Fitness and Muscle Work

feature by askmen.com It takes a certain type of individual to successfully become an FBI agent. Not only do they need to have strong mental capacities, good reasoning skills, the ability to think and act quickly, and excellent vision and hearing, but they must also be in great physical condition. Any person who wants to apply to become an FBI agent will be put through a rigorous fitness test, and if this testing is not trained for they are unlikely to be successful. Fortunately, as long as a proper training program is sought, the test should not be an obstacle. test requirements The test all potential agents will be put through consists of four different components: A maximum sit-up test to be performed in a one-minute time period. A timed 300-meter sprint. A maximum push-up test (performed until fatigue). A timed 1.5 mile run. Note that in order to successfully pass the fitness examination, a total of 12 points from all four tests combined must be achieved. Each test is graded on a s...

Related Article Heidi Klum Six Pack Abs

Want to know what celebrity workout Heidi Klum uses? This abs workout, designed by her personal trainer, will tone your stomach in no time. -By the editors of FitnessMagazine.com She's a supermodel for a reason: three kids later, Heidi Klum still looks sexy as ever modeling for Victoria's Secret. Two months after having her second child, Klum confidently walked the runway in a Victoria's Secret fashion show. How did she do it? In addition to a diet of lean protein, Heidi Klum worked out for 90 minutes every day to get her pre-baby body back. Since you're not on deadline to strut your stuff in lingerie, your workout doesn't have to be as extreme. Heidi Klum's trainer David Kirsch gave us the workout to lose the baby weight and be a hot mama like Heidi Klum. Get Slim All Over A combo of cardio and strength training quickens weight loss. Do 30 minutes of cardio three times a week and light weights twice a week. Get Six-Pack Abs Lie faceup holding a stability ball w...

An introduction Today, Obesity is one big problem in many country. Obesity is a condition where your body stored to many fat. Fat is good in small amount. Fat provides insulation and protection for internal organs, also as a source of energy when body lacks the energy. But in big amount, fat become a killer. Bring variety health problems. Obese run a greater risk of developing Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer. For example, in US, according to CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention), nearly 31 percent of the population is obese. If calories from food equal to the calories of energy that body used, your weight stay constant. But when a person consumes more calories than body needs, body will store those additional calories as fat. Consuming about 3,500 calories more than what the body needs will gain your witght about 0.45 kg of fat. Today many people have unhealthy lifestyles that made obese come easily to their life. ...

By Elizabeth Lee WebMD Feature Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Does eating red meat increase the risk of dying from heart disease or cancer? On the other side, most people said, building muscle need red meat protein. So read this to get more information about health red meat for your muscle. It’s a question that keeps coming up, fueled by research and high-profile campaigns by advocacy groups on both sides of the debate. WebMD asked the experts, looking for answers about disease risk, health benefits, and what role red meat should play in the diet. Here’s what they had to say. Q: Does eating red meat increase the risk of cancer and heart disease? A: For heart disease, the answer is pretty clear. Some red meats are high in saturated fat, which raises blood cholesterol. High levels of LDL cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease. When it comes to cancer, the answer is not so clear. Many researchers say they do raise the risk, especially for colorectal cancer. A recent National Instit...

Water aerobics or "waterobics" is the performance of aerobic exercise in shallow water such as a swimming pool. In some areas it is known as AquaFit or "aqua aerobics", and is a type of resistance training. Techniques Water aerobic workouts usually combine a variety of techniques from land aerobics, including walking or running backward and forward, jumping jacks, mimicking cross-country skiing, along with various arm movements. The workout also may incorporate equipment such as flotation devices. Benefits In addition to the standard benefits of any exercise, the use of water in water aerobics supports the body and reduces the risk of muscle or joint injury. The mitigation of gravity by flotation places less stress on the joints when stretching, and can allow a greater range of motion. The mitigation of gravity makes water aerobics safe for individuals able to keep their heads out of water, including the elderly. Exercise in water can also prevent overheating throug...

By Rebecca Buffum Taylor WebMD Feature Before You Start: Safety First If you have nerve pain, get the go-ahead to start any new form of exercise from your doctor. You don't want to make diabetic neuropathy worse - and most diabetic people are at higher risk of heart and circulation problems, so your doctor may want to check your heart, eyes, and feet. Be cautious about exercising if your blood sugar is over 250, says Trence. "For some people it may be a little higher or lower," she says, "but it's an approximate number above which, clearly, we want people to watch and see what happens. See what your own body does." Check your blood glucose before and after exercise so you learn how your body and medications responds to different kinds of activity, advises the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Tip 1. Go for Low-Impact Exercise Knowing you're doing something safe -- especially if you have painful neuropathy or loss of sensation removes one barrier to ex...

Feature by: Craig Ballantyne, is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist If the development of maximal strength OR size is your goal, these techniques are not mandatory for success. Let me explain: First, a muscle "pump" is simply the result of blood and tissue fluid being forced into the muscle from the surrounding vessels and then accumulating within the muscle. While an increased blood flow to the area is beneficial, the pump lasts only for a short time (30-60 minutes). Unfortunately, this is too short of a time period to result in any significant physiological changes to the muscle, as growth and repair occur over a 24 to 48 hour (or more) time period following exercise. Therefore, we should not focus our training time on achieving this "pump", although with training of the proper intensity, it will occur regardless. Most individuals desire the pump and if they do not achieve it, they feel as if the workout has been poor, however this is not the case....

Feature by: Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist For our purposes here, a superset is the completion of consecutive sets without a rest. The sets can be for exercises of the same, opposite or completely unrelated muscle groups. When performing supersets for opposing or unrelated muscle groups, there is an opportunity for one muscle to recover while another is worked, therefore allowing a heavy weight to be used for both exercises. Because minimal rest is prescribed, try to arrange for exercises that can be performed within a close proximity of one another (i.e. a flat DB press and a One-arm DB row). Training opposing muscle groups in this manner ensures the development of balanced muscular strength. You can design an entire workout using multiple supersets OR you can add a superset at any point in the workout (i.e. such as the transition from chest to back). An example of opposing muscle groups is the chest & back. Pick a back exercise that pulls t...

feature by : bodybuilding.com Negatives are among the most powerful training techniques for rapid strength gains. Learn how to do them effectively without a training partner. Want to gain strength rapidly? Negative training is one of the absolute best ways to accomplish this quickly. But most negative training techniques require you have a partner to help you return the weight to the start position. How do you get around this? In this article, I'll show you exactly how to do it. Negative training, also known as eccentric training, involves loading a weight movement in only the down or muscle-lengthening phase. For example, if you are doing a negative bench press, you would start with the weight in the top position (the weight would be more than you could lift on your own if you had to push it back up), lower that heavy weight under control to the bottom position of the exercise, then have a partner help you return the weight back to the top position. How To Do A Negative Rep The pr...

Diet Rich in Blueberries May Boost Heart Health By Jennifer Warner WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD A new study shows rats who ate a diet rich in blueberries lost abdominal fat -- the kind of fat linked to heart disease and diabetes -- as well as experienced other health benefits like lowered cholesterol and improved glucose control even if their diet wasn’t otherwise heart-healthy. "Some measurements were changed by blueberry even if the rats were on a high-fat diet," researcher E. Mitchell Seymour, MS, of the University of Michigan’s Cardioprotection Research Laboratory, says in a news release. Researchers say the results suggest that antioxidant-rich blueberries may change how the body stores and processes glucose or sugar for energy, thereby reducing the risk of both heart disease and diabetes. "The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables have been well researched, but our findings in regard to blueberries show the naturally occurring chemicals they...

Feature by : Men's Health (David Zinczenko, with Matt Gouldin) We talk a lot about "watching what we eat", but if you never gave a thought to what you ate and instead watched only what you drank, you could probably cut 450 calories a day out of your life. (Yes, nearly a pound of fat loss a week!) That's what a study from the University of North Carolina found. Americans today drink about 192 gallons of liquid a year—or about 2 liters a day. To put it into perspective, this is nearly twice as many calories as we did 30 years ago. When confronted with the growing tide of calories from sweetened beverages, the first response is, "Why not just drink diet soda?" Well, for a few reasons: Just because diet soda is low in calories doesn't mean it can't lead to weight gain. It may have only 5 or fewer calories per serving, but emerging research suggests that consuming sugary-tasting beverages--even if they're artificially sweetened--may lead to a high pr...

By Virginia Anderson Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Featured by WebMD Debbe Geiger admits it: Her motivation to exercise was zero and had been for years. She could summarize her feelings about exercise in two words. “It stinks,” says Geiger, of Cary, N.C. Her thinking changed when she finally found her exercise motivation: commitment to a team. Geiger joined a volleyball team -- after much urging from friends who wanted her to play with them -- and now she doesn’t want to let her teammates down. She’s at the gym with a convert’s fervor on game nights. “There have been lots of reasons I could have missed, and I haven’t,” Geiger says proudly. Geiger’s experience illustrates what exercise experts have learned through research and practice over the years: To succeed in sticking to an exercise routine, people need a reason to carry on when that little voice inside says, "Sit on the couch. Have a doughnut." There are plenty of reasons we should be exercising. Not only does exercise...

feature by webmd Arm toning and strengthening exercises are important throughout life, says Dan Agresti, exercise physiologist and owner of ProActive Health and Fitness in Denver. And the benefits go way beyond looking good in a tank top. Life is a lot better when you're strong," says Agresti. "It's fun to know I can do just about any task." Having upper body strength also helps us combat the physical pitfalls of our culture. "We live in such a flexed-posture society, says Lori Incledon, athletic trainer and author of Strength Training for Women. Being hunched over the computer, in front of the TV, and at the steering wheels of our cars takes a toll, she says. The shoulder girdle becomes stretched, the chest muscles get tighter, and we set ourselves up for decreased range of motion and potential injury. "We're never going to be able to reach for the cup on the highest shelf anymore" if we don't balance out our muscles with exercise, says In...

feature by webmd Eggs When it comes to healthy eating, few foods have sparked as much debate as eggs. The latest research suggests an egg a day is safe and nutritious for most adults -- and if you eat that egg for breakfast, you’ll boost your odds of losing weight. The reason: Eggs are packed with protein, which takes time to digest. Eating protein in the morning keeps your stomach busy, so you eat less during the rest of the day . Steak For years, health experts have been admonishing us to eat less red meat. But steak is not always bad for the waistline. In fact, a lean cut of beef has barely more saturated fat than a similar size skinless chicken breast. Like eggs, steak is loaded with protein and can keep you feeling full longer. To get plenty of protein with less fat, choose T-bone, sirloin tip, or other extra-lean cuts -- and limit portions to the size of your fist . Pork Talk about a bad reputation -- the term “pork” is used to describe all kinds of excess, so it’s no wonder diet...

The cholesterol in eggs is no harm to health, scientists say Despite previous studies linking eggs to high blood-cholesterol levels, new research reports that limiting your egg intake—maxing out at three eggs a week—has very little impact on cholesterol and, ultimately, cardiovascular disease. A team of scientists from the University of Surrey in the U.K. analyzed several studies of egg nutrition and found that most people can eat as many eggs as they want without damaging their health. That’s good news since protein-packed eggs are one of the most nutritionally dense foods available. Elevated cholesterol levels (LDL higher than 100 mg/dL) can increase your risk of heart disease, but only about one-third of the cholesterol in your body comes from the foods you eat. The truly guilty parties are smoking, being overweight, and a lack of exercise. If you’re concerned about high cholesterol in your diet, it’s more important to limit your saturated-fat intake. That means cutting back on fatt...

Many of us watch what we eat but not what we drink when on a diet. That’s a mistake. The average American gets a fifth of daily calories from beverages. Choosing the right drinks can tweak your metabolism, curb your appetite, and reduce your total calorie count. Which drinks are spoilers and which are helpers on the path to weight loss? Helper: Light Beer OK, beer is not really going to help you lose weight. But if you’re out with friends and want to share a pitcher, light beer is the way to go. A serving has 100 calories, compared to 150 calories for regular beer. Helper: Water Replacing carbonated soft drinks with water will cut hundreds of calories per day, and the benefits don’t stop there. Drinking two glasses of water before a meal may encourage the stomach to feel full more quickly, so you don’t eat as much. In addition, new research suggests drinking plenty of water may have a positive effect on your metabolism. Helper: Vegetable Juice Vegetable juice is every bit as nutritious...

The best new sports bras for all shapes and sizes About 60% of women experience breast pain during exercise. But don't give up--the right sports bra can eliminate much of the suffering. When British researchers studied 70 women ranging from size A to F, they found that encapsulation bras, which have separate molded cups, reduced pain the most by stopping motion in all directions--not just up and down--for better support and more comfort. We had readers walk, jog, and kickbox in the latest models. Here, their favorites: Best for A-B The Moving Comfort Alexis cuts bounce without flattening like a pancake. "It gave me shape and support," our tester raved. ($34; movingcomfort.com for store locator) Best for B-C The underwire in the Adidas Simia lets it double as a daytime bra--yet its wicking fabric keeps you dry if you take a brisk walk at lunch. "It was so comfy, I fell asleep in it," our tester admitted. ($40; shopadidas.com) Best for C-D The Champion Powersleek ...

Day 1 - Progression to 1RM The objective of this workout is to build pure strength in one of the most effective total-body lifts: the deadlift. To accomplish this, we have Jason work his way up to his one-repetition maximum (1RM) -- the heaviest weight he can lift one time. Before he begins, though, he completes a two-part warm-up session. Warm-up (Part 1): Rowing. For this, Jason completes 10 minutes on the Concept 2 rowing machine at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance on this day: 2,274 meters.) Warm-up (Part 2): Pyramid Circuit. Directions: Do these three exercises as a circuit, performing one set of each in succession without resting. Use a "pyramid repetition structure" to the workout. Here's how: In your first round through the circuit, do one repetition of each movement. In each subsequent round, perform an additional repetition. So you'll do two repetitions of each exercise in round 2, three repetitions in round 3, a...