless number of runners who seem perfectly able to squeeze in many hours of running every week but who just don't seem to have the time to stretch for five or ten minutes before and after. Find the time.

Stretching is important during your warm-up, before you run, because it increases blood flow to the muscles. But stretching during your cool-down may be even more important. "After running, stretching helps to remove lactic acid from the muscle, which in turn reduces muscle soreness," says Pitchford. "That promotes better flexibility." Stretching afterwards also will help you relax.

While stretching can promote flexibility, stretching too far actually can damage the muscles—particularly if you’re recovering form an injury. "A healthy muscle can elongate up to 1.6 times its length," suggests Pitchford, "but generally doesn’t respond well to that much stretching." By overstretching, you create an automatic myotatic reflex that actually will cause the muscle to recoil to protect itself from tearing and injury. Also, don’t bounce while stretching. Holding your stretch in a static position works best.

Stretching after you run is a biggie. Always stretch after your run. Light stretching is a good way to cool down after running. And it gives you a chance to strengthen some important running muscles.

To see the benefit of stretching, try running without stretching afterwards and then next time take time out to do a 10 minute warm down of stretches. Compare how you feel after doing both and you'll notice the benefit of stretching.

Stretching Before Exercise Myths

Myth: Perform stretches before a warm up.

Fact: Though stretching should be part of warming up, the muscles must be warmed before flexibility exercises. Perform light cardiovascular exercise for 5 to 10 minutes before stretching to prepare your muscles for activity.

The best type of stretching to perform before your workout is dynamic stretching. This is stretching that involves movement of the muscles. Dynamic stretching includes arm circles, weightless walking lunges, side bends and trunk rotations.

Sports scientists have determined that stretching before you exercise could increase the chance of injury and not decrease as previously thought. Static stretching before you have thoroughly warmed up causes muscles to tighten up which is the opposite of what you want before you exercise.

Some studies have suggested that stretching actually makes muscles more susceptible to injury. They claim that by stretching, muscle fibers are lengthened and destabilized, making them less prepared for the strain of exercise. “You might want to warm-up and stretch before a run, but if you are lifting weights wait until after the workout to stretch your muscles,” Tyne suggests.

Foods You Need to Build Muscle

To build muscle & lose fat, you need a variety of proteins, veggies, fruits, carbs, and healthy fats. Eating protein helps building & maintaining muscle. But it also helps fat loss: protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs/fats.

Eating fats also helps fat loss: your body holds fat if you don’t eat fats. Fruits & veggies contain vitamins & minerals, necessary for recovery from your workouts. And carbs fuel your muscles so you feel full of energy at the gym.

Eat Whole Foods. You’ll achieve a lower body fat, so the muscles you’ve built show better. And the vitamin & mineral content helps recovery. Stop eating food coming from a box. Eat whole foods 90% of the time.

Training is more important than diet for muscle building. But you do need to give your body the food it needs for optimal recovery. Most guys don’t eat enough, you got to eat more to build muscle.

Protein is the building blocks of muscle. In fact, mach of what makes up your muscle is protein. So protein is needed to repair broken down muscle and build new muscle. There is musch debate about the amount of protein you need. There are too many variables such as goals, weight, sex etc. My recommendation is east as much protein as possible, especially at key meal times (after your workout and before bed). High protein foods include chicken, red meat, fish and eggs.

Caffeine and Workout

The main ingredient in coffee that gives us that jolt is caffeine, a central nervous system stimulant. Caffeine is found naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, and chocolate, and is a popular added ingredient in carbonated beverages and some over-the-counter medications such as cold remedies, diuretics, aspirin, and weight control aids. It is estimated that in the U.S., 75% of caffeine intake comes from coffee.

Getting juiced on caffeine doesn't put gas in the tank. Registered dietician Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine in Pittsburgh, recommends pairing your coffee with oatmeal or a small bagel with peanut butter before you exercise to avoid cramps). "Drinking coffee black with a small snack provides the fluid you need for hydration as well as the carbohydrate, sugar and sodium that the body needs to sustain itself," she says.

In addition to various psychological and physiological benefits, numerous studies have documented caffeine’s ergogenic effect on athletic performance, particularly in regard to endurance. Studies show that caffeine ingestion prior to exercising extended endurance in moderately strenuous aerobic activity. Other studies researching caffeine consumption on elite distance runners and distance swimmers show increased performance times following caffeine consumption.

A cup of coffee that many cyclists, runners and other athletes drink before a workout or a competition, does much more than just energize them. According to the scientists, caffeine kills some of the pain of athletic exertion by blocking the receptors that make the brain aware of muscle strain.

Lose Weight with Ephedrine (Ephedra)

Ephedrine is a drug that has two primary side effects in addition to its curative properties for other ailments. First, it works as an appetite suppressant. Secondly, it works to boost energy at attentiveness. Although Ephedrine has been used for centuries in Asian medicine to cure bronchial issues and asthma, the benefits for weight loss have exceeded any other beneficial use for the drug. It is now in high demand for weight loss much more so than any other need. It is no secret that maintaining a healthy weight has long term benefits in maintaining a vital life. Using a drug such as ephedrine can help with accomplishing those goals.

Ephedra is probably one of the most controversial supplement in the fitness industry. Some fitness gurus are in love with it, while some stay far away from it. So it is important you have all the straight facts, so that you can decide on weather ephedra is right for you. Please remember that it is a good idea to always speak to a health care professional before using any new supplements.

Ephedra ' s primary active ingredients, the chemicals ephedrine and pseudo - ephedrine, have two major effects: They stimulate the central nervous outline and they open the airways. Ephedra ' s stimulant effect is stronger than that of caffeine, but less potent than that of amphetamines or that of the natural adrenal hormone epinephrine ( adrenaline ), which prepares the body for stressful situations ( the " fight - or - flight " hoopla ).

Ephedra makes the emotions beat faster, increases bittersweet pressure, speeds spread the metabolism, and acts as a diuretic. But throughout its lingering gag its main use has been as a bronchodilator, to treat the bronchial and nasal congestion of asthma, allergies, colds, and sinus infections. In the 1920s, U. S. drug companies began extracting active ingredients from the herb and using it in asthma and cold medicines. A practice that many companies still follow today.

Despite its many potentially harmful side effects, ephedrine is for the most part, dangerous only if abused. Nevertheless, it offers a variety of positive qualities in terms of its beneficial effects on particular aspects of the mind and body. One of its more significant qualities is its potential effect on weight loss. Ephedrine has the unique ability to stimulate thermogenesis in the human body. It works by, essentially, speeding up the heart rate, thus inducing a faster metabolism. "To lose body fat, you must burn more energy than you eat so that your body has to draw upon the fuel stored in fat cells. The only way to lose weight is to increase the amount of fuel you burn, decrease the amount you consume, or do both at the same time. The rate at which you can lose weight is limited by how fast the body burns energy."

Ice Cream and Weight Loss

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a weight loss ice cream? As the summer looms ahead of us, it seems natural to want to enjoy a sundae or a cone of your favorite frozen treat. If you're trying to lose weight though, it's difficult. Most diets suggest that you eliminate all junk foods...and that includes ice cream. Which is a big bummer.

But the truth is that you can still eat dessert and lose weight--you just have to make smart choices about the desserts that you do choose to eat.

Hot new research reveals that ice cream, when eaten as part of a healthy diet, may actually melt away fat, helping you lose weight quicker than if you abstained! Plus a dish a day helps you get healthier in other ways according to Marsha Hudnall's book, THE ICE CREAM DIET.

A key benefit of ice cream is the calcium it provides. Only 4% of women over 50 meet the daily 1,200 mg goal. The average female calcium intake is only 652 mg. Less than one third of men reach these same goals.

How does calcium help you lose? A diet low in calcium shuts down your body's fat burning ability, say experts. When your body doesn't get enough calcium, it triggers fat cells to store fat and get bigger.

Several studies have shown that a diet high in low-fat dairy has increased the amount of fat lost and lowered the amount of fat storage causing quick weight loss. ncreasing your calcium intake by eating low-fat high calcium source dairy foods.

The recommended amount of calcium for women is 1,000 to 1,300 mg per day.
The recommended amount of calcium for men is 1,000 to 1,200 mg per day.

Sport Bra for Large Breast Benefits

Sports bras are designed to provide firm support for women while participating in physical activity.

Sturdier than standard bras, a sports bra will offer greater support for your breasts, increasing comfort and reducing the chance of damage to your chest ligaments during exercise, especially during high impact activities such as running, aerobics and horse riding.

A good bra is as much a part of a good outfit as the outer garments and accessories are. Good support and comfort are equally important when choosing a bra. When a woman adds exercise to her beauty regimen, she still needs adequate comfort and support in her undergarment as she works up a sweat. Sports bras are designed to make exercise more comfortable for women. Sports bras have several benefits when compared to regular bras.

Sports bras for big busts are definitely worth their weight in gold.

Why? Because 'D' sized breasts can bounce an average of 6-8 inches when running! Ouch! There are several companies that are finally making high impact bras for big busts that work excellent during exercise. Because this bra reduces bounce so well it is one of the best running bras for large breasted women like myself. It works really well for keeping you comfortable while you run. With an Enell bra you will never need to "double up" even with the most vigorous activities.

Jogging at Night

With busy schedules and limited hours of daylight, some runners find their only time to run is in the darkness of early morning or evening. Running in daylight is always a safer choice, but if you have to run at night or in the early morning, make sure to follow these guidelines.

Choose a Well-lit Route

It might not be your favorite route to run, but the most well-lit route is your safest choice. Oncoming cars see you better, and you'll always be able to see the road and avoid potential hazards.

Always Run Against Traffic

It's easier to avoid cars if you can see them coming. Avoid busy roads and those with no shoulders or sidewalks.

Be Visible

If you're running in the early morning or at night, even at dusk, wear white, yellow, or orange clothes. Also, make sure you have reflective gear on. Although some items (running shoes, jackets) already have reflective pieces on them, it doesn't hurt to add more. A headlamp is also a great item for runners who do a lot of early morning or evening runs.

For a runner, bright neon glow colors are the first line of defense against getting hit by a vehicle and making it possible for people to be able to see you on dimly lit streets. Ideally, a runner should not be jogging after dark, but if the need arises, it is best to run with a friend or companion and always let someone know your course to be taken and carry a cell phone. If trouble does arise, you can possibly avoid serious injury by alerting rescue crews.

The next most important piece of the safety puzzle is non-lethal personal protection such as Pepper Spray or a Stun Gun. A new and exciting item that Erie Shore Security Products carries is called Mace Hotwalkers Pepper Spray Walking Weights, specifically made for joggers.

The Advantages of Streching in the Morning

Whats the big deal? According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, your workout should balance cardiovascular exercise, strength training and stretching or flexibility exercises. But even though stretching is one of the simplest and painless physical activities, it remains the most undervalued.

There’s a good chance stretching is an afterthought in your workout routine. You may pull your leg up behind you to stretch your quads, touch your toes to loosen your back or grab your elbow and pull your arm behind your head before you head out the door for a run... and that's on a good day.

Stretching in the morning may be the best way to make the most of every day. Regular morning stretches help maintain overall flexibility, which, in turn, affects the rest of our lives. Stretching prevents every day injuries and allows our muscles to perform at their maximum potential. In addition, stretching is simple, requiring no additional equipment or physical skills, and demanding only a little bit of time.

Like a good tune up for an automobile, daily stretching, especially in the morning, helps work out any “kinks” in your body. Also, stretching in the morning prevents those “kinks” from happening to begin with. Muscle and back pain, for example, can be both alleviated and prevented by a good program of daily stretching.

Things like yoga and pilates can stretch muscles and increase blood flow throughout your body - which helps in numerous ways, one of which is waking you up and making you feel "alive".

General stretching can probably have the same effect, but you'd need to do a thoroughly vigorous job.

Roid Rage : Common Steroid User Problem

When people use anabolic steroids, a dangerous practice for many reasons, they are essentially placing extra levels of testosterone in their bodies. This hormone can at first have positive effects on the psyche, which later turn negative. Steroid users at first may acquaint steroid use with feeling well, unconquerable or very happy. Continued use of steroids may result in much greater mood and behavior change. People may become more aggressive, more hostile, or they may manifest symptoms of various forms of mental illness, like schizophrenia, mania, and deep depression. Anabolic steroid use is linked not only to roid rage and sudden mood changes, but also to a higher incidence of suicide than in the general populace.

Could anabolic steroids account for severely violent acts?

Yes. It's been implicated in a number of murders and can result in extreme aberrations of behavior including the taking of one's life.

Another thing you have to be mindful of -- it may unmask an underlying psychiatric disorder that has been basically kept in check until the individual is exposed to this category of drugs. And so what you may be seeing is unmasked psychiatric disorder.

There is a problem with steroids and rage. Overtraining causes all these steroid symptoms like irritation, sleeping problems, sweating, nervousness, and so on. This is found in hard training athletes like marathon runners, water polo players, and cross country skiers who do not use steroids. As we all know, it is a lot harder to overtrain once doing cardio exercises than weight lifting. So, someone takes steroids and starts training way too much and maybe even dieting . It isn't too hard to figure out the effects of such overtraining.

Dropping that Belly Fat

Have you ever wondered how to lose your belly fat fast or how to lose weight quickly? Have you spent countless amounts of time and precious dollars chasing the next '5 minutes to a six pack' or 'lose the belly in a day' scheme? Have you been dreaming of achieving a hot beach body or ripped abs for the summer?

In case you are already health-conscious and have been doing diet and exercise, then it is likely that you can get rid of that dreaded belly fat sooner. The trick to successfully lose belly fat is to avoid adding more fat to your belly especially if you are not burning off fat through exercise. To add to that, people who are already fat should be weary of adding more fat into their body since it could elevate the likelihood of illness. Have you considered the fat that having a flabby tummy actually exposes you to a higher health risk than having fat in your butt and thighs? Seems it is indeed the right time to decide to lose the belly fat, now.

Eating habits are often the hardest thing for people to change so it would be wise to write the reasons as to why you wish to lose the belly fat so that you stay motivated and on task. There are also many different hobbies that people can pick up to help them lose belly fat. If you were to take up belly dancing that can easily help you drop many pounds a month. Belly dancing requires a lot of activate from the abdominal region and gives it a very hard workout.

Yoga Health Effects

There are many ways to make your body healthy. You can eat healthy food, do some workouts, and free your mind from stress. Either ways are important to be healthy. There are so many kind or workouts you can choose. You can choose cardio exercises, do weight lifting, or do relaxing and stretching exercise with yoga.

Yoga health benefits are vast as they help to stretch, tone and strengthen every part of the body; they also massage internal organs and allow the practitioner to find a healthy balance in life. Yoga benefits are evident. One simple recommendation: don’t overload. Yoga health benefits are countless as you will be stress free, smooth movements of your joints, reduces your joint pain and improvement of immunity system helps to fight with other diseases.

Stress is the number one suspect affecting all parts of our physical, endocrinal and emotional system. And with the help of yoga this things can be corrected.

At the physical level, yoga and its cleansing practices have proven to be extremely effective for various disorders.

When some people think of yoga, they imagine having to stretch like a gymnast. That makes them worry that they're too old, unfit, or "tight" to do yoga. The truth is you're never too old to improve flexibility.

The series of yoga poses called asanas work by safely stretching your muscles. This releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. In addition, yoga increases the range of motion in joints. It may also increase lubrication in the joints. The outcome is a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body.

Stay Fit and Keep Healthy

For years, people known that a regular exercise routine with good nutrition is good for health.

However, to achieve good health and fitness, the key is to identify how to build healthy eating plans and a fitness routine into your busy lifestyle.

Heart is the most essential part of the body and maintaining healthy heart can make you stay healthier and live much longer life. So, start practicing aerobics exercises (walking, running, jogging, and/or swimming) regularly for 5-10 minutes a day.

Increase the intensity and duration of your workouts gradually. This type of fitness tip can surely make heart younger and healthier.

Full sprint would strain the muscle of your lower body. This is to be kept in mind if you plan to go for a sport requiring full sprint. To fight this drawback, stop-and-go exercises are the best. For an instance, run 30 meters with about 80% of the effort, then slow to jogging for about 5 to 10 meters, and then run again another 30 meters. You can repeat this procedure about five times.

Fat Loss Secret

Actually, there is no secret. All you have to do is do the diet, do routine workout and cardio, and have some motivations. That's all!

Using Creatine, or Not?

Have you thought about it? Do you prefer to using creatine or not? If you want to bulking up your muscle, then I suggest you to use it.

Creatine supplementation is not banned by the International Olympic Committee and, with the exception of a small increase in body mass (~1 kg) over the initial 3-6 days, does not appear to have any adverse side effects, at least with short-term use.

Few scientific data are available for more prolonged use but considering the large numbers of athletes using creatine over the past 6+ years and the absence of reported problems, it may be that the often discussed somewhat nebulous long term adverse effects are presently being overestimated.

it is clear that creatine supplements would need to be ingested with very large quantities of simple carbohydrates to achieve an insulin-mediated stimulation of muscle creatine transport. However, it has been reported that the ingestion of proteins in combination with carbohydrates can result in a greater increase in serum insulin concentrations than would be expected from the sum of their individual responses

List of Creatine Supplement Products

This is not an advertising. Just some information to keep you update about the creatine supplement products in the market.

What's best? The creatine supplements with built in dextrose, aminos and other goodies are probably the best, but cost-effectively a good micronized creatine taken with grape juice wouldn't be a bad choice. Take creatine post-workout.

Top 5 sellers?

USPlabs Jack3d

BSN NO-Xplode

Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump250

Higher Power Micronized Creatine

Optimum Micronized Creatine Powder


Which one do you choose?