Raw garlic acts like a natural antibiotic

 A recent 2012 study by the Washington State University states that a compound from garlic is 100 times more effective than two popular antibiotics used in the treatment of intestinal infections caused by the bacterium species Campylobacter bacterium. Many other scientific research projects suggest that raw garlic has incredible healing properties.

Garlic, also called “the stinking rose’, has been used for many centuries as a food and medicine, it is most often used as an antiseptic – applied to wounds to prevent infection. In the beginning of the 18th century, in France, gravediggers supposedly drank wine mixed with crushed garlic to protect them from the plague. It was also given to soldiers – in both world wars – to prevent gangrene caused by bacterial infection. The healing properties of this spice ranges from anti-infective to antioxidant.

How does garlic destroy ‘unfriendly’ bacteria?

A recent study published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy revealed that the compound called diallyl sulphide effectively penetrated the protective bio-layer formed by colonies of bacteria (campylobacter bacterium). Garlic’s active ingredient dissolves this layer and eventually destroys the bacteria.

Researchers of the study noted that campylobacter is 1000 times more resistant to antibiotics – due to the presence of its protective bio-film. They were also fascinated by the fact that garlic compounds was able to destroy the bacteria in just a fraction of the time taken by antibiotics like, erythormycin and ciprofloxacin.

Garlic contains a wide range of thiosulphinates such as allicin that are responsible for the antibacterial activity. The nutrients, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds in garlic make this condiment a remarkable natural remedy.

Garlic is a good source of minerals like, selenium, calcium and phosphorus plus a very good source ofvitamin C, B6 and manganese. It also contains different kinds of natural sugars, including fructose, glucose and inulin.

And, let’s not forget, garlic is known for its high selenium content – higher than any other plant source.

What is the best way to prepare and eat garlic?

The way you prepare garlic influences the amount of beneficial compounds you receive from it. Heating, microwaving and even drying is found to substantially decrease the allicin and alliin content in garlic. When consumed raw these compounds are at high concentration.

According to many studies – crushed raw garlic that is allowed to sit in room temperature for 10 minutes has the highest amount of alliinase enzymes. This maximizes garlic’s ability to activate its germicidal effect. It’s really powerful!

There are many different ways garlic can be incorporated into your everyday menu. A good way to relish is to make a warm soup of tomato, basil and garlic to fight off a nagging cold or a simple juice of garlic with tomatoes and lemon for a quick tonic to boost immune system.

If you are not a big fan of the raw garlic taste – toss the chopped garlic, at the end of cooking time, to help retain its nutritive value. If you do need to expose garlic to heat – limit the cooking time of garlic as much as possible. (no more than 5-10 minutes)

Tips on storing and choosing the best garlic

Choose garlic that is plump and looks free of blemishes. It is best to store garlic in cool, dark place away from heat – in an open basket. This will prevent sprouting of garlic and maximum freshness.

Garlic has a strong sulfurous smell and is not attractive to pests, so it is more likely to be pesticide-free. Although garlic supplements are available in the market, not all of them have the same amount of active ingredients.

When choosing garlic supplements – look for freeze-dried, dried or aged garlic extracts. If you are planning to buy supplements read the label thoroughly for their ingredients, it is better to choose supplements with standardized ingredients to be sure you are receiving enough of the active compounds in the pills.

While synthetic antibiotics are losing their effect against ‘superbugs’ – garlic is certainly a safe and an effective alternative to fight off infection without damaging the digestive tract. If you take blood-thinning drugs like warfarin or aspirin – be sure to talk to your doctor before consuming garlic supplements. Naturally, if your doctor is not well-educated on natural therapies – find another doctor.

Looking for natural health solutions? Sign up now – for our free, weekly show featuring the greatest minds in natural health and science plus a free gift!

References:
1. Xiaonan Lu, Derrick R. Samuelson, Barbara A. Rasco, and Michael E. Konkel.Antimicrobial effect of diallyl sulphide on Campylobacter jejuni biofilms. J. Antimicrob. Chemother., May 1, 2012
2. Hassan ZM, Yaraee R, Zare N, et al. Immunomodulatory affect of R10 fraction of garlic extract on natural killer activity. Int Immunopharmacol. 2003;3(10-11):1483-1489.
3. O’Gara EA, Maslin DJ, Nevill AM, Hill DJ. The effect of simulated gastric environments on the anti-Helibacter activity of garlic oil. J Appl Microbiol. 2008; 104(5):1324-31.
4. Jonkers D et.al; Antibacterial effect of garlic and omeprazole on Helicobacter pylori. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. (1999)43 (6): 837-839.

Squats and Hip Dysfuction: 2 Common Problems and How to Fix Them

Robert Camacho

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Movement disorders and motor programming are all the rage in the physio-world these days and that’s a great thing. We’re stepping back and opening our eyes to the entire body as a system, trying to understand the positions and habits that lead to problems, rather than simply treating the joint as a joint and the muscle as a muscle.



The hip is one of the most powerful joints in your body and as such plays a pivotal role in many athletic movements. Dysfunctions of the hip musculature can rob you of your athletic performance and lead to a vast and painful array of injuries. The squat is one of the most basic movement patterns of the hip and yet it is often something people struggle to perform with perfect technique. We’re going to take a look at the two most common dysfunctions at the hip, how they affect your squat, and what you can do to fix them.



Common Dysfunction #1: Posterior Weakness or Weak Glutes



Of the various issues involved in poor squat technique, poor glute control is easily the largest factor. Movement dysfunction is a game of compensation. When you place a movement demand on your body, it’s going to do its damnedest to perform. If it can’t do so using the correct muscles, then it’s going to start firing all sorts of funky stuff in a mad dash to satisfy your demands.



The gluteus maximus is a primary mover of hip extension. Weak glutes mean weak extension. If this is you, then during the eccentric (lowering) phase of the squat there’s a good chance you’re going to start tipping forward. People talk a lot about core tightness and abdominal bracing as it relates to the forward lean and that’s absolutely valid - but also secondary. The first step to maintaining an upright torso is proper eccentric glute control. If you don’t have the glute strength to maintain and drive hip extension, then your lower back will kick in to compensate and guess what? It’s not really suited for the task. Take a look at an anatomy chart and note the difference in sheer size between your glutes and the musculature of your lower back. Which one would you prefer carry the bulk of that 300lbs you’re trying to squat? If your butt’s weak, your back’s going to hurt - plain and simple.



Another issue with poor gluteal control is the compensations it causes in the anterior hip musculature. When we tip forward during a squat a couple of nasty things happen involving our hip flexors. First, they will frequently begin to fire in order to help us balance because our glutes aren’t doing the job. Second, and weirdly enough, they will also activate in an attempt to pull us into deeper flexion. In other words, they’re trying to help us squat lower than our gluteal control should allow. The result of this compensation is an over-activation of the anterior hip musculature.



Here’s a basic test for glute max and hip extensor strength:

1. Find a table that’s about waist height (a training table would be ideal).
2. Stand with your hips directly up against the edge of the table.
3. Lean forward so your entire torso is on the table.
4. Lift one leg straight back and flex your knee to ninety degrees.
5. Without letting your knee drift out to the side or letting your lower back extend (increasing lumbar curvature), lift your foot towards the ceiling. You should feel a tightness in your glutes.
6. Now have a buddy try to push down on your thigh with light, but steadily increasing force. If you have weak glutes, it shouldn’t take a huge amount of effort for your buddy to break your hip position.
7. If your leg starts to turn or drift sideways or your lower back starts to move, those are compensatory mechanisms and they indicate that your hip extension needs a little tender loving care.
8. Do this test on both legs, one at a time.

You can also perform this test without a table by having someone lay prone on a flat surface and having him or her flex the knee and extend the hip the same way. Personally, I prefer the table test because it involves a larger range of motion and therefore provides more information when observed.



Common Dysfunction #2: Anterior Tightness or Tight Flexors



The primary movers in hip flexion are the rectus femoris and sartorius (muscles of the quadriceps; sartorius is pictured right, rectus femoris below) along with the iliopsoas (a deep muscle of the hip). There are a few smaller muscles that also play a role, but typically when you have tight or inflamed hip flexors it’s due to a dysfunction of one or more of these aforementioned muscles.



In a general sense, most hip flexor tightness isn’t the result of activity, but rather the unintended consequence of the passive positions we maintain throughout the day (sitting comes to mind). While the squat can actually be a profoundly therapeutic exercise in terms of restoring proper gluteal activation and helping mobilize the front of the hips, when done incorrectly it will do the exact opposite: reinforce the negative positions and dangerous compensation patterns.



When your flexors are tight you will have a tendency to lean forward while squatting. A forward lean will shift your center of gravity anteriorly and increase activation of your quadriceps while decreasing activation of your glutes. In addition, once you’re in the bottom position and your hip flexors have turned on, your body is going to want to use your quads to extend your knees, and guess what? Two of the three main hip flexors are attached to your quadriceps, which are now firing. As a result, when you stand up your flexors are going to stay shortened, which will contribute to an anterior pelvic tilt and make it really difficult to adequately activate the posterior hip muscles.



Another issue with tight hip flexors is that they are usually an indication of missing hip flexion or lacking hip mobility. As I said before, frequently your flexors will turn on as a way of pulling you down into deeper flexion. But they really shouldn’t have to.  Ideally, you should have enough passive flexion to achieve the proper depth without the help of your hip flexors. Tight hip flexors can be both a red flag for missing flexion and a secondary cause for missing flexion. Your body is kind of weird like that.



The easiest test for hip flexor tightness is the Thomas test:

1. Lie down supine with your legs hanging off the edge of a table. (Again, a training table would be ideal.)
2. Pull your knees to your chest and hold them there with your arms.
3. Extend one of your legs while keeping the other held to your chest. Let the extended leg hang off the edge of the table.
4. Have a buddy observe the location of your knee (on the extended leg) compared to the position of your hips. Your knee should hang lower than the table. If it is above the table or even in line with it, then this is a positive indication of hip flexor tightness.

Fixing The Problem



Often when diagnosing a movement disorder you are dealing with a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Was it anterior tightness that caused posterior weakness or vice versa? As with most things, it’s probably a bit of both. What degree of each, though, is unique to each individual. It’s possible that you started squatting and due to your forty-hour-a-week office posture you already had profound issues with all of the aforementioned problems. It’s just as possible, though, that initially when you started squatting your mechanics were pretty good but you increased the weights too quickly and this got you in the habit of using negative compensations. Regardless, the most important thing is identifying the existence of the improper movement patterns and addressing them.



Hip Flexion and Hip Mobility Fixes

Quadruped Rocking With Active Shoulder Flexion:

1. Get on all fours.
2. Push with your arms and drive your hips backwards until yoru hips are sitting on your heels (or as close as you can get, anyway).
3. Make sure the motion is coming from your shoulders rather than your hips.

This drill is basically a physiological trick to get your body to move into a position of deep flexion without activating your flexors. If you get on all fours and simply start shifting backwards, then its pretty likely you’re going to engage your flexors to do so. By focusing on pushing with your shoulders, you’re using different muscles to produce the movement and that will allow you to achieve the position without activating your flexors. This will also teach your body that your hip flexors don’t need to be firing as hard as possible in order to achieve this position at the hip.

Thomas Stretch:

Same thing as the Thomas test described above, but this time rather than simply observing the position of the thigh, have your buddy gently press your thigh downwards until you feel a stretch through your quad and the front of your hip. Hold this stretch for thirty seconds to a minute, and do this two or three times.

I’m not crazy about a lot of other hip flexor stretches because most of them involve you being upright. As long as you’re upright and having trouble balancing, then your hip flexors are probably going to fire. In other words, if you already have this dysfunction then your flexors are already prone to over-activation. Stretching them in an upright position will turn them on to a degree, but what you’re attempting to accomplish is getting them to shut off. See the problem?

Paleolithic Chair:

I think the most profound stretch or mobilization for overall hip flexibility is the Paleolithic chair. Get down as low as you can while keeping your heels on the ground and hang out there. If you have to grab onto something to maintain balance at first, that’s fine - just focus on getting low and keeping your heels on the floor. Try to do this for three to five minutes at a time initially. Ideally, you will build up to a total of about ten minutes a day.

Posterior Strength and Gluteal Activation Drills



The best way to get your glutes firing during a squat is to do some basic warm-up drills that will reinforce firing your glutes. One of my favorite progressions is as follows:

1. Glute Bridge - 10x (both legs)
2. Single Leg Glute Bridge - 10x each leg
3. Fire Hydrants - 10x each leg
4. Quadruped bent-knee hip extension - 10x each leg

You can perform all of these fixes as a five to ten minute mobility and warm-up session before you squat, which should significantly improve your squat positioning. But really, the simplest fix for weak eccentric glute control is also one of the most straightforward: lighten your weights and focus on the eccentric portion of the squat with specific attention to keeping your torso upright. Mindfulness of your movements and strict adherence to proper patterns is the best medicine for your ailments.



This is a very general list of the most common issues I see concerning hip dysfunction and squats. If there are any more specific issues you guys would like to see addressed let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Good luck. Now get out there and squat something heavy.

Laissez monter la fièvre

Le premier réflexe de la plupart des médecins, parents et malades, est de vouloir « faire tomber la fièvre » dès que celle-ci dépasse 38,5°C. 

C'est une énorme bêtise dans le cas des infections virales (la grande majorité des cas !), et vous allez comprendre tout de suite pourquoi. 

Les virus pénètrent dans le corps par la bouche ou par le nez, le plus souvent. Ils entrent dans une cellule et se reproduisent à l'intérieur jusqu'à ce que la cellule soit pleine comme un œuf, remplie de millions de virus. 

Si vous regardez à ce moment-là la cellule au microscope électronique, vous avez l'impression qu'elle est remplie d'alvéoles d'abeilles : ce sont les virus, qui sont aussi serrés que des alvéoles dans un rayon de miel ! Entièrement colonisée, la cellule meurt, éclate, et tous les virus sortent et se dispersent. Chacun entre dans une cellule saine, et le cycle recommence. 

La propagation du virus est donc très rapide. Des millions ou des milliards de cellules peuvent être touchés en quelques heures. Elles sont si nombreuses à mourir que vous ne tardez pas à souffrir de lésions dans les organes. Vous avez mal aux articulations, à la tête, aux muscles, au ventre, aux oreilles, ou ailleurs selon les cas. 

Heureusement, notre corps ne reste pas sans réagir face à une invasion de virus. 

Dès qu'un virus pénètre dans une cellule, celle-ci lâche des substances qui font gonfler les vaisseaux sanguins à proximité. Le sang ralentit, s'accumule à l'endroit de l'infection, ce qui permet aux globules blancs qui sont dans le sang de traverser la paroi des vaisseaux sanguins et de rejoindre la cellule infectée. 

Les globules blancs, aussi appelés leucocytes, sont en effet attirés par les substances émises par la cellule. 

De votre côté, vous constatez une inflammation : parce que le sang s'accumule à l'endroit de l'infection, cela devient rouge, chaud, et douloureux. Mais c'est bon signe. 

Cela veut dire qu'une « inflammation » est en train de se produire. C'est un mécanisme qui ordonne au corps de se défendre. La cellule infectée se retrouve entourée de millions de globules blancs. Ils sont si nombreux qu'ils bloquent l'oxygénation. Ne pouvant plus respirer, la cellule se met à fermenter et à produire du dioxyde de carbone et des acides lactiques. Cela crée une acidité dans la cellule qui bloque la reproduction des virus. De plus, la fermentation produit beaucoup de chaleur, ce qui tue les virus. 

Bien entendu, la cellule meurt aussi. Mais la propagation du virus est stoppée, ce qui est le plus important. Quand la cellule meurt, les globules blancs meurent aussi et lâchent des substances qui augmentent la température du corps. Cela provoque de la température et de la fièvre. Cette température plus élevée du corps tue les autres virus présents ailleurs dans le corps. 

La stratégie de réaction du corps est donc double : faire monter la température locale, au niveau de la cellule malade, et faire monter la température générale du corps, qui est la fièvre. Ces deux réactions contribuent à stopper l'infection virale. 

L'inflammation et la fièvre sont bonnes pour vous

L'inflammation, lorsqu'elle est passagère, et la fièvre, lorsqu'elle ne dépasse pas 40°C, sont des réactions très efficaces de l'organisme pour se protéger des virus. En fait, ce sont même des réactions indispensables : si notre corps ne génère pas d’inflammation, les virus nous tuent sans la moindre résistance. 

Les hommes l'ont toujours su : autrefois, quand un malade avait une infection, on le mettait sous des édredons, on lui faisait boire beaucoup de tisane pour le faire transpirer et augmenter sa température. 

Un virus aussi dangereux que celui de la poliomyélite, qui provoque des handicaps à vie, voit sa vitesse de reproduction diminuer de 99 % lorsque la température passe de 38,5°C à 39°C ! [1] 

Il faut savoir qu'avant les années 60, tout le monde attrapait à un moment ou à un autre le virus de la poliomyélite. 90 à 95 % des personnes ne s'en apercevaient même pas, car le virus était éliminé par leurs défenses naturelles avant même d'avoir provoqué des symptômes de maladie. Une minorité tombait malade, mais la plupart faisaient alors une poussée de fièvre qui détruisait le virus selon le mécanisme décrit ci-dessus. 

Toutefois, si par malheur quelqu'un leur donnait à ce moment-là un cachet d'aspirine pour « faire baisser la fièvre », c'était la catastrophe : le virus attaquait la moelle épinière, provoquant la paralysie des jambes. 

C'est pourquoi donner un simple cachet d'aspirine ou de doliprane à une personne infectée par un virus peut avoir des conséquences désastreuses : en faisant baisser l'inflammation et la température, un énorme « coup de fouet » est donné au virus. Votre organisme est dépouillé de ses protections naturelles, et n'a plus aucun moyen d'empêcher la prolifération du virus et la maladie. 

Une expérience célèbre

Mais là où les médecins n'ont vraiment aucune excuse pour continuer à faire l'erreur de « lutter contre la fièvre », c'est que le phénomène a été compris et expliqué scientifiquement dès les années 60, autrement dit il y a un demi-siècle. 

Et les médecins français ont encore moins d'excuses que les autres car c'est en France que le Pr André Lwoff, prix Nobel de Médecine en 1965, a fait un important travail d'information pour expliquer à la profession comment la fièvre agit contre les virus. 

Il faut noter que les instructions officielles de l'Agence française du médicament (ANSM) recommandent toujours, actuellement, de faire baisser la fièvre dès 38,5°C chez les enfants avec des médicaments. Cela alors que l'agence reconnaît elle-même que la fièvre n'est pas dangereuse (en dessous de 41°C) et que le traitement n'a pour but que d'améliorer le confort, et qu’« il a été identifié récemment des effets indésirables, rares mais particulièrement graves, lors de l'utilisation de certains médicaments pour lutter contre la fièvre » ! [3] 

Si le message n'est toujours pas passé aujourd'hui, quand le sera-t-il ?? 

Lorsqu'on prend des lapins sains et qu'on les met dans une atmosphère à 20°C, leur température est de 39°C. Lorsqu'on les met dans une atmosphère à 36°C, leur température est de 40°C. Si on leur inocule à ce moment-là le virus de la myxomatose, 63 % meurent dans le groupe basse température, contre seulement 30 % dans le groupe haute température. 

En injectant aux lapins malades un produit empêchant la fièvre (comme l'aspirine ou le paracétamol), on multiplie par deux le nombre de décès. C'est connu depuis cinquante ans ! [2] 

Et comme on l’a vu plus haut avec l'exemple de la polio, une très légère différence de température (0,5°C) peut entraîner une énorme diminution de la vitesse de reproduction des virus. La différence entre la santé et la maladie, et dans certains cas, entre la vie et la mort ! 

Supprimer la fièvre peut augmenter la vitesse de réplication des virus au point de submerger le système immunitaire. 

Provoquer la fièvre pour guérir

Alors que la médecine officielle continue parfois de recommander de prendre des bains tièdes pour « faire baisser la fièvre », en plus des médicaments, le mieux est en réalité de faire le contraire, c'est-à-dire provoquer la fièvre pour accélérer la guérison. 

Voici un protocole de « fièvre-thérapie ». Ne l'utilisez pas si vous avez déjà de la fièvre, si vous êtes enceinte ou si vous avez d'autres contre-indications à la chaleur. 

Préparation : la fièvre-thérapie semble consister à prendre un bain chaud, mais elle va en fait bien plus loin. Pour être efficace, il faut suivre les instructions. Ayez à portée de la main un thermomètre, un vêtement absorbant, par exemple un gros peignoir de bain si vous en avez un, ou un survêtement. Choisissez un moment où vous avez plusieurs heures de calme devant vous. Buvez deux verres d'eau pure et prévoyez encore de l'eau à boire pendant et après le traitement. Faites-vous couler un grand bain d'eau chaude.

Etape n°1 : Entrez dans le bain puis ajoutez de l'eau chaude jusqu'à ce qu'il soit aussi chaud que vous puissiez le supporter. Faites donc très attention si vous le faites pour quelqu'un d'autre, surtout un enfant. Pour plus de précaution, vous pouvez prendre le bain avec lui.

Etape n°2 : Prenez votre température pendant que vous êtes au bain, sous votre aisselle. Dès que votre température atteint 38,5°C, comptez 20 minutes. Normalement, vous aurez commencé à suer fortement avant d'atteindre cette température. Buvez de l'eau pure, mais elle ne doit pas être froide.

Etape n°3 : Sortez du bain après 20 minutes. Attention en sortant car on se sent souvent faible à ce moment-là. Séchez-vous rapidement, couvrez votre tête avec une serviette et mettez votre peignoir de bain.

Etape n°4 : Mettez-vous vite dans un lit avant de vous être refroidi. Vous devriez alors avoir trop chaud et transpirer en abondance. C'est exactement le but recherché. Restez couvert jusqu'à l'étape 5. Dormez si vous le pouvez, c'est ce qu'il y a de mieux à faire.

Etape n°5 : après 45 minutes à deux heures, vous serez revenu naturellement à votre température normale. Avant de commencer à avoir froid, débarrassez-vous de votre peignoir humide. Veillez bien à ne pas vous refroidir. Ce n'est que maintenant que vous avez fini le traitement.

Vous pouvez recommencer le cycle plusieurs fois, et ce pour pratiquement toutes les infections. Toutefois, cette thérapie est surtout efficace au début de la maladie. C'est aussi à ce moment qu'il est le plus facile de se mettre à transpirer fortement. 

A votre santé ! 

Jean-Marc Dupuis 

Plates Work Better Than Kettlebells

by Joel Seedman   

Here's what you need to know...

•  If you don't have access to kettlebells, use Olympic barbell weight plates with handles to perform many of the same movements.

•  Performing swings with plates offers unique challenges and benefits that can't be replicated with other training tools, including kettlebells.

•  Bottoms-up variations performed with plates are some of the most physically demanding exercises you'll ever attempt. They might even surpass conventional barbell cleans and snatches in building full body strength, power, coordination, and stabilization.

Having trained for over a decade in university fitness facilities, access to equipment, particularly heavy kettlebells, has always been something I've had to work around. Furthermore, peak hours at many collegiate recreational sport facilities pose their own unique set of challenges as oftentimes the only unoccupied equipment may be a set of Olympic plates hanging on the overpopulated bench press station.

Fortunately, dealing with these challenges has been a blessing in disguise. It's forced me to devise unique alternatives that are not only suitable replacements for their traditional counterparts, but may actually serve as more intense and effective movement variations.

Plate Swing

When I first began tinkering with using a single 45-pound plate in lieu of kettlebell swings, I soon realized that not only was this a movement that I could perform at nearly any facility due to easy accessibility, but that it also offered unique benefits.

First, driving a plate through your legs immediately forces the hips to open up and spread maximally in order to accommodate the wide implement. Second, plate swings greatly assist in eliminating one of the most common pitfalls associated with swings, which is squatting rather than hinging at the hips.

If you squat rather than hinge, you'll hit the ground because of the height of the plate. This teaches you to hinge and not let the weight pull you down. Instead, you'll learn to drive the weight back during the eccentric phase of the swing.

Double Plate Swing

There are additional perks to performing double plate swings. First, they allow you to use anywhere from a total of 50 pounds (using two 25-pound plates) to as high as 90 pounds (using two 45-pound plates). For many lifters, swinging 90 pounds is more than sufficient to elicit the appropriate training stimulus, not to mention the fact that 90 pounds in the form of plates will feel heavier and more intense than the same load applied with kettlebells.

The double plate swing is also an incredible forearm and grip workout. With kettlebells, the hands tend to move naturally and rhythmically, whereas plates have to be essentially manhandled in order to control them properly.

Also, supinating the hands into a more neutral position helps teach the neuromuscular system to pull the scapula medially, as well as reinforcing proper scapular retraction and depression. Simply put, the neutral grip engrains the idea of pulling the shoulder blades down, back, and medially towards the spine, a maneuver that all lifters should be emphasizing in their training programs.

Close-Stance Double Plate Swing

The main difference here is that you swing the plates from the sides rather than the front of the body. This variation of the traditional swing may be one of the best for athletes. Not only does swinging the plates from the side of the body present a unique stimulus that's difficult to replicate with any other form of external resistance, but there are several unique advantages to this intense exercise.

First, the side plate swing will have more specific transfer to close-stance movements including conventional deadlifts, trap bar deadlifts, Olympic lifting variations, Romanian deadlifts, and bent over rows. Secondly, the movement is more specific to jumping due to the similar stance width employed. Although many would argue that hip extension is hip extension, period, performing dynamic hinge activities in a more sport-specific fashion may provide a highly valuable training alternative for athletes.

Another unique benefit is the greater range of motion the plates must travel as a result of using a taller body position. Not only do the hips have to extend more forcefully to propel the load to the proper height, but there are also greater deceleration forces involved during the eccentric component due to the momentum buildup accrued from the larger drop height.

Lastly, I've occasionally run into the issue where some individuals feel a bit apprehensive swinging a heavy object in between their legs, particularly when one of the common coaching cues is "smack your butt with the kettlebell" at the turnaround position. Although this is a fear that should be quickly put to rest with proper coaching and improved kinesthesia, some people inevitably feel more comfortable with the load at their sides rather than in between their legs, if you catch my drift.

Isometric Simulated Swing Plate Hinge

I'm a huge fan of eccentric isometrics (isometrics held at the stretched position), not only for the intense challenge they present by increasing intramuscular tension, but also for their ability to create efficient motor programs and improve sensory integration.

One of the most effective eccentric isometrics I use with athletes to prepare them for swings and to establish a strong general motor program for the hinge position is the isometric plate hinge. It's one of the most simple, yet effective movement prep activities you can do.

Simply take a 5 or 10-pound plate and drive it back between your legs as if you were performing a cable pull-through. Focus on keeping a neutrally-arched spine (not excessive), shoulders pulled down and back, packed head, weight emphasized on the outer heels, hips and knees spread, and core tight.

Hold each rep for 3-5 seconds and come back up smoothly but forcefully focusing on creating a powerful contraction in the glutes. If you have difficulty with any of the previously described plate swing variations or simply are in need of a tune-up on your swing/hinge technique, this lower-intensity preparatory movement may be one you want to perform for several minutes each training session.

Bottoms-Up Plate Clean

Anyone who's ever tried any variation of a bottoms-up kettlebell exercise knows how demanding these can be on the grip, forearms, shoulders, and core, not to mention the value they have on overall movement mechanics and scapular stabilization. Variations performed with plates offer similar if not greater benefits, as the difficulty is often higher.

There are several benefits here. First, the weight can be swung/pulled from the side, thereby enforcing a strong hip hinge pattern. When you clean a barbell from the front of the body, it can precipitate more of a squatting position rather than the desired hinging position.

When the weights are pulled in back of the body as is the case with plates, this naturally drives the hips back into flexion (similar to jumping), creating a scenario that emphasizes maximal hip drive and reciprocal inhibition of the glutes on the proceeding hip extension.

This is analogous to a sling-shot-effect in which case the hips are fully cocked back (maximal co-contraction) before exploding forward. Furthermore, having the weight at the sides will produce less shear forces on the spine due to the load being closer to the center of mass rather than in front of it.

Bottoms-up plate-cleans also allow a much greater range of motion at the hips compared to other traditional hang clean variations. For example, performing a hang clean with a barbell is most often done above the knees. While this minimizes risk of injury and ensures the simplest method for performing the movement, the range of motion produced by the hips is relatively small.

Plate cleans call a much greater range of motion into play as driving the weights back to initiate the movement inherently causes fuller hip flexion at the bottom and ultimately more forceful hip extension at the top. Although similar advantages are seen with kettlebells, performing cleans with plates allows a narrow-foot-stance position, mimicking more traditional pull variations not commonly witnessed with their kettlebell counterparts.

Bottoms-Up Plate Press

If you've ever tried a bottoms-up press with kettlebells, you'll immediately understand the difficulty this next exercise poses. The bottoms-up plate press is done in the exact same manner as the kettlebell version, only using plates, but the height of the plates as well as their awkward nature makes this a more grueling variation. Remember, as the plates get heavier, they also get taller and harder to balance. Be prepared to focus like a Jedi as this may be one the more difficult exercises you'll ever attempt.

Bottoms-Up Plate Snatch

The next exercise can be somewhat dangerous. I recommend you attain a fairly high level of competency on all the above exercises before even attempting bottoms-up plate snatches.

It's also advisable to perform these in an open area with few people close by for two reasons, both of which I found out the hard way. First, this is a very humbling exercise. Be prepared to fail numerous times and the fewer people watching you nearly kill yourself, the better. Secondly, this one can get a bit messy, and if you're going to kill yourself it's best to not take anyone else down with you.

Warnings aside, there are several factors that make this one of the most effective exercise selections. Other than a close-grip barbell snatch from the floor (a variation that's rarely done), no exercise requires such a large displacement of the loading implement as the bottoms-up plate snatch. Taking the weight from the bottom at shin height to a close-arm position in the catch at the top requires incredible power and hip drive as the plates have to travel a total of six to eight feet, depending on height and limb length.

Furthermore, you won't be dropping under the plates in order to catch them as you would with the barbell variation. In other words, you either have to propel the weight to standing height with arms fully extended, all in one powerful motion, or you won't succeed. Finally, the degree of core, forearm, and overall upper body activation required to catch the plates at the top in a stable position is incredibly high. If you're looking for a new exercise that combines full body strength, power, coordination, and stabilization, look no further.

Notes on Progression and Variations

• There's a learning curve for most of these movements, so start with 25-pound plates and progress from there.

• If 45-pound plates aren't challenging enough, Ivanko makes 55-pound (25kg) plates with handles. If this still doesn't do the job, then you have my utmost respect and admiration.

• The type of plate makes a difference. True Iron Grip plates with straight angles are easier to grip and stabilize than those with circular holes used in the videos.

• All of the movements listed can be performed during any portion of the workout. However, make sure excessive fatigue doesn't cause degradation of technique.

• Some spinal extension is acceptable during the bottoms-up overhead variations. However, most of this should be coming from the T-spine rather than the cervical or lumbar regions and it shouldn't be excessive.

• Some trainees will find the single arm versions (i.e., single arm swings, cleans, presses, etc.) to be easier as you can focus more of your neural drive to an individual limb. In contrast, if anti-rotation and core stabilization are a weakness, then single-arm versions may be more difficult.

• To focus even more on core stabilization, try performing these with offset loads (i.e., a 45-pound plate in one hand and a 35 or 25-plate plate in another).

• For the overhead movements, make sure you're proficient at standing overhead presses with dumbbells before progressing to these bottoms-up plate variations.

Regular Cardio Will Make You Fat

by John Meadows   

Here's what you need to know...

•  When using cardio while dieting, begin by doing the minimum necessary for fat loss, not the maximum.

•  The most effective cardio for retaining muscle is the kind you don't need to recover from, which is walking.

•  When it comes to doing cardio for fat loss, it's either slow and easy (walking) or fast and torrid (HIIT). The middle ground can make you fatter.

•  Don't think of HIIT as calorie burning cardio, but rather muscle building cardio.

Whenever the topic of "cardio" comes up, it always ignites a firestorm of differing opinions, most dealing with how much people hate it or how you have to do it to get shredded. What never gets clearly explained, though, is the context and reasoning for which it's being done. This is crucial to understand, because cardio from a conditioning and endurance standpoint is going to be very different from a physique and bodybuilding perspective.

For a competitive athlete, it's likely very important that some kind of energy systems work be performed that either prepares them for their sport or aids in building overall work capacity. In contrast, for a physique competitor, cardio is employed for the sole purpose of either weight control/maintenance or creating a calorie deficit for fat loss. Energy systems development is likely a non-issue, provided the physique competitor is lifting with enough frequency and relative intensity.

Still, when it comes to doing cardio for fat loss, bodybuilders – if they want to preserve their muscle mass – need to take it either slow and easy or fast and torrid. The middle ground can actually make you fatter.

Slow and Easy

Speaking specifically to the bodybuilders, you have to ask yourself the following:

If my primary goal is maximal muscle, do I want to be performing a high volume of an entirely conflicting activity?

Please tell me you didn't answer yes to this. This isn't to dissuade people from doing cardio. If you like cardio, and I know some people that do, by all means do as much as you want. But be cognizant that it may be a conflicting factor that you have to account for if you want to get as big and lean as possible.

If, however, you're going to do cardio, it'd be best to do something that won't conflict with your goals and that's easy to recover from, namely, easy walking. So, if you're doing the incline walks on the treadmill, you're probably doing something right. Just keep it as short as necessary.

However, if you're insistent on stair stepping for an hour to "striate the glutes," or walking on an incline for two hours as contest prep, consider the following:

You have to take the Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID) principle into account.

If you're dieting for a show and your lifting volume goes down but your cardio goes up, what's the primary stimulus your body is going to need to adapt to? The cardio. Now how does one become more efficient at slow, aerobic cardio? By decreasing overall energy output, which means burning fewer calories to do the same activity.

So how do we increase energetic/caloric output? We get rid of the most metabolically expensive tissue we have that's taking up those calories, which means our muscle.

The net result is that you over-diet for a show, lose muscle, lose fullness, and your physique suffers. Or, for the non-competitive bodybuilder, you just cut into your muscular gains come summer when you all you wanted to do was cut down for the beach. Not the outcome you wanted.

The answer isn't to refrain from ever doing cardio, but to employ it intelligently. Imagine this hypothetical scenario:

Bodybuilder A trains high-frequency six days a week on the Reactive Pump program, and each training session burns on average of 450 calories over a 1.5 hour period, and he uses peri-workout nutrition. He weighs 240 pounds in the offseason and he'll be dieting down to 220. He stays lean year round and his caloric intake is 4200 calories while his expenditure is 3800.

Bodybuilder A's active metabolic rate is 3800.

Bodybuilder B does his own type of training. He trains high-frequency as well, 5-6 days a week, but his workouts aren't as intense and they take about 2 hours. He also does an additional 45 minutes of cardio every workout, which equals about 650 calories.

He uses IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) and doesn't pay much attention to food quality, and his peri-workout nutrition consists of a shake before and after training, followed by tons of low-quality carbs. He gets fat in the offseason and his caloric intake is about 5500 calories, but his expenditure is only 4500, which puts him into a significant surplus. His offseason weight is 270, but he'll walk on stage at 220 as well.

Bodybuilder B's active metabolic rate is 4500.

Now let's move into the competition prep phase. Both start 24 weeks out. Bodybuilder A has to lose only 20 pounds, which is less than a pound a week. Bodybuilder B, though, has to lose 50 pounds, so approximately 2 pounds a week.

Bodybuilder A does ZERO cardio during his offseason, other than going for leisurely walks that don't stress his adaptive response at all. So by reducing his calorie intake very gradually and maintaining his peri-workout nutrition, his cut is easy to manage. Only the last couple of weeks before the contest does he do any cardio, and it's only for 30 minutes a pop. He also does a few HIIT bouts to really accelerate the fat loss.

Because his loss has been more gradual, he has to resort to fewer dirty tricks to lose the weight and his metabolism hasn't slowed significantly. He still has a cheat meal a week before the contest. He steps on stage big, ripped, and vascular.

Post contest, he enjoys another cheat meal and eats dirty for a few days, but he hasn't been calorie or nutrient deprived, so his metabolism doesn't have a huge rebound. After 2-3 weeks he's back to regular training and he's set himself up for solid muscle gains.

Bodybuilder B, though, has a lot of fat to shed. Even though his initial caloric output his higher, he needs a bigger daily deficit to lose weight. He ups his cardio to 2 hours, but now he's increased his metabolic rate while at the same time cutting calories. He's constantly hungry and his workouts really start to suffer. He's not very smart about his peri-workout nutrition, he's often flat, and his strength starts heading south.

His metabolic rate starts to slow significantly because of his lowered caloric intake and his body begins to deplete muscle. Increasing his overall activity while heavily decreasing his calories makes his cut absolutely miserable. Oh, he still gets to 220, but he's soft looking and he's lost significant size.

Once the contest is over, he binges like crazy because he's been calorie and nutrient starved for weeks. Subsequently he gets even fatter than before, setting himself up for another hard cut a year from now.

Obviously, scenario A is where we want to be, so here are the major takeaways:

• Clearly define whether you need cardiovascular training for physical performance or purely for body composition management.

• The most effective cardio for retaining muscle is the kind you don't need to recover from, which is walking.

• When using cardio while dieting, begin by doing the minimum necessary for fat loss, not the maximum.

Of course, there's the other alternative.

HIIT It

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) isn't really in the same category as traditional "cardio." If you do it right with extreme intensity, it's very complimentary to hard resistance training.

While it can be highly effective for fat loss and improved muscularity, the devil is in the details. When deciding which version of cardio to use, the body's natural physiological adaptations need to be taken into account.

Consider again how the "middle zone" cardio we talked about above (specifically in reference to our Bodybuilder B) is lousy for muscle gains. Adaptation is a response to stress, and biology will always seek efficiency and, consequently, minimization of stress. As such, the adaptation to this middle zone cardio is less muscle and more body fat.

In contrast, consider something like sprinting. Sprinting is the cardio version of maximal strength training. However, in this case we're not moving weight, we're moving our bodies. This essentially makes sprinting a "relative strength" activity, in that it's the amount of force – in this case, propelling the body through linear space – we can exert in relation to our body size or weight.

Of course, we're only as fast as we are strong, and the stronger we are, the faster we can be. And that strength, of course, comes from muscle. Even further though, sprinting is an expression of power output; it's mass x acceleration. The more efficiently we can alter our physiology and replace fat with muscle, the greater the force output and thus, the faster our potential speed.

Consider then, if sprinting is the stress, and the imposed demands are maximal speed that's compounded by mass relative to our ability to accelerate, what will make us more efficient/faster at sprinting? Getting stronger, of course, and sprinting itself can be anabolic.

As far as loss of fat, it's the extraneous, unwanted, unneeded tissue that impedes acceleration. That's why sprinters are lean. Sprinters have the lowest body-fat percentages relative to any other athlete. And I guarantee none of them train in a calorie deficit to look like that.

Their body composition and muscularity is the result of the natural biological adaptation that's taken place in response to their imposed demand/stress, which, in this case, is maximal efficiency at maximal force output.

The body's adaptation to middle ground cardiovascular exercise, however, is the opposite of weight training. In lifting weights, maximal strength often requires maximal bodyweight with higher body fat levels, but in cardio, maximal speed requires minimal bodyweight relative to the amount of muscle needed to reach top speed. In this case, however, minimal still equates to a lot of muscle, otherwise you won't ever reach your speed potential.

Too much sprinting, however, can quickly burn you out, just as too much maximal lifting can. The dosage is hugely important.

These are the takeaway lessons:

• Lifters should augment resistance training with HIIT.

• Sprint-based cardio can equate to lower body fat levels.

• Don't think of HIIT as calorie-burning cardio, but rather muscle-building cardio.

I've laid out two paths for you. The first – walking – will gradually get you cut without impeding further muscular gains, and the second – HIIT – will get you cut while building muscle. The choice is yours. Just avoid the middle ground.

Note: Alexander Cortes contributed to this article

19 Unbelievable Statistics About The Drugging Of America : Dr. Leonard Coldwell.com

If it seems like most people cannot think clearly these days, it is because they can’t. Americans are literally being drugged out of our minds.

The American people are the most drugged people in the history of the planet. Illegal drugs get most of the headlines, but the truth is that the number of Americans who are addicted to legal drugs is far greater than the number of Americans who are addicted to illegal drugs.

As you will see below, close to 70 percent of all Americans are currently on at least one prescription drug. In addition, there are 60 million Americans who “abuse alcohol” and 22 million Americans who use illegal drugs. What that means is that almost everyone that you meet is going to be on something. That sounds absolutely crazy but it is true. In fact, there are 70 million Americans taking “mind-altering drugs” right now!

We love our legal drugs and it is getting worse with each passing year. And considering the fact that big corporations are making tens of billions of dollars peddling their drugs, don’t expect things to change any time soon.

The following are 19 statistics about the drugging of America that are almost too crazy to believe….

The Drugging Of America

#1 An astounding 70 million Americans are taking legal mind-altering drugs right now.

#2 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors wrote more than 250 million prescriptions for antidepressants during 2010.

#3 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug.  An astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.

#4 Americans spent more than 280 billion dollars on prescription drugs during 2013.

#5 According to the CDC, approximately 9 out of every 10 Americans that are at least 60 years old say that they have taken at least one prescription drug within the last month.

#6 There are 60 million Americans that “abuse alcohol”.

#7 According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 22 million Americans use illegal drugs.

#8 Incredibly, more than 11 percent of all Americans that are 12 years of age or older admit that they have driven home under the influence of alcohol at least once during the past year.

#9 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is an unintentional drug overdose death in the United States every 19 minutes.

#10 In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.

#11 According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.

#12 According to Alternet, “11 of the 12 new-to-market drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration were priced above $100,000 per-patient per-year” in 2012.

#13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.

#14 Many of these antidepressants contain warnings that “suicidal thoughts” are one of the side effects that should be expected.  The suicide rate for Americans between the ages of 35 and 64 rose by close to 30 percent between 1999 and 2010. The number of Americans that are killed by suicide now exceeds the number of Americans that die as a result of car accidents every year.

#15 In 2010, the average teen in the United States was taking 1.2 central nervous system drugs. Those are the kinds of drugs which treat conditions such as ADHD and depression.

#16 Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants as children in Europe are.

#17 A shocking Government Accountability Office report discovered that approximately one-third of all foster children in the United States are on at least one psychiatric drug.

#18 A survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that more than 15 percent of all U.S. high school seniors abuse prescription drugs.

#19 It turns out that dealing drugs is extremely profitable. The 11 largest pharmaceutical companies combined to rake in approximately $85,000,000,000 ($85B) in profits in 2012.

In America today, doctors are trained that there are just two potential solutions to any problem. Either you prescribe a pill or you cut someone open. Surgery and drugs are pretty much the only alternatives they offer us. And an endless barrage of television commercials have trained all of us to think that there is a “pill for every problem”.

Are you in pain?

Just take a pill.

Are you feeling blue?

Just take a pill.

Do you need a spark in your marriage?

Just take a pill.

And most Americans assume that all of these pills are perfectly safe. After all, the government would never approve something that wasn’t safe, right?

Sadly, what most Americans don’t realize is that there is a revolving door between big pharmaceutical corporations and the government agencies that supposedly “regulate” them. Many of those that are now in charge of our “safety” have spent their entire careers peddling legal drugs to all of us.

We have become a nation of drugged out zombies, and it is all perfectly legal. The funny thing is that many of these “legal drugs” have just slightly different formulations from their “illegal” counterparts.

If more Americans understood what they were actually taking, would that cause them to stop? Perhaps some would, but for the most part Americans are totally in love with their drugs and giving them up would not be easy. Just ask anyone that has tried to kick a pharmaceutical addiction.

Source: http://wakeup-world.com/2014/02/19/19-unbelievable-statistics-about-the-drugging-of-america/

About the author:

Michael Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school who has worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years. He is the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and the author of the fiction “The Beginning of the End“, a mystery/thriller set in the United States in the ‘near future’ against a backdrop of massive economic collapse, political corruption, social decay, rioting in the cities and unprecedented natural disasters.

Michael and his wife, Meranda, believe that a great awakening is coming, and they are working to help bring renewal to the United States.

Connect with Michael on Facebook and check out ”The Beginning of the End” - available now on Amazon.