Ces aliments qui favorisent le désir

Les philtres d'amour et autres aphrodisiaques sont utilisés depuis la nuit des temps, par les peuples de tous les continents. Cacao, céleri, huîtres… découvrez les principaux aliments auxquels on prête de telles vertus.

Durant la période aztèque, le cacao était connu pour être un excitant. Très épicée, cette boisson contenait du piment, du poivre et des clous de girofle. "Si la femme savait ce que le céleri fait à l'homme, elle irait en chercher de Paris à Rome". Voilà ce qu'aurait dit Madame de Pompadour. Cette célèbre courtisane croyait tellement aux atouts aphrodisiaques de ce légume, qu'elle faisait régulièrement préparer un gratin de céleri à Louis XV, pour maintenir sa vigueur sexuelle. La composition nutritive de certains aliments pourrait expliquer un effet sur la stimulation hormonale reliée aux fonctionnements sexuels. Pour ceux qui n'aiment pas cuisiner, il reste les compléments alimentaires. Mais c'est beaucoup moins amusant…

Top 6 des aliments aphrodisiaques

La liste des aliments dits aphrodisiaques est longue. Les épices sont également connues pour développer naturellement le désir. Parmi les plus connus pour leurs effets sur la sexualité, il y a bien sûr :

• Le chocolat. Mais pourquoi cette délicieuse friandise excite-t-elle les sens ? Parce qu'elle contient du L-arginine, un acide aminé transformé par l'organisme en oxyde nitirique, à l'effet vasodilatateur. Autre bienfait : la stimulation des endorphines, hormones du plaisir.
• Les asperges. Vous aimez les asperges pour leur fraîcheur et leur goût subtil ? Vous saurez à présent, qu'elles stimulent la production de testostérone, une hormone qui joue un rôle clé dans le bon fonctionnement de la sexualité. C'est Pline l'Ancien, écrivain et naturaliste romain, qui a découvert les effets aphrodisiaques de l'asperge.
• Les fruits de mer sont aussi de très bons stimulants sexuels, grâce à leur teneur élevée en iode et en phosphore. La reine en est l'huître, très riche en zinc. Cet oligo-élément aurait la propriété de favoriser la production de testostérone, cette hormone qui stimule le désir des hommes comme des femmes.
• Le caviar est très cher. Et si la raison à cela était ses pouvoirs excitants ? Humour mis à part, les Perses l'appelait tout de même le "pain des amants" ! Sa principale vertu serait de donner un coup de fouet à la circulation sanguine.
• L'ail aurait des vertus analogues. Mais quel amoureux oserait consommer de l'ail avant un rendez-vous galant, sous prétexte qu'il pourrait le rendre plus vigoureux devant sa belle ?
• Autre condiment hors de prix, mais qui assure la réussite d'une nuit d'amour : la truffe. Très prisée, la truffe blanche d'Italie peut se vendre jusqu'à 15 000 euros le kilogramme ! Rares sont les amants qui pourraient dépenser une telle somme, uniquement pour consommer de l'androstérone, hormone mâle dérivée de la testostérone.

Des épices et des herbes à l'origine du désir

Les condiments, les épices et les herbes jouent elles aussi un rôle dans l'éveil des sens :

• Le gingembre, utilisé par les empereurs chinois pour satisfaire leurs nombreuses concubines, provoquerait l'afflux de sang vers les organes génitaux. Un de ses composants, le gingérol, permettrait en outre, une augmentation du nombre des spermatozoïdes. Tout un programme !
• Autres vertus à découvrir : celles de la vanille naturelle. Les petites graines de sa gousse seraient totalement euphorisantes.
• L'épice aphrodisiaque par excellence, est le safran. Son action stimulante serait aussi élevée que certaines hormones.
• La cannelle est utilisée depuis des siècles pour ses composants excitants, tout comme le piment, très riche en vitamines A, E, C, K et PP.
• Très stimulant pour la circulation sanguine, le poivre de Cayenne serait lui aussi aphrodisiaque.
• Le thym est l'herbe de la tonicité pour les nerfs. Elle est à conseiller si vous envisagez de folles nuits, tout comme la sarriette et la yohimbine. Herbe populaire venant d'Afrique du Sud, cette dernière est connue dans le monde entier pour sa fonction stimulatrice.
• Le clou de girofle, un des plus puissants aphrodisiaques naturels, est efficace contre la fatigue mentale et physique. A tester en cas de petite panne dans le couple.
• Consommer des excitants sexuels en toute simplicité, rien de plus facile avec les compléments alimentaires. La yohimbine, dont nous venons de parler plus haut, se vend en gélules. Idem pour l'acide aminé L-arginine.

Des boosters sexuels en gélules

Le ginseng est également disponible sous forme de complément alimentaire. Recommandé pour les troubles sexuels, il agirait sur le système nerveux central. Ses propriétés vasodilatatrices favoriseraient également une amélioration des érections.

Le ginkgo biloba, utilisé pour stimuler la mémoire, aurait lui aussi une action vasodilatatrice, facilitant ainsi l'afflux de sang vers les organes génitaux.

La maca, une plante des hauts plateaux du Pérou, serait un stimulant énergétique naturel utilisé depuis l'Empire Inca pour améliorer le tonus sexuel.

Enfin, le tribulus terrestris, plante appelée aussi croix-de-Malte, est utilisée depuis les années 80, pour son effet favorable sur les performances sportives et sur la libido. Le tribulus ferait augmenter le taux de testostérone, favorisant également l'augmentation de la masse musculaire.

Attention, une mise en garde est nécessaire, concernant ces différents produits. Des effets secondaires sont toujours possibles. Avant toute consommation de compléments alimentaires, il est indispensable d'en parler à votre médecin.

Philtre d'amour "authentique"

Les plus romantiques, adeptes des philtres d'amour, choisiront de réaliser cette recette d'antan, utilisée par les amants depuis des siècles. Faire chauffer 2 gousses de vanille, dans un litre de lait, pendant 10 minutes. Retirer les gousses, les presser pour en extraire le suc et gratter pour conserver les petites graines. Ensuite, délayer 2 cuillères à soupe de cacao dans un peu d'eau, avant d'ajouter le lait chaud. Bien remuer. Ajouter 4 cuillères à soupe de miel. Incorporer une pincée de poivre de Cayenne et un verre de rhum brun. Les effluves de cette douce préparation chocolatée vous emmèneront vers les chemins de l'amour. Sa consommation promet aux amoureux, des instants féeriques et sensuels inoubliables.

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Quick Little Tweaks to Lose Weight Faster

Usually I like to go big: Dream big (I want to cut 5 minutes off my 10K time), breakfast big (I actually like to have two A.M. meals--one at home early and one when I get to the office midmorning), and give big (ask my friends, family and coworkers--my gifts are usually generous).

But I've also come to realize that sometimes little tweaks are all you need to make a big difference. Last year, I adjusted my running technique ever so slightly, and within weeks I had shaved a minute off my mile pace and my legs felt great.

So while going big is still my preference, I like these simple changes you can make to get trimmer and more toned without having to make a totally grand transformation. Try them today!

Grab a Granny Smith
An apple a day can keep pounds away, a study from Penn State University at State College reports. People who ate the fruit before a meal consumed 15 percent fewer calories overall than those who didn't munch on a Macintosh. Apple eaters spend more time chewing, so they feel full on fewer calories.

Speed up
Calling all walkers: If you want to shed inches in less time, speed up to a trot. When one group ran for 30 minutes at a moderate pace and another walked at an incline at the same perceived effort level, the runners burned 2 more calories per minute, a study in the Journal of Sports Sciences reveals. The quick math: That translates to almost 5 pounds lost in a year!

Set a goal
Simply making a mental note to curb your calorie intake could help you cut back on stress eating. When offered dried fruit and chocolate after sweating through an anxiety-induced task, dieters ate 32 percent less of the snack than nondieters, a study in the journal Appetite finds. Seeing a healthy option may remind dieters of their eat-right goals. Keep nutritious food in view when tension mounts. Join the SELF Challenge for inspiration and motivation to eat right and work out.

Work it
Offices can help support your workout goals, a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reveals. Workplaces that made changes, such as adding pro-fitness signs, say their employees maintain their weight during the year while those who toiled at businesses without such emphasis on exercise gained weight. Researchers suggest posting inspiring magazine pages deskside to stay on track. For more ideas to get inspired, visit the Fresh Fitness Tips blog.

Read the fine print
Checking out the calorie counts on menus might affect your choice. After New York City required some chain restaurants to post the data, 53 percent of diners said the numbers were higher than expected and 82 percent said the counts influenced their order, a survey from Technomic, a consultancy in Chicago, indicates. Many eateries have the stats online, so log on before you dine out.

Take note
Picking up a copy of SELF might be the only trainer you need! When people who aimed to work out for at least 2 1/2 hours a week received monthly printed fitness advice, they kept exceeding their goal up to a year later, according to a study in Health Psychology. Researchers say that written reminders are key. Register for free at Self.com and get your own personal online workout logs.

Keep a journal
You've heard it before, but just in case you weren't paying attention, I'm going to refresh your memory: People who write down what they eat are the most likely to drop pounds, research at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, finds. The reason: Food diaries reveal your healthy eating black holes. Jot down every bite for four days, without changing your diet. At the end of each day, look up each food you wrote down and tally up the calories.

To analyze your records, draw an x when more than four hours went by without eating, circle high-calorie meals, highlight fruit and veggies and underline anything that triggered guilt after you ate it. For day 5 and beyond, change your diet based on your notes. Replace x's with 150-calorie snacks and circled meals will magically downsize. No highlights on day 2? Hit the produce aisle! Didn't need those underlined cookies before bed? No late-night snack tonight!

Track down more news and advice on firming up, trimming down and looking great with one of our four fabulous newsletters. Sign up to have fresh tips delivered to your inbox.

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The Cure for Ostrich Legs

by Erick Minor

You know, for some guys, comparing their legs to an ostrich is way too kind.

I mean, ostriches have pretty strong legs, right? And there's some appreciable muscle near the hip insertion point.

That's why I think we should refer to these legless humans as "Flamingo legs."

Who's with me?

Alright, alright, I'll stick with the ostrich analogy for the time being.

The following routine is a pure hypertrophy-based program that will increase leg size and strength potential and allow you to finally quit wearing sweatpants to the beach.

In order to maximize leg development, you must stimulate and fatigue as many motor units as possible. Sounds simple on paper, yet the prevalence of impressive leg development is pretty scarce at the local fitness center. I suspect the sheer willpower and effort required to create an adaptive response along with a well-designed plan are the missing ingredients.

Requirements for Building Bigger Legs

Increased leg development is a result of maximal activation and fatigue of a wide corridor of muscle tissue. An effective protocol to increase leg size is to target the quad dominant and hip dominant musculature on separate days, while performing 8-12 work sets of 4-12 repetitions within a 45-minute training window. Appropriate loads would be between 60%-85% of your 1 RM.

This leg routine is especially beneficial for the drug-free non-competitive athlete because of the increased work capacity and muscle hypertrophy that's produced. You see, inadequate work capacity is commonly the limiting factor for the average trainee who wants more muscular development.

Simply put, if you are unable to train with enough volume, intensity, and time-under-tension, you won't activate and fatigue the maximum number of motor units.

The beauty of this routine is that the work capacity component is built into the repetition sequences by utilizing a tried and true bodybuilding rep sequence: pyramid training.

The old school pyramid may seem like a step back to some of you, but for pure hypertrophy and work capacity, it's extremely effective. And as an added bonus, the work capacity improvements achieved will increase potential for gains on the more intensity-based training cycles to follow.

Trainee Prerequisites

• Free of low back, hip, or knee injuries
• At least 1 year of continuous strength training
• You've trained legs consistently for the past 3 months
• You can legitimately squat at least 1.5 times your bodyweight. (If not, the frequency of training may not be sufficient to achieve desired results).

Recommendations to Maximize Recovery

• Be in bed with lights out no later than 9:30pm, even on the weekend, you Bar-Star.
• Sleep quality and quantity has a tremendous impact on androgen (Testosterone, DHEA) levels, immune function, and sense of well-being.
• Abstain from alcohol for the next 4 weeks.
• Follow pre and post-workout nutritional protocols as recommended by TMUSCLE.
• If you can afford it, get a deep tissue massage once/week.

Granted, you're probably not going to do half that crap, but it was worth a try.

Program Details

The Bodybuilder's Pyramid

The two primary exercises of each day utilize two variations of the pyramid-loading pattern advocated by Vladimir Zatsiorsky. The advantage of the pyramid is that it guarantees the activation of most, if not all, of the motor units being trained.

As is standard for pyramid patterns, the load progressively increases as the number of repetitions decreases.

The first exercise of each day makes use of the pyramid rep pattern using the sub-maximal effort method. In other words, you'll complete every rep of every set with 1 or 2 reps left in the tank. This method will increase conditioning as well as stimulate and fatigue a wide range of motor units.

All the remaining exercises are taken to failure using the repeated-effort method. This means that you'll take each set to concentric or technical failure, i.e., the point at which the trainee can no longer maintain ideal exercise technique.

This training regimen addresses common weak links.

Hip Flexors (rectus femoris, psoas, iliacus) are important stabilizing muscles that are typically underdeveloped in non-sprint athletes and trainees.

The typical gym rat (you), rarely if ever trains the hip flexors (rectus femoris, psoas, and iliacus). This is a shame as strong hip flexors help maintain hip stability during squat, lunging, and bending exercises, and also has a huge impact on squat ability.

I've personally trained sprinters who had sub-par core strength but could safely squat double bodyweight, and I believe this was due to their good hip range of motion and extreme hip flexor and leg strength.

Likewise, the Erector Spinae muscles are also a common weak point. These muscles can be considered omni-muscles due to their contribution to all movements and exercises, and weak low back muscles will hinder your ability at every level of physical activity.

According to spine expert Dr. Stuart McGill, low back isometric endurance is a direct indicator of low back health. If you have a job that requires you to sit for extended periods of time, you need to train the low back for endurance!

Hamstrings are also a common problem. Hamstring range of motion determines the ease at which you achieve optimal body postures during the squat, lunge, and bending exercises. A tight antagonist can decrease motor unit activation of the agonist. In other words, shortened hamstrings will not only decrease your ability to maintain a neutral spine during a barbell squat, they can decrease your ability to activate the quadriceps.

As I said, this program addresses all those weak points, and don't tell me you don't have any of them!

You'll perform two leg workouts per week: one quad dominant and one hip/hamstring dominant. The ideal training split for this program is as follows:

Monday: Upper Body
Tuesday: Quad dominant
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Upper Body
Friday: Hip/Hamstring Dominant
Sat/Sun: Rest

Perform 4-5 warm-up sets prior to the first work set of the first exercise. Perform no more than 8 reps for each warm-up, but keep in mind that warm-up sets aren't necessary after the first exercise.

(Sets indicated in the program refer to work sets only. Warm-up sets do not count.)

The Routine

Tuesday: Quad Dominant workout

A) Squats, medium stance, bar low on traps.

Barbell on lower traps, feet shoulder width apart, toes pointed out slightly. Initiate descent by bending the knees, keeping feet flat on the floor. Keep chest up and elbows pointing down.

Squat down until thighs are at least parallel to floor. Focus on maintaining a slight arch in the low back. Explode out of the bottom position. Do not bounce or bottom out. Return to start position. If squat technique is an issue, correct any problems with the help of a qualified coach before commencing this routine.

Sets: 5
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 (use a load that allows you to complete every rep of every set)
Tempo: 2011
Rest: 3-4 minutes
Note: Increase load 5-10 lbs per set each week.

B1) Split Squat, DB.

Hold a pair of dumbbells and assume a split stance with front foot flat. Keep shoulders back and chest up; stay on ball of foot of trailing leg. Initiate descent by bending front knee and pushing knee over the toes. Be sure to keep front foot firmly on the ground throughout duration of movement. Explode back to start position.

Sets: 3
Reps: 12, 10, 8 (all sets to failure)
Tempo: 2011
Rest: 90 seconds, then go to B2
Note: Increase load 2.5 - 5 lbs per dumbbell each week.

B2) Cable Hip Flexion.

Keep toe flexed towards knee throughout movement. Maintain neutral spine position.

Sets: 3
Reps: 10-12 (all sets to failure)
Tempo: 2010
Rest: 90 seconds, then go back to B1

C) Donkey Calf Raise.

Sets: 4-5
Reps: 15- 20 (all sets to failure)
Tempo: 2110
Rest: 90 seconds

Cure for Ostrich Legs Day 1

Order	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Tempo	Rest
A	Squats, medium stance	5	12,10,8,6,4	2011	3-4 min.
B1	Split Squats, DB	3	12,10,8	2011	90 sec.
B2	Cable Hip Flexion	3	10-12	2010	90 sec.
C	Donkey Calf	4-5	15-20	2110	90 sec.

Friday: Hip/Hamstring dominant day

A) Kneeling Leg Curl or Single Leg Curl.

Toe is pulled towards shin, keep thigh in contact with support pad. Perform one leg at a time.

Sets: 4
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6 (use a load that allows you to complete every rep of every set)
Tempo: 2010
Rest: 2 minutes
Note: Increase load 2.5-10 lbs per set each week.

B) Good Mornings, medium stance.

Wide grip on the bar, bar resting on lower traps; place a pad or towel around bar if necessary. Feet hip-width apart, knees flexed 15°. Maintain an arch in low back. Initiate descent by pushing hips back without bending knees any further than 15° and keeping weight on the heels. Descend to the limit of your hamstring flexibility. Explode up to start position.

(Perform this exercise in a power rack with safety pins set high enough to catch the bar if you fail.)

Sets: 3-4
Reps: 10, 8, 6 (all sets to technical failure, end set when you can't maintain low back arch)
Tempo: 30X1
Rest: 2-3 minutes
Note: Increase load 5-10 lbs per set each week.

C) Back Extensions with isometric hold.

Adjust bench so the edge of pad is in line with the hip-bone (greater trochanter). When adjusted correctly, you'll be able to bend forward with minimal rounding of the low back. Keep head in alignment with spine and initiate concentric contraction by squeezing glutes. Hold extended position for a 1 count before returning to start position.

Sets: 2-3
Reps: 12-15* with 1 second isometric hold in full extension (all sets to failure)
Tempo: 2011
Rest: 90 seconds
* Hold additional weight across chest if you can complete more than 15 reps.

D) Standing Calf Raise.

Sets: 4-5
Reps: 12-15 (all sets to failure)
Tempo: 2110
Rest: 60 seconds

E) Hamstring Stretch, Active-Assisted.

Lie supine (on your back) with a small rolled-up towel under your low back. Actively initiate hip flexion; once you reach the limit of your active range of motion, use the strap to deepen the stretch by pulling leg a few inches farther. Hold for 2 seconds; repeat until 6 reps are complete.

You'll feel mild pain in the hamstring on each rep. Your non-working leg should be in contact with the floor and completely straight with toe pointing towards ceiling.

Sets: 3 per leg
Reps: 6

Cure for Ostrich Legs Day 2

Order	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Tempo	Rest
A	Kneeling Leg Curl or single leg curl	4	12,10,8,6	2011	2 min.
B	Good Mornings, medium stance	3	10,8,6	3011	2-3 min.
C	Back Extensions with isometric hold at top	2-3	12-15	2011	90 sec.
D	Standing Calf	4-5	12-15	2110	60 sec.
E	Hamstring Stretch, Active-Assisted	3	6

You're done! Literally.

Perform each routine once per week for 4 weeks. This program should be used sparingly, and don't repeat it more than once every 4 months.

At first glance, this routine may seem pretty generic to the seasoned TMUSCLE reader. Please, don't be fooled by its simplicity. The principles that form the foundation of this workout have stood the test of time and have never failed to produce results...as long as you hold up your end of the agreement and supply the necessary effort.

Don't let Ostrich Leg Syndrome force you to spend another summer hiding your scrawny chicken legs in baggy sweat pants.

Single Leg Curl

Hamstring Stretch, Active-Assisted.

Cable Hip Flexion.

Good Morning.

Split Squat Dumbbell

About Erick Minor

Erick Minor is a freelance writer and the owner of Dynamic Barbell Club, a sports performance and personal training studio located in Fort Worth, Texas. For more information go to www.erickminor.com

© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Les 5 règles d’or de l’entraînement

Les 5 règles d’or de l’entraînement

Avoir l’air costaud c’est bien, mais l’être vraiment c’est mieux. Le meilleur coach d’Amérique en la matière vous fait partager ses secrets pour gagner en puissance. Dos Remedios (« du remède » en portugais) base son programme sur cinq principes d’entraînement inébranlables.

1 2 3 4 5

1.Visez la puissance, pas le volume.
Comme tous les hommes, vous rêvez d’avoir des pectoraux massifs, des biceps impressionnants et des abdos en relief. Mais au lieu de vous entraîner comme un bodybuilder et de ne faire travailler que des muscles isolés, entraînez-vous comme un véritable athlète. Vous sculpterez le corps dont vous rêviez, vous augmenterez vos performances, minimiserez les risques de blessure, brûlerez votre graisse corporelle et vous serez encore plus motivés.

« Regardez le corps de ce gars, » dit Remedios en désignant un type torse nu qui quitte le club après l’entraînement. « Regardez comme il est taillé. Et il ne fait pas des centaines de crunch, de flexions, ou d’extensions à la machine. Son corps est juste le produit d’un conditionnement. » Dos Remedios ne veut pas vous rendre plus baraqué, mais réellement plus forts. Le bénéfice est double : un corps parfait et une condition physique au top.

Changez d’exercices.
Si vous avez l’habitude de faire des exercices qui ne ciblent qu’un muscle à la fois, changez pour leur équivalent « composé ». Par exemple, si vous soulevez 11 kg en flexion du biceps, vous pourrez en supporter 22 en Tirage horizontal avec haltères. Vous brûlerez plus de calories et le surplus de poids engendrera un stress musculaire qui favorisera la production de testostérone. Résultat : vos biceps grossiront plus vite qu’avec de simples flexions.

Simple
a) Flexion du biceps
b) Extension des pieds
c) Extension des jambes à la machine
d) Crunch à la poulie haute

Composé
a) Tirage horizontal avec haltère
b) Tirage au bassin
c) Fente avant avec haltères (ou step up)
d) Rotation du buste façon bûcheron (woodchopper)

2. Adoptez la surcharge progressive
La surcharge progressive implique que vous passiez plus de temps dans votre « zone de douleur ». « C’est une des bases de la musculation, mais c’est celle que les gens comprennent le moins », dit Dos Remedios. « Le corps humain est fantastique. Plus vous faites d’effort, plus vous serez capable d’en faire ». Il s’agit d’ajouter de fortes charges à votre cardio training et à vos exercices de musculation. Plus de douleur c’est moins de temps passé à l’entraînement. C’est pourquoi Dos Remedios s’entraîne généralement 35 à 45 minutes par jour et la plupart des athlètes passe 30 à 40 minutes en salle de sport deux à trois fois par semaine.

Fonctionnez par cycles.
Vous ne ferez pas beaucoup de progrès en vous contentant de 3 séries de 10 pendant le reste de votre vie. Pour gagner en puissance, il vaut mieux alterner les cycles de 3 semaines sur 12 semaines d’entraînement. Par exemple, si vous avez l’habitude de faire 3 séries de 10 Développé-couché à 68 kg pour développer vos pectoraux, voici ce à quoi votre nouvel entraînement devrait ressembler :

Semaine 1-3 :
3 séries de 10 à 68kg, pour un total de 2 tonnes (3x10 x 68).

Semaine 4-6 :
4 séries de 5 à 79kg, pour un total de 1,5 tonne.

Semaine 7-9 :
3 séries de 8, à 72,5 kg, pour un total de 1,7 tonne.

Semaine 10-12 :
5 séries de 4 à 84kg, pour un total de 1,6 tonne.

Ce système vous permet de progresser régulièrement tout en laissant à vos muscles le temps de s’adapter. Plus le poids augmente, plus vos muscles gagnent en volume et en puissance.

3. Équilibrez vos mouvements
La force exige de l’équilibre. Mais pendant notre passage au club de gym huppé, Dos Remedios a noté que les machines de poussée étaient trois fois plus nombreuses que les machines de traction. « Si vous faites 3 séries de 10 Développé-couché, vous devez en faire autant avec des exercices comme la Traction couchée à la barre ou l’Ecarté à la poulie, » dit-il. « Sinon, vous aurez des ennuis. »

Travaillez le yin et le yang
Dos Remedios a identifié huit mouvements fondamentaux. Ils sont listés ci-dessous, avec leur mouvement complémentaire. À chaque fois que vous en faites un, vous devez faire son « yang ». Vous n’êtes pas obligé de les faire tous à la fois, mais veillez à ce qu’ils soient représentés de façon absolument équitable dans votre programme de musculation.

Poussée horizontale
Développé couché
Pompes
Répulsion triceps
Traction horizontale
Tirage horizontal à la barre
Traction couchée à la barre fixe
Écarté à la poulie

Poussée verticale
Développé-devant à la barre
Poussé-développé (militaire)
Traction verticale
Tractions à la barre fixe
Tirage poitrine à la poulie haute

Dominante genoux
Flexion des genoux
Fente avant avec haltères
Dominante hanches
Flexion du buste en avant
Extension du buste

Axe en rotation
Crunch oblique
Rotation du bassin
Woodchopper (mouvement du bûcheron) à la poulie haute
Axe stable
Planche (opposition statique)
Flexion latérale du buste
Rollout avec barre

4. Déstabilisez-vous.
Dans la vie, quand on avance ou quand on attrape quelque chose c’est avec un pied, ou un bras à la fois. Mais en salle de gym, on se plante sur ses deux pieds et on attrape la barre à deux mains. Cette tendance bilatérale a pour effet de rendre un de nos membres plus fort que l’autre et de l’habituer à compenser le travail du plus faible, ce qui peut entraîner des déséquilibres, des performances amoindries et surtout, des blessures. « Disons que vous pouvez soulever 180kg en Développé-couché, » dit Dos Remedios, « vous vous croyez sans doute très fort, mais je vous garantis que vous ne pourrez pas soulever deux haltères de 90kg de la même façon, parce que tout d’un coup, chaque bras va travailler de façon indépendante. Ne travailler qu’un bras ou qu’une jambe va vous déséquilibrer, et les muscles de votre tronc vont compenser, donc vous travaillerez doublement : pour soulever le poids et pour vous équilibrer.

Faites des exercices unilatéraux
Quand Dos Remedios organise l’entraînement de ses athlètes, il y inclut un maximum d’exercices différents. Par exemple, s’ils travaillent le Développé-couché le lundi, ils feront d’autres exercices de poussée horizontale à dominante unilatérale pendant les deux séances suivantes : Développé-incliné avec haltères à un seul bras, ou pompes alternées. « Quand ils reviennent au Développé-couché, ils sont plus forts à cause du travail de compensation qu’ils ont fait ». Pour appliquer les mêmes principes à votre entraînement, utilisez ce tableau.

Bilatéral
a) Squat avec barre
b) Développé-couché
c) Pompes
d) Tirage de poitrine à la poulie haute
e) Good morning (flexion du buste en avant)/
f) Extension du buste
g) Développé devant à la barre

Unilatéral
a) Fente avant
b) Développé-couché avec haltères alterné
c) Pompes alternées
d) Tirage de poitrine à la poulie haute à un bras
e) Soulevé de terre sur une jambe
f) Extension du buste sur une jambe
g) Développé-debout avec haltère à un bras

5. Soyez explosif.
Pour Dos Remedios, il ne suffit pas de soulever des poids, il faut surtout travailler sa « force explosive » : soulever aussi vite que possible tout en maîtrisant son mouvement. Allier force et vitesse a une grande influence sur la puissance, l’endurance et le métabolisme. Attention : cette méthode va vous essouffler.

C’est du lourd
Les exercices à la barres olympiques et les exercices de type « Force athlétique » (proche de l’haltérophilie avec des charges plus lourdes et une amplitude réduite) comme les squats, l’épaulé jeté, l’arraché (snatch) sont parfaits pour travailler la force explosive. Voici quelques alternatives.

Le squat sauté
Debout, les mains derrière la tête, fléchissez les jambes jusqu’à ce que vos cuisses soient parallèles au sol, puis sautez aussi haut que possible. Faites une pause de 3 à 5 secondes, et recommencez 10 à 12 fois.

Le Squat-développé avec haltères
Pieds écartés à largeur d’épaules, tenez vos haltères au niveau de celles-ci. Dans un mouvement continu, fléchissez les jambes jusqu’à ce que vos cuisses soient parallèles au sol, puis relevez-vous en levant les haltères à bout de bras au-dessus de la tête. Redescendez en position de squat et faites ainsi 2 à 3 série de 8 à 10 mouvements.

Wikio

The Secrets of Thin People

How they get there, how they stay there.

by Lorie Parch

Sang An

Thin people favor bulky foods.

Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, has done extensive research on “calorie density,” or the ratio of calories to the weight of food.

Simply put, foods with a high water content―fruits, vegetables, water-based soups and stews, and cooked whole grains―are low in calories but satiating. Most also contain lots of fiber (an apple has three grams; one cup of cooked barley has six), which fills you up.

Whether consciously or not, many thin people follow the strategy of starting out with a sizable soup or salad, which leads them to eat less for the rest of the meal. One Rolls-led study found that subjects who began a meal with a low-calorie salad―about 100 calories for three cups―were more likely to eat fewer total calories. “It subtracted about 12 percent of the calories from the meal,” she says. Foods with a lot of water, she adds, “can help you perceive that you’ve eaten more.” Drinking water with a meal, Rolls has found, doesn’t have the same effect.

Thin people watch portion sizes.

No, most thin individuals don’t travel with a food scale and measuring cups or demand fat-gram counts from waiters.

But to keep an eye on what they eat without being obsessive, many focus on filling their plates with mostly fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. “No one ever got fat from a grilled shrimp,” says Stephen Gullo, Ph.D., a psychologist and the author of The Thin Commandments Diet (Rodale, $25, amazon.com).

They also use strategies such as buying just a single serving’s worth of food, eating portion-controlled frozen meals, passing up gargantuan-portion family-style restaurants, and using smaller-than-normal plates.

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), an ongoing study of how more than 5,000 people keep off the weight they’ve lost long-term, has found that successful weight maintainers tend to eat five small meals a day rather than three squares, which may make it easier to scale down portions.

Thin people can put themselves first.

For five years, Anne Fletcher, a registered dietitian and the author of Thin for Life (Houghton Mifflin, $15, amazon.com), worked in an obesity clinic. “So often the women I saw were people who refused to take time for themselves,” she recalls. “Their whole lives were spent giving, giving, giving―which women tend to do anyway, but it was really to a fault. Sometimes you need to put yourself first.”

Thin women prioritize eating right, exercising regularly, and reducing stress―all of which are conducive to staying slim. Fletcher confesses to missing the occasional Little League game to work out but contends that such behavior shouldn’t induce guilt. Rather, it’s about taking care of yourself.

“When people take the reins, they realize that the solution to weight control is inside them, not in some magic potion or fad diet that their mother or sister is on.”

Thin people have thin parents.

And genes are only partially responsible.

“Perhaps 30 percent of being thin is genetic―the rest is environment,” says James O. Hill, Ph.D., director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in Denver, and cofounder of the NWCR. If you’re raised playing sports and eating healthy, unprocessed foods, chances are you’ll continue those habits into adulthood, significantly raising your odds of staying slim.

Holly Johnson, age 45, a co-owner of a Sarasota, Florida–based marketing and public-relations firm and the mother of an eight-year-old, describes her father as a “beanpole” and says her mother still weighs “within three pounds of what she did when she married my dad.”

But while genetics were clearly in her favor, Johnson credits healthful home-cooked meals for creating a model of good eating that helps her maintain her weight. “We always had breakfast and dinner together,” she says. “I was brought up with family meals, and now my family sits down every night and lights candles. Dining and healthy eating are important to me.”

Thin people don’t skip meals.

Slender people don’t drop everything to eat the minute their stomach starts to rumble, but they don’t let themselves get famished, either.

“In my work with over 15,000 patients, the number one behavior that leads people to lose control is skipping meals,” psychologist Stephen Gullo says. Why? Being ravenous makes you much less likely to control impulses to overeat.

Alice O’Neill, a trim 40-year-old playwright in Brooklyn, is quite familiar with this phenomenon. “Skipping meals can be deadly for me, because I do get really hungry and I don’t bear the pain of hunger well,” she says. “And if I’m hungry, I’ll eat anything, and too much of it. Sometimes I use hunger as an excuse to eat things that aren’t good for me, like pizza and French fries.”

Thin people limit their options.

While everyone needs a variety of foods for optimal nutrition, professor of nutrition Barbara Rolls's research shows that the more types of food we have available, the more we tend to eat. It’s related to what’s called “sensory-specific satiety"―meaning our stomachs and appetites will cry “Uncle!” after we eat a lot of pasta, but if dessert is pie à la mode, suddenly we’ll find just enough room to partake.

“What happens during a meal of many different foods or courses is that we experience satiety for each food as we eat it,” says Rolls, who is also the author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan (HarperCollins, $26, amazon.com). “But we are still ‘hungry’ for foods we haven’t eaten yet, particularly those that have different tastes, aromas, shapes, textures, and other sensory properties.”

Still, Rolls would never recommend severely limiting the number or types of food in an effort to stay slim. “People should increase the variety of low-calorie-dense foods they eat―such as vegetables, fruit, and soup―to get the nutrients they need,” she says.

Thin people live in Colorado.

OK, so there are thin people outside Colorado. But there must be something the Centennial State knows: According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Colorado has the highest percentage of people with a normal weight (meaning neither overweight nor obese) in the nation.

And why are there fewer fat Coloradans? “My take is that, traditionally, Colorado has attracted people who value outdoor living and health and wellness more,” says James O. Hill, Ph.D., director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in Denver, who has lived there for 14 years. “People will take off every Friday because they go to the mountains. They’re willing to prioritize health and wellness.”

The state has the country’s largest system of city parks, more than 3 million acres of national parks and forests, 10 major ski resorts, and 400 mountain-biking trails. In addition, 20 percent of Coloradans belong to health clubs―the second-highest percentage in the United States. (Delaware has the highest.) Colorado’s weather also helps. Says Hill: “We have 300-plus days each year when it’s nice to be outside.”

Thin people don’t sit still.

At the Endocrine Research Unit of the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, a study of 20 self-proclaimed couch potatoes―half of whom were lean, half mildly obese―revealed that the thin volunteers were more likely to stand, walk, and fidget. The researchers noted that the obese participants sat, on average, more than two hours longer every day than the lean ones did.

“If the obese subjects took on the activity levels of the lean volunteers, they could burn through about 350 calories more a day without working out,” says endocrinologist James Levine, the lead author of the study. “Over a year, this alone could result in a weight loss of approximately 30 pounds, if calorie intake remained the same.”

Simply moving around more, taking walks during the workday, and parking your car at the far end of the parking lot can burn many calories. But regular exercise is important, too. “Ninety percent of people who maintain their weight are exercising in a way that’s the equivalent of walking four miles a day,” says registered dietitian Elizabeth Somer, the author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet (McGraw-Hill, $17, amazon.com).

Johnson, for instance, does “some yoga stretching and light weights in the morning.” Then, she says, “I combine a run with walking my son to the bus. I’ll usually get some aerobic exercise every day.”

Regular workouts have another dividend: “Exercise makes you more aware of your body,” psychologist Stephen Gullo says. “You’re less likely to eat the chocolate cake that you know will take hours to burn off on the treadmill.”

Thin people weigh themselves.

For years diet experts discouraged stepping on the scale to keep weight in check. Yet one of the findings of the NWCR is that slim people do weigh themselves regularly. Not obsessively, not agonizing down to the ounce, but at least a couple of times a week. “At the first sign of weight gain, they go right back to their weight-loss plan,” says registered dietitian Elizabeth Somer.

Anne Fletcher, also a registered dietitian, says of the weight maintainers she’s interviewed over the years, “Most have found that it’s easier to manage their weight if they don’t allow themselves to go over their goal.”

Holly Johnson, age 45, a co-owner of a Sarasota, Florida–based marketing and public-relations firm and the mother of an eight-year-old, confirms their findings. She always knows whether she’s in her preferred range of 105 to 113, because she weighs herself about twice a week. “If the scale starts creeping up to the higher end or I feel that things are starting to get out of control,” she says, “I cut back on starchy carbs and dessert.”

Thin people don’t skip breakfast.

You’ve heard it ad nauseam: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s also a way to stay svelte.

A 2002 study of nearly 3,000 NWCR participants found that 78 percent ate breakfast every day; just 4 percent said they never ate breakfast. (The registry also found that people who don’t eat breakfast have caloric intakes similar to those who do, meaning the skippers make up the calories later.)

A recent study of breakfast eaters in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association backed up other findings that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight than those who don’t.

Thin people enjoy their food.

It’s tempting to think that one of the reasons thin people stay that way is that they simply aren’t “foodies.” Not true, psychologist Stephen Gullo says. “Naturally thin people enjoy their food every bit as much as overweight people do,” he says. “In fact, many enjoy it more, because they eat without self-reproach.”

Feelings of guilt, or believing that everyone is watching what you’re eating (and thinking you shouldn’t be having that hot-fudge sundae), interfere with enjoyment. “Thin people are selective gourmets,” Gullo says. “Our bodies have a budget, like our checkbook. We should ‘spend’ on what we eat selectively, not compulsively.”

Thin people practice early intervention.

“A large number of the people who seem to be ‘naturally’ thin have evolved their own strategies for staying that way,” psychologist Stephen Gullo says. They have to, because thin people do gain weight. But they take action when the numbers on the scale creep up or their pants become hard to button.Their response usually involves a combination of exercise and dietary changes.

Carla Matthews, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mother of two in Newport Beach, California, says that when she goes over her upper limit of 130 pounds, she cuts out dessert and wine, drinks more water, and rides her exercise bike three times a week instead of once (in addition to doing Pilates twice a week). “I also tend to eat more salads and do my ‘halves’ routine, where I only eat half of whatever I would normally,” she says. “After 7 to 10 days, my weight is usually back in the comfort zone.”

Understanding what causes you to put on pounds can go a long way toward preventing them. “Thin people know they need to either limit exposure to certain foods that trigger appetite or limit the quantity or frequency of those foods,” says Gullo, whose personal kryptonite is pizza. “Or, if they can’t do any of those, they ban the food completely.”

Anne Casher, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mother of two in Wilton, Connecticut, has learned to steer clear of her enemy: “I decided not to keep ice cream or cookies in the house,” she says, “because if there are some really good chocolate-chip cookies in the drawer, I’m inclined to eat them after dinner even if I’m not hungry.”

Because stress, sadness, anger, loneliness, and grief can send anyone to seek solace in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, the successfully thin person knows mood-driven eating when she sees it and defends against it, Gullo adds. “Thin people recognize the syndrome and don’t bring trigger foods into the place where it happens,” he says. “Mood eating takes place primarily at home.”

Thin people do what works.

Perhaps nowhere does the frequently cited definition of insanity―doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result―apply more aptly than with weight loss. The math makes this clear: By one estimate, one-third of Americans are on a diet, but 64 percent of us remain overweight or obese. Something doesn’t add up.

The biggest difference between the permanently thin and everyone else might very well be this: Those who don’t gain (or regain) have come up with effective, specific, and often personal ways to keep their weight in check.

Becky Grebosky, age 38, a children’s-clothing and gift manufacturer and a mother of two in Albuquerque, New Mexico, makes a smoothie when she feels like having a treat. “I mix up yogurt, a bit of juice, some water, ice, and whatever fruit is around,” she says. “It tastes like a milk shake.” Other thin people can’t live without dessert, so they shave calories elsewhere or “pay” for the indulgence with extra time or intensity at the gym. “Thin people get out of the mind-set of being ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” psychologist Stephen Gullo says. “It’s about doing what works.”

This practice may account for the single most annoying trait of the always-thin: that their achievement seems effortless. But it’s not. “People think you never have a fat day―I do,” Holly Johnson, age 45, a co-owner of a Sarasota, Florida–based marketing and public-relations firm and the mother of an eight-year-old, says. “I have days when I feel awful. But I spend a lot of time and energy on fitness and cooking. And I have to work really hard, especially now that I’m over 40.”

But when good habits are integrated into your life, something shifts. There’s no need to count calories, agonize over an order of fries, track miles walked, or (worst of all) talk endlessly about what you’re eating and not eating. For the thin, feeling strong, healthy, and, yes, slim are powerful rewards―and their chief motivation to continue, as Anne Fletcher, a registered dietitian, has heard from dozens of people. “More than 90 percent of those who have mastered weight maintenance feel like they’re not dieting,” she says. “It becomes a way of life.”

http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/weight-loss/secrets-thin-people-10000001170137/?xid=dailynews?wpisrc=newsletter
Wikio

Dirty Nutrition

by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

Food companies fear Jonny Bowden.

He is to many of their "Frankenfood" products what Batman is to the Joker. In other words, he metes out justice, not so much my whomping holy Bat-hell out of them, but by exposing their products for what they are, which in many cases is high-tech slop.

But like any valiant crusader, he needs his forum. Welcome to Dirty Nutrition.

This is where Jonny Bowden will expose labeling shenanigans, bad foods masquerading as good foods; diet protocols that make as much sense as burlap underwear; and supplements that do little except supplement their manufacturer's bank accounts.

Deceptive food manufacturers, shady supplement companies, government dieticians: You have been warned.

NO2 and Voodoo

Q: What do you think of those popular NO2 type supplements for muscle building?

A: What do I think of them? Let's see... can we spell B U L L S H I T?

NO stands for Nitric Oxide, a very important molecule that signals the body to do all sorts of important things, one of which is dilate the blood vessels.

Most of these supplements are built around the amino acid L-arginine, which does tend to increase nitric oxide. That's one reason many nutritionally minded MDs will recommend L-arginine for both the heart and for erectile problems (the connection is that both are affected by circulation).

The thinking behind these NO2 supplements is that by increasing nitric oxide you'll improve circulation (probably true), which can help nutrients get to their destination in the body (probably true also).

But the idea that doing so is going to translate to bigger muscles is voodoo science.

Sorry. Save your money.

Curcumin for Fat Loss?

Q: Curcumin looks like some very cool stuff due to it being anti-inflammatory, having pain relief benefits, and anti-oxidant properties. But what's this I hear about it possibly helping with fat loss? Any info on that?

A: Curcumin, the active ingredient in the spice turmeric — the very same spice which makes Indian food yellow — is indeed terrific stuff, which is why I touted turmeric as a superfood in my book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Not only is it highly anti-inflammatory, but it might also be good for fat loss.

The info on curcumin and body fat comes from a study in the Journal of Nutrition that investigated the effect of adding curcumin to the diet of a specific strain of mice. The researchers were looking at the possible effect of curcumin on angiogenesis, which is the technical name for growing new blood vessels.

The researchers found that the curcumin did actually interfere with angiogenesis in the fat cells leading them to conclude that it might contribute to lower body fat and less gain in body weight. "Our findings suggest that curcumin may have a potential benefit in preventing obesity," they wrote.

What does that mean in real life? Hard to say.

This study does suggest that curcumin might — repeat, might — slow down the creation of new fat on the body, but how much — and under what circumstances — it would do that in humans no one knows.

There are an awful lot of good reasons to use turmeric/curcumin even without fat loss on its resume. If, on top of all the other good things, it also helps reduce the accumulation of body fat, then that's terrific. If not, it's still worth using.

Here's the Beef!

Q: I was in the organic store the other day and they were trumpeting how ground beef in the grocery store usually has the DNA of 1,000 different cows in it, while farm-raised organic stuff is often from one cow. Should I care?

A: You should care very much, but probably for slightly different reasons.

Ground beef in the grocery store inevitably comes from what we call "feedlot farms." These places are basically factories, and they bear as much resemblance to the old country farms of our childhood as a cheap Casio keyboard does to a handmade Steinway grand piano.

Cows on these "farms" are production machines for meat and milk. They're fed grain, which isn't their natural diet, and which causes great acidity in their systems. This produces "meat product" that's very high in inflammatory omega-6's and woefully lacking in omega-3's.

They're kept in confined pens and fed antibiotics to prevent the sickness that inevitably arises from the close quarters. They're fed steroids and "bovine growth hormone" to help fatten them up. Then they're "processed." Whether the end product — the meat that winds up on your plate — has the DNA of 1,000 cows in it or not, it's not something you should be eating.

Grass-fed meat is a whole different ballgame. Cows were meant to graze on pasture —their natural diet is grass, and when they roam on pasture and graze on grass their meat is higher in omega-3's and CLA (conjugated linolenic acid), an important fat that has anti-cancer activity and may also help reduce abdominal fat. Since the cattle aren't in confined quarters and they're not eating primarily grains, they don't get sick as much and aren't fed massive quantities of antibiotics.

Now, "organic" meat is somewhere in between the two extremes. It usually means the cows were fed organic grain, which is only a minor improvement since cows shouldn't be eating a diet of grain in the first place.

While the perception is that organically raised meat is better than non-organic meat, it's still not nearly as good as grass-fed (pasture raised). Sometimes grass-fed meat is also organic, but some very conscientious farmers who raise real, healthy, pasture-grazing cows don't meet some obscure government standard for organic so they're not able to say their meat is "organic."

I wouldn't worry about it. Given a choice, I'd go with grass-fed over organic every time, though in the best of all worlds, you'd get both.

For what it's worth, every study you've ever seen that talks about the bad health consequences of meat eating is looking at people who eat highly processed meat from factory farms. It would be very interesting to see if there are the same negative consequences to eating a diet of grass-fed (organic) beef with plenty of vegetables to balance it out.

No study like that has ever been done, but my hunch is that if people ate that way, the so-called "negative" health effects ascribed to eating meat would disappear.

Ban Trans-fats? Not So Fast...

Q: As a nutrition expert, are you excited about the trend in banning trans-fats?

A: That issue may be more complex than you think.

Late in 2006, Michael Bloomberg, the enormously popular mayor of New York City, announced that New York City would become the first city in the nation to ban trans-fats from the menu offerings of the city's 24,000 restaurants. "If we can do without trans-fats, you'll save a couple of hundred lives a year in New York City," said the mayor.

Other cities, notably Philadelphia and Seattle, followed suit. And then in 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that officially banned restaurants and other food establishments from using any margarine, oil, or shortening that contained trans-fats, making California the first state to adopt such a law covering restaurants. California, along with Oregon, already had laws banning trans-fats in meals served in schools.

Health experts were jumping for joy. Should they be? I'm not so sure.

It's not that I'm a fan of trans-fats. No one has railed more loudly against these manmade spawn of Satan, which have absolutely no place in the human diet.

Don't believe for a second those reactionary apologists at the American Dietetic Association who hedge their bets with their usual vanilla claptrap about "lowering your intake" and consistently link saturated fat and trans-fats as if they're virtually the same thing. They're not. In fact, as far back as 2002, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine issued a report that concluded that "the only safe intake of trans-fats is zero."

So why am I not overjoyed about a trans-fat ban?

Because it's a slippery slope. And understanding the pitfalls of such a ban — and the possible repercussions — can help us to think more deeply about the role of government in our diet.

Trans-fats are an easy target for government intervention. There's basically no disagreement about what they do and how bad they are for you. They make the arteries more rigid, cause major clogging of arteries, cause insulin resistance, cause or contribute to type 2 diabetes, and cause or contribute to other serious health problems. Top nutritionists at Harvard have concluded that trans-fat could be responsible for an many as 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year.

But here's the thing: Once the government starts deciding what you should and shouldn't eat, you open up a really ugly can of worms. What about all the "experts" who think saturated fat should be kept as low as humanely possible? There's very far from perfect agreement on that one, and if the "experts" get to dictate policy, the next thing you know I'll be forced to order that idiotic egg white omelet, or pay a "sin tax" on full-fat yogurt.

And that's where things get dicey.

Who's going to decide what's okay to eat and what's not? The American Dietetic Assocation? The American Heart Association? The Corn Refiners Association? Are we going to ban high-glycemic foods (which leaves fructose untouched since it has a low-glycemic index)? And what's next, vitamins?

And — not to get all political on you— but those who say all this regulation intrudes on the individual's right to eat any crap he wants to, unfortunately, have a point. I may think your eating (or smoking, or drinking) habits are pretty stupid and destructive, but as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, do I really have the right to tell you not to do it?

It's a thorny issue, and the answer may reside in a fascinating book written not by nutritionists, but by a professor of economics and a professor of law.

The book is called Nudge and it's all about how organizations and government can help "nudge" people in a positive direction without taking away any of their freedoms — including the freedom to smoke or eat crappy trans-fats.

Consider, for example, these interesting factoids, all supported by copious research:

• People tend to choose the foods they see first on line at a cafeteria.

• People tend to go with the "default" options on forms and licenses.

• People tend not to contribute to 401Ks when they have to "opt-in" but will contribute to them when they have to "opt-out."

So what authors Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler propose is a system of "nudges." Put the fruits and vegetables first on the cafeteria line. Leave the crap there, but take advantage of the tendency to choose the first thing you see.

Make people opt-out of the organ-donor box on their drivers license, rather than having to opt-in. Make contribution to 401Ks automatic unless the employee chooses to check the "do not contribute" box.

You stack the deck for better decisions, but leave everyone's freedom intact.

Here's my solution to the trans-fat ban problem and the other much more thorny issues of food regulation and "sin taxes" on fast food that are sure to follow: Make every single restaurant post the nutritional data on everything they serve. And not buried behind the counter in some place that no one can find, but prominently on the menu.

Post the sugar content, the trans-fat content, even the stupid cholesterol content (which matters not a whit). Put it all out there for everyone to see.

Then educate people like crazy. Let them know what that 1,548 calorie super-burger is doing to their waistline; let them know what 3 grams of trans-fat per serving is doing to their heart; let them know what 27 grams of sugar per serving is doing to their chances of living past 60.

Then let them know that the cholesterol they "eat" doesn't hurt them a bit. Let them know that the trans-fats they eat will kill them.

If we do our job as educators, more people will think twice about eating crap, but their freedom to do so will remain intact.

That just might be the best compromise we can hope for.

The idea that NO2 products are going to translate to bigger muscles is voodoo science.

Grass-fed meat is a whole different ballgame.

Ka-li-fornia doesn't like trans fat.

About Dr. Jonny Bowden

Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS, is a board-certified nutrition specialist and a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition. He has a master's degree in psychology and counseling and a Ph.D. in nutrition, and has earned six national certifications in personal training and exercise. His books include: The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy, The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, and The Healthiest Meals on Earth. Learn more about Dr. Bowden and download one of his free audio courses at JonnyBowden.com.

© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Wikio

The legend of Usain Bolt

BERLIN -- From the first steps of this race, the very first flashes of his orange shoes out of the blocks and into the curve, it was evident Usain Bolt was in this to break the world record.

He was running hard. He was going all-out. No fooling around, no giving it the casual what-if, no allowance for the obvious fact that there was no one in this race to challenge him and he already had it won before the gun even went off.

This was about the quest to impose his will on time itself.

He wanted it bad. He wanted that record, and he swung around the turn, already far ahead, and hammered down the homestretch by himself, just him and the clock and the roar of the crowd. About a step before the line, he slowed ever so slightly, and when he got to the line, Usain Bolt allowed himself a peek to the left, at the official yellow Seiko clock.

19.20, it said.

Incredible. He had not just broken the world record. He had smashed it, the mark he himself had set last summer in Beijing, by a full tenth of a second -- that 19.30 in Beijing taking over in the books from one of the most famous races in the annals of track and field, Michael Johnson's 19.32 at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Wait. After review, now the yellow clock registered a new time.

19.19.

A time so outrageous, so stupendous, so amazing that it immediately added to the is-there-anything-he-can't-do legend that, in just 12 short months, Usain Bolt has become.

Track and field has in recent years been reeling from a succession of doping scandals. Usain Bolt insists he's clean. If you don't believe him, there's nothing he can do about that, he said. "I don't get offended," he said late Thursday night.

Assuming he's clean -- and there has not been anything directly suggesting Usain Bolt is not -- we are in the presence of athletic genius. He is a talent so profound that every race is electric with possibility.

"Flabbergasting," David Alerte of France, eighth Thursday, said after getting whipped. "I don't have the words to explain. It was a big moment. A historic moment. I take the pleasure to run with Usain Bolt."

Shawn Crawford, the gold medalist in the 200 in the 2004 Olympics, second in Beijing, fourth here Thursday, said Usain Bolt is a "gift" and a "blessing to the track world," adding, "Anything that great is a blessing."

Just five days before, Bolt had gone 9.58 in the 100. He is the first man ever to break 9.6.

Now he had, in a race that in its way is even more demanding -- not just twice as long but ferocious in exposing any weakness on the curve -- crashed through not just one but two barriers never before broached in all the years mankind has been running for the sake of sport.

Bolt is the first man to go under 19.3.

Bolt is the first to go under 19.2.

"9.5 is just crazy,' Jamaican Steve Mullings, fifth Thursday night, said. “19.1 is just sick."

This race was run into a slight headwind, 0.3 meters per second.

What if, one day, Bolt got himself into tip-top shape and the conditions lined up so that he got the maximum allowable tailwind, 2 meters per second? What then? 18.9-something?

Bolt has so re-framed the possibilities that everyone who knows track and field is now willing to openly allow for the possibility of seeing the 200 run in the 18s and the 100 in 9.4-something.

How can you not?

"He’s got an 18-second in him coming soon," Mullings said.

For one of the first times, Bolt explained Thursday how he has gotten so good so fast. It's rooted in the same thing that has made Michael Phelps even more of a force in the pool, an emphasis on weight-training for strength, speed and explosive power.

At the 2005 Worlds, for instance, won by Justin Gatlin of the United States in 20.04, Bolt finished eighth, in 26.27 -- that's right, 26.27. Wallace Spearmon of the United States took second in that race, in 20.20.

"I got a cramp during the race," Bolt said, going on to explain that in 2005 he was still raw and, moreover, had just started working with Glen Mills, his coach since. In 2006, he said, he was "mainly injured." At the 2007 Worlds, he took second behind Tyson Gay of the United States in the 200 and, he said, "We found out the real problem was I wasn't strong enough.

"We went back to the drawing board and worked on my strength and [on] speed-endurance," he said. "Now I know what I need to do."

Even so, Bolt did not believe, at least in public, that he would turn in a record time here Thursday. He had said so before the race and reiterated afterward his "surprise."

For one, there was the car accident earlier in the year, which disrupted his training, in particular the work he thought he needed to be stronger in the 200. "I'm not in the condition I was last year," he said.

The 200s he had run this year had come, as sometimes happens, in crummy weather, in pouring rain two months ago in Lausanne, Switzerland, for instance -- meaning his race preparation itself was not ideal.

There was, moreover, the physical drain of the 100 here just days before.

There was also the mental wear of not only the rounds in the 200 after that 100 but the realization that, essentially, he was going against himself. Gay had pulled out of the 200 here after coaxing all he could out of a sore groin to go 9.71 in the 100.

"I doubted people thought I would run 19.19," Bolt said. "I didn't think I would run 19.19."

Alonso Edward of Panama took second in 19.81. That's more than six-tenths of a second back. That's -- that's like what happens in high school.

Spearmon got third, in a season-best 19.85.

Going forward, how talents such as Edward, Spearmon and Crawford keep up with Bolt is far from clear.

Spearmon, who has become a good friend with Bolt, said, "Just because you get beat doesn't mean you stop trying. It means you go home and work your own resume." He added that he would maybe "put a picture of Bolt above my bed -- it'll be my motivation in life."

Crawford, who had called Bolt a "blessing," said he had been taught that "any time there's a blessing in the vicinity, you're close to being blessed yourself."

These guys, though, are chasing Bolt.

Bolt is chasing history.

He doesn't fix a number, 18-something or 9.4-something, to his potential. To do so, as he has made plain many times over, would be to assess boundaries and limits, and that's not his game.

Instead, he said, "Anything is possible."
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Un bol de céréales serait aussi efficace qu'une boisson sportive après une activité physique

4 août 2009 - Après une longue séance d’activité physique, un bol de céréales avec du lait écrémé aiderait tout autant nos muscles à récupérer que les boissons sportives, selon une étude américaine financée par la compagnie General Mills.

Le petit essai clinique a été mené auprès de 12 cyclistes qui ont été invités à faire du vélo stationnaire. Après 2 heures d’exercice modéré, ils ont reçu une collation contenant environ 80 g de glucides. La moitié des cyclistes ont bu deux bouteilles de boisson sportive. Les autres ont mangé un bol de céréales de grains entiers sucrés dans du lait écrémé.

À l’aide de prises de sang et de biopsies, les chercheurs de l’Université du Texas ont conclu qu’il n’y avait pas d’avantage à prendre une boisson sportive. Les tissus musculaires referaient leurs réserves énergétiques aussi bien avec un bol de céréales. Mieux encore : la synthèse de protéines était un peu meilleure avec les céréales.

Rappelons qu’en s’activant, on oblige, entre autres, nos muscles à puiser dans leurs réserves de glycogène, une substance de stockage du glucose. Après une longue période d’activité sportive, il faut refaire ces réserves rapidement. On recommande donc d’ingérer au moins 50 g de glucides pendant les 30 minutes qui suivent un exercice de longue durée. Si l’exercice est court et d’intensité modérée, on peut attendre le prochain repas avant de manger.

Marie-Hélène Croisetière – PasseportSanté.net

1. Kammer L, Ding Z, Cereal and nonfat milk support muscle recovery following exercise, J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2009 May
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Big Back, Big Chest, Real Fast

by Chad Waterbury

I get bored easily.

That's why I've spent the last few years augmenting my training toolbox. There's only so much I can say about training for bigger muscles before I unleash a barrage of Hulk Hogan-style leg drops on my keyboard. I know what your muscles need to grow. But I can't guarantee that you'll have the time and energy to get the job done. So the ball's in my court to make the process as user-friendly as possible.

Now that I can do more to help clients, I've taken on more esoteric cases. In the last few months I've had three interesting clients come to me for help.

First was Tracy. She was born with spina bifida, a nasty neural defect that mandated four major spinal surgeries by the age of 24.

She had lost the mind-muscle link to most of her core, hip, and lower body muscles, and this made her so weak that she couldn't stand up from a Barca lounger unless she used her upper body strength to hoist herself up as if she was escaping a swimming pool after mistaking little Billy's half-eaten Snickers bar for something far more ominous.

So I designed a program to strengthen and reprogram her atrophied muscles.

Second was Heidi Montag, the star of MTV's hit reality show, The Hills. She definitely wasn't born with any physical disadvantage, except that her butt was too flat for the Playboy centerfold shoot that's currently on the newsstands.

Not only did she want a curvier caboose, but she also wanted to look like an athlete — not an emaciated starlet with breast implants. Her goal for the shoot was to expose powerful curves, and she needed them fast. So I designed a workout to give her, and any other female, a sexy, bikini body.

Then there was Alex. He's the only one of the three that you can probably relate to. He had no physical limitations, and he didn't give a rat's ass about making his ass look better. He just wanted bigger pecs and lats so he'd look better without a shirt while he scoped out chicks along the beach.

These seem like three specific cases that all require a unique training strategy. Interestingly enough, I used the same training approach for all three clients. Whether I needed to rehabilitate injured muscles or sculpt a bikini body or add muscle to a guy's upper body, the most important component I had to get right was their training frequency. Put simply: the more they train a movement, the faster they'll get results.

You know that saying, "If something is worth doing, do it every day?" Well, I can tell you that this mantra does carry over to hypertrophy training. Indeed, the reason why trainers say that you need months to gain appreciable amounts of muscle is not because your body can only manufacture a few pounds of muscle each month — it's because it takes months' worth of workouts to see results.

So what if you could cram two or three months worth of training into three weeks? Provided you can recover from each workout, I think you'll agree that you'll gain muscle faster than ever before.

This is exactly what I did with Alex. He wanted a bigger chest and upper back, and he wanted it, like, yesterday. I designed a simple plan to do it. And it worked! It wasn't easy, but it was certainly simple. He gained over two inches of chest girth in less than a month.

So I'm here to share the chest and back HFT plan that I gave him.

The Exercises

For three weeks you'll focus on the push-up and wide-grip pull-up for the majority of your upper body work. These two exercises will take the place of all your upper body pushing and pulling requirements. If you add in exercises like the bench press or seated row, you'll burn out in no time. You can add 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps for the lateral raise, biceps curl, face pull, and triceps extensions for three workouts each week, but it's not necessary.

The great thing about the two primary exercises is that they require very little equipment. You're born with everything you need for the push-up. The pull-up, on the other hand, isn't quite as simple since you probably don't have a pull-up bar hanging in your doorway, but the solution to that dilemma is simple: get one.

The Equipment

These days, there are a plethora of pull-up bars that can be hinged to your doorway. I won't list all of the companies here, but I'll just say that I have the Total Upper Body Workout Bar by Iron Gym in my place.

It only takes a few minutes to assemble and it doesn't require any drilling. Just position one end of the apparatus over the molding around the top of a doorway in your house, and you're good to go. (Note: if you happen to have a home that doesn't have wood trim molding around your doorways, you'll need to buy the version that screws into the sides of the doorway.)

The Training Parameters

Six days each week you'll do 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups. Why the seemingly unbalanced parameters? Because a push-up only engages about half your body weight; the pull-up uses all of your body weight. So that's why you need twice as many push-ups to keep the strength in balance around your shoulder joints.

Again, each day, for six days a week, you'll do 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups. I don't care how many sets it takes to complete either, just get them done. For example, you could do five pull-ups every hour for 10 hours. Or you could do 10 pull-ups five times per day. Or you could do 13, 8, 7, 6, 6, 5 and 5 reps over the course of three hours. In the end, it doesn't matter.

The same is true with push-ups. 100 reps are required each day and it doesn't matter how, or when, you get those reps.

Granted, this whole thing sounds ridiculously simple (conceptually, not in the execution), but it works. What have you go to lose?

Technique Tips

1. Your chest must touch the floor with each push-up, and you should push your shoulder blades apart at the top of each rep to engage the woefully disrespected serratus anterior. (Doing your push-ups this way will improve your shoulder health.)

2. The pull-ups are to be performed with a wider-than-shoulder width hand position with your palms facing away from you. Every rep must start from a full hang and you should touch your chest to the bar with each pull.

3. Perform each rep of each exercise as fast as possible. Don't go to failure on any set — always keep at least one rep in the hole. This will allow you to maintain your strength throughout the day.

4. If you can do more than 30 push-ups in one set, perform each set with your feet elevated on a flat bench, chair, stool, or a stack of encyclopedias (I prefer the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition).

More to Know

During the first week your chest, lats, and serratus anterior muscles will be screaming in agony. No worries. By week 2 the soreness will be virtually gone since your localized muscle recovery will skyrocket to meet the demand.

Do this program for six days each week for three weeks straight. Then, refrain from any upper body pushing or pulling movements for five full days. This will allow for any supercompensation that might be lagging behind. In other words, many people get bigger during the five days off.

What can you expect? At least two inches of new girth added to your chest measurement. You'll have trouble finding a training system that will build muscle faster!

About Chad Waterbury

Chad Waterbury is the author of Huge in a Hurry and Muscle Revolution.

© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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