What is Dynamic Variable Resistance Training

Dynamic Variable Resistance Training (DVRT) gives you the versatility to train rehabilitation or performance with a high metabolic demand. It is both unique and innovative system that was developed by Josh Henkin from the ground up with the purpose of filling a void in strength training. DVRT rewards mastery of foundational skills as layers of complexity can be added as competence is achieved. Watching a sandbag demonstration with Josh makes DVRT look effortless, that’s until you have a look at his watch that reads 735 calories burned in 23 minutes.

The Ultimate Sandbag has been refined by Josh for use with DVRT. Inside the Ultimate Sandbag are bladders that can be filled with varying substrates (we have used sand, rice, and water). Load is one variable, but often not the most important. The dimensions and stability of the implement become key considerations when performing an exercise. The caloric expenditure of training with an unstable load is substantial.

Changing load position, body position, stability of the load, dimension of the implement, and weight of the load combine for an almost infinite amount of possibilities of exercise variation. Here’s an example that takes into consideration only body and load position:
1. Front Loaded Squat (stable load and body position)
2. Shoulder Squat (unstable load position, stable body position)
3. Front Loaded Staggered Squat (stable load position, unstable body position)
4. Contra Load Staggered Shoulder Squat (unstable load position, unstable body position)
5. Same Side Load Staggered Shoulder Squat (unstable load position, unstable body position)
There are five quick progressions! And that is only the tip of the iceberg, DVRT is versatile.
The Ultimate Sandbag provides a different training stimulus than a barbell, dumbbell, or kettlebell. For example, in performance of power movements such as a clean the load is distributed unequally on the very bottom of the implement, and must be pulled higher to catch in the front loaded position. You must create more power with less load than conventional equipment to achieve the same position. Decelerating the load is also experienced differently as the filler bags inside the sandbag and substrate inside the filler bag are all moving at different rates. A lighter sandbag can make for a more challenging exercise compared to a comparable load with a kettlebell, dumbbell, or barbell during a similar movement.

DVRT demands major recruitment of the core musculature. The stabilizing demands increase when the load placement is asymmetrical (such as on your shoulder) or during acceleration or deceleration. The end result is a huge hit on the exercise’s metabolic demand, in other words it’s really hard.
Here’s a DVRT workout I performed two and a half weeks from competing at the 2013 Boston Marathon while in Hawaii. All that is required is an Ultimate Sandbag and a kettlebell. For your benefit I have listed the workout below:
Circuit 1 (Power – 10 minutes):

• 1. 1. Staggered Single Arm Kettlebell Swing
• 2. 2. Cyclone
• 3. 3. Clean and Press (progression: Rotational Clean and Press)
• Each performed for 6 repetitions. Rest as much as needed between sets.

Circuit 2 (Strength – 15 minutes):

• 1. 1. Staggered Squat with Contra Load (4 second eccentric pause)
• 2. 2. Lateral Bag Drag
• 3. 3. Alligator Push Ups (Single Arm Push Ups)
• 4. 4. Deceleration Lunge with Offset Row

Each is performed for 6 repetitions. Rest as much as needed between sets.

Here is a sample of DVRT in Action:

Envision Fitness is proud to be hosting Josh Henkin for a Level I and II DVRT Certification May 18th and 19th at our gym in Maple Ridge, BC.
You can register for DVRT Level I and II here (select Vancouver): http://www.dvrtcertification.com/dates-locations/
Steve Di Tomaso CSCS
Director of Envision Fitness
DVRT Master Instructor
P.S. – If you can make it to the course, here is a great resource that you can do when it relates to sandbag training from Travis Stoetzel:

How To Include Coffee In Your Diet When You Are Trying To Get Lean

Drinking coffee can have some pretty amazing health benefits. Coffee can even help you get lean because the combination of antioxidants and caffeine it contains will enhance the body’s use of fat for fuel. There’s nothing bad about this delicious wonder bean!

Research shows the health benefits of coffee include the following:

1)    Association studies show the more coffee you drink a day, the lower your risk of death by all causes.

2)    Coffee improves vascular health, decreases risk of diabetes, and lowers risk of heart disease. Although caffeine may raise blood pressure acutely, it has no long-term effect on blood pressure in the vast majority of people.

3)    Coffee is jam packed with antioxidants called caffeic and chlorogenic acid, which lower your risk of a variety of cancers, and are linked to HDL increases.

4)    Drinking coffee increases the metabolic rate so that your burn more calories and it can help shift the body to burn fat rather than glucose for energy. A series of studies show that supplementing with coffee that is particularly high in antioxidants can lead to significant loss of 4 percent body fat over 6 weeks.

5)     Prior to training, whether lifting or doing intervals, a large dose of coffee can increase your performance.  The benefit is greater power output, more motivation, and a tendency to self-select heavier loads and push yourself harder in training.

6)    Coffee can improve reaction time and concentration, particularly when sleep deprived.

To get the benefits of coffee, you must follow a few simple practices. First, avoid putting sugar in your coffee. This is very important because consuming any sugar, or carbohydrates, with coffee will completely negate the stimulatory effect of caffeine. A recent study showed that when a group of volunteers ate a high carbohydrate meal when taking caffeine, the stimulatory effect was reduced by 90 percent compared to a group that just took caffeine in a fasted state.

 To get the performance enhancing and fat burning effects of coffee during workouts, it’s necessary to avoid all carbs. A second reason to avoid carbs when drinking coffee is that it has been shown to acutely decrease insulin sensitivity, while simultaneously freeing up fatty acids. Don’t muck things up by throwing carbs into the mix. Therefore, if you must sweeten your coffee, do so with stevia, but avoid sugar and fake sweeteners at all costs.

A second factor to consider in preparing coffee is that research suggests you can maximize antioxidant content by brewing it with a percolator or French press. However, these two methods have been shown to increase the content of a compound called cafestol in the coffee, which has been shown to elevate cholesterol levels.

Therefore, if cholesterol is a concern, you may want to use unbleached coffee filters to brew your coffee, or avoid it altogether.

Another option would be to use a green coffee been extract to get the fat burning and antioxidant benefits without worrying about the cafestol effect.

Reference
Skinner, T., et al. Influence of Carbohydrate on Serum Caffeine Concentrations Following Caffeine Ingestion. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2012. Published Ahead of Print.

Source: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/2070/Tip-602-How-To-Include-Coffee-In-Your-Diet-When-You-Are-Trying-To-Get-Lean.aspx

The Great Cholesterol Cover-Up

By Dr. Mercola

There’s serious confusion about cholesterol; whether high cholesterol levels are responsible for heart disease, and whether statins — which are cholesterol drugs — are really the appropriate solution to reduce heart disease risk.
The documentary above, Statin Nation — The Great Cholesterol Cover-Up, sheds much needed light on this topic. The film is available for free viewing for only seven days, so please share it widely as soon as possible.
As noted in the film, heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, the most common form of which is coronary heart disease (CHD). CHD affects the blood vessels supplying blood to your heart, causing them to narrow, thereby restricting the amount of oxygen supplied to your heart.
The conventional view is that high cholesterol is a major risk factor for this condition — even children “know” that cholesterol forms plaque and is bad for your heart.
The focus on cholesterol has created an enormous market for statins; drugs that act by blocking the enzyme in your liver that is responsible for making cholesterol.
Statins are now among the most widely prescribed drugs on the market, and are the number one profit-maker for the pharmaceutical industry, largely due to relentless and highly successful direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns.
Meanwhile, as of 2010, there were no less than 900 studies proving their adverse effects, which run the gamut from muscle problems to increased cancer risk! Besides the fact that statins are dangerous to your health, they also do not reduce your risk for heart disease, because high cholesterol does NOT increase heart disease risk...

Where Did the High Cholesterol-Heart Disease Myth Originate?

The idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease can be traced back to Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902), a German pathologist who found thickening in the arteries in people he autopsied, which he ascribed to a collection of cholesterol.

Later, Ancel Keys (1904-2004), a well-known physiologist, published his seminal paper known as the "Seven Countries Study¹," which served as the basis for nearly all of the initial scientific support for the Cholesterol Theory.
The study linked the consumption of saturated fat to coronary heart disease. However, what many don’t know is that Keys selectively analyzed information from only seven countries to prove his correlation, rather than comparing all the data available at the time -- from 22 countries.
As you might suspect, the studies he excluded were those that did not fit with his hypothesis, namely those that showed a low percentage fat in their diet and a high incidence of death from CHD as well as those with a high-fat diet and low incidence of CHD. When all 22 countries are analyzed, no correlation at all can be found.

And that is what mounting research now confirms. There really is NO correlation between high cholesterol and plaque formation that leads to heart disease.

Why Do You Need Cholesterol?

Missing from the cholesterol-CHD hypothesis is the holistic understanding of how cholesterol operates inside your body, and why arterial plaques form in the first place, which is clearly described in the film. Cholesterol is actually a critical part of your body’s foundational building materials and is absolutely essential for optimal health. It’s so important that your body produces it both in your liver and in your brain.
There’s no doubt that your body needs cholesterol. In fact, we now have evidence showing that cholesterol deficiency has a detrimental impact on virtually every aspect of your health. One of the primary reasons is because cholesterol plays a critical role within your cell membranes.

Your body is composed of trillions of cells that need to interact with each other and cholesterol is one of the molecules that allow for these interactions to take place. For example, cholesterol is the precursor to bile acids, so without sufficient amounts of cholesterol, your digestive system can be adversely affected.
Cholesterol also plays an essential role in your brain, which contains about 25 percent of the cholesterol in your body. It is critical for synapse formation, i.e. the connections between your neurons, which allow you to think, learn new things, and form memories. In fact, there's reason to believe that low-fat diets and/or cholesterol-lowering drugs may cause or contribute to Alzheimer's disease. Low cholesterol levels have also been linked to violent behavior, due to adverse changes in brain chemistry.
Furthermore, you need cholesterol to produce steroid hormones, including your sex hormones. Vitamin D is also synthesized from a close relative of cholesterol: 7-dehydrocholesterol.
To further reinforce the importance of cholesterol, I want to remind you of the work of Dr. Stephanie Seneff, who works with the Weston A. Price Foundation. One of her theories is that cholesterol combines with sulfur to form cholesterol sulfate, and that this cholesterol sulfate helps thin your blood by serving as a reservoir for the electron donations you receive when walking barefoot on the earth (also called grounding). She believes that, via this blood-thinning mechanism, cholesterol sulfate may provide natural protection against heart disease. In fact, she goes so far as to hypothesize that heart disease is likely the result of cholesterol deficiency — which of course is the complete opposite of the conventional view.

Identifying Risk Factors for Heart Disease

As mentioned in the film, if you want to understand what causes heart disease, you have to look at what causes damage to your artery walls, interferes in disease processes, and causes blood clotting. When the endothelial wall is damaged, repair mechanisms are set into motion, creating a “scab.” To prevent this scab from dislodging, the endothelial wall grows over it, causing the area to become thickened. This is what is called atherosclerosis. There’s no fat (cholesterol) “clogging the pipe” at all; rather the arterial wall is thickened as a result of your body’s natural repair process. So what causes damage to your arteries?
One of the primary culprits is sugar and fructose in particular. So eating a high sugar diet is a sure-fire way to put heart disease on your list of potential health problems. Meanwhile, total cholesterol will tell you virtually nothing about your disease risk, unless it's exceptionally elevated (above 330 or so, which would be suggestive of familial hypercholesterolemia, which, in my view, would be about the only time a cholesterol-reducing drug would be appropriate).
Two ratios that are far better indicators of heart disease risk are:

• Your HDL/total cholesterol ratio: HDL percentage is a very potent heart disease risk factor. Just divide your HDL level by your total cholesterol. This percentage should ideally be above 24 percent. Below 10 percent, it's a significant indicator of risk for heart disease
• Your triglyceride/HDL ratios: This ratio should ideally be below 2

Additional risk factors for heart disease include:

• Your fasting insulin level: Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates like fructose and refined grains generates a rapid rise in blood glucose and then insulin to compensate for the rise in blood sugar. The insulin released from eating too many carbs promotes fat and makes it more difficult for your body to shed excess weight, and excess fat, particularly around your belly, is one of the major contributors to heart disease
• Your fasting blood sugar level: Studies have shown that people with a fasting blood sugar level of 100-125 mg/dl had a nearly 300 percent increase higher risk of having coronary heart disease than people with a level below 79 mg/dl
• Your iron level: Iron can be a very potent oxidative stress, so if you have excess iron levels you can damage your blood vessels and increase your risk of heart disease. Ideally, you should monitor your ferritin levels and make sure they are not much above 80 ng/ml. The simplest way to lower them if they are elevated is to donate your blood. If that is not possible you can have a therapeutic phlebotomy and that will effectively eliminate the excess iron from your body

Statin Drugs Place Millions of Americans at Risk of Serious Health Problems

It’s important to note that statins are classified as a "pregnancy Category X medication" meaning, it causes serious birth defects, and should NEVER be used by a woman who is pregnant or planning a pregnancy. If it is prescribed it is simply gross negligence and malpractice as many doctors are ignorant of this important piece of information as it is relatively recently identified.
Statins have also been shown to increase your risk of diabetes, via a number of different mechanisms. The most important one is that they increase insulin resistance, which can be extremely harmful to your health. Increased insulin resistance contributes to chronic inflammation in your body, and inflammation is the hallmark of most diseases. In fact, increased insulin resistance can lead to heart disease, which, ironically, is the primary reason for taking a cholesterol-reducing drug in the first place. It can also promote belly fat, high blood pressure, heart attacks, chronic fatigue, thyroid disruption, and diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and cancer.
Secondly, statins increase your diabetes risk by actually raising your blood sugar. When you eat a meal that contains starches and sugar, some of the excess sugar goes to your liver, which then stores it away as cholesterol and triglycerides. Statins work by preventing your liver from making cholesterol. As a result, your liver returns the sugar to your bloodstream, which raises your blood sugar levels.
Drug-induced diabetes and genuine type 2 diabetes are not necessarily identical. If you're on a statin drug and find that your blood glucose is elevated, it's possible that what you have is just hyperglycemia — a side effect, and the result of your medication. Unfortunately, many doctors will at that point mistakenly diagnose you with "type 2 diabetes," and possibly prescribe another drug, when all you may need to do is simply discontinue the statin in order for your blood glucose levels to revert back to normal.
Statin drugs also interfere with other biological functions. Of utmost importance, statins deplete your body of CoQ10, which accounts for many of its devastating results. Therefore, if you take a statin, you MUST take supplemental CoQ10, or better, the reduced form called ubiquinol.  A recent study in the European Journal of Pharmacology²showed that ubiquinol effectively rescued cells from the damage caused by the statin drug simvastatin, thereby protecting muscle cells from myopathies. Another study³ evaluated the benefits of CoQ10 and selenium supplementation for patients with statin-associated myopathy. Compared to those given a placebo, the treatment group experienced significantly less pain, decreased muscle weakness and cramps, and less fatigue.
Statins also interfere with the mevalonate pathway, which is the central pathway for the steroid management in your body.

How to Optimize Your Cholesterol Levels Naturally

The most effective way to optimize your cholesterol profile and prevent heart disease is via diet and exercise. Remember that 75 percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol and reduce your risk of both diabetes and heart disease.
There is NO drug to cure heart disease, as the underlying cause is insulin resistance and arterial wall damage — both of which are caused by eating too many sugars, grains, and especially fructose. So, my primary recommendations for safely regulating your cholesterol and reducing your risk of heart disease include:

• Reduce, with the plan of eliminating grains and fructose from your diet. This is one of the best ways to optimize your insulin levels, which will have a positive effect on not just your cholesterol, but also reduces your risk of diabetes and heart disease, and most other chronic diseases. Consume a good portion of your food raw.
• Get plenty of high-quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil, and reduce your consumption of damaged omega-6 fats (trans fats, vegetable oils) to balance out your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.
• Include heart-healthy foods in your diet, such as olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels by getting proper sun exposure or using a safe tanning bed.
• Optimize your gut flora, as recent research suggests the bacterial balance in your intestines may play a role in your susceptibility to heart disease as well
• Exercise daily. Make sure you incorporate interval training which also optimizes your human growth hormone (HGH) production.
• Walk barefoot to ground yourself to the earth. Lack of grounding has a lot to do with the rise of modern diseases as it affects inflammatory processes in your body. Grounding thins your blood, making it less viscous. Virtually every aspect of cardiovascular disease has been correlated with elevated blood viscosity. When you ground to the earth, your zeta potential quickly rises, which means your red blood cells have more charge on their surface, which forces them apart from each other. This action causes your blood to thin and flow easier. By repelling each other, your red blood cells are also less inclined to stick together and form a clot.
• Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
• Be sure to get plenty of good, restorative sleep.

Ninety-Nine Out of 100 People Do Not Need Statin Drugs

The odds are very high — greater than 100 to 1 — that if you're taking a statin, you don't really need it. From my review, the ONLY subgroup that might benefit are those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes them resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol.
Remember, your body NEEDS cholesterol for the production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function. There is also strong evidence that having too little cholesterol INCREASES your risk for cancer, memory loss, Parkinson's disease, hormonal imbalances, stroke, depression, suicide, and violent behavior.
Statins really have nothing to do with reducing your heart disease risk. In fact, this class of drugs can increase your heart disease risk — especially if you do not take CoQ10 along with it to mitigate the depletion of CoQ10 caused by the drug.
Knowing that high cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease finally frees you to take a serious look at what does cause this potentially lethal condition. And as described above, poor lifestyle choices are primarily to blame, such as too much sugar, too little exercise, lack of sun exposure and never grounding to the earth. These are all things that are within your control, and don’t cost much (if any) money to address.

What is Muscle Metabolism Acceleration?

Summer is coming and your abs want to play ‘hide and seek’. Well, if you’re like most people there will be mostly ‘hiding’ with no seeking….

Are you confident to show off your abs or wear that bathing suit you’ve always wanted to?
Maybe not.

But you’re already working out, right? Your diet is pretty dialed in…what are you doing wrong?

Guess what? Your body is a master at adapting to your workouts. You’ll maintain your current fitness and body fat levels doing the workouts that you’re doing. Magnificent…that is, if you want to maintain where you’re at. Chances are you want to take it to the next level. How do you do that on your own?

Hey, I’m Shawna K, Certified Turbulence Trainer and I’m about as ‘bad ass’ as you can get. I know this is a bold statement, but who else have you heard of that has visible abs, can knock out 50 pull ups in under 5 minutes, do human flags and more? Oh, all at the age of 50?
I get asked all the time if I’m getting ready or if I’ve just finished a physique contest. I tell them, ‘Yes, in 1990…’

I’m telling you this not to brag, but to let you in on my secrets. I’ve used a system I call Muscle Metabolism Acceleration, or M2A and I can teach it to you too. I’m really not anything special, but I’ll tell you that M2A is. It’s my secret weapon for fat loss, for getting and staying lean. I don’t train for hours daily and I sure as heck don’t follow a starvation type diet and you don’t need to either.
The fact is, if you have any of these things going on in your life: stress, not sleeping well, doing long slow cardio, or if your workouts are too long, you’re likely increasing the fat storing hormone cortisol. M2A will NOT increase this hormone, rather, it will increase the fat loss super hero hormone: GH or growth hormone.

You’ll incorporate HIIT or high intensity interval training in special combination with strength training in Challenge Fat Loss. This will naturally boost GH levels and your fat burning potential. Workouts are short and intense, so much so, that you’ll enjoy what’s called ‘afterburn’ so you’ll continue to burn calories even after you’re done training. As well, you’ll increase lean muscle tissue so you’ll burn MORE calories even at rest.

Sounds like win-win.

I haven’t told you the best thing yet…your workouts are 20 minutes or less and you don’t need to go to a gym and you don’t need fancy equipment either. You’ll get expert coaching through out each video follow along workout to push you to the intensity needed to get you to the next fitness level and to burn that extra fat you want gone.

It’s good to know that a 50 year old woman created and can do the most difficult of these workouts. That means that there’s really no excuse for you. You can do these workouts too.
Here’s a sample workout for you. This challenging workout includes:

• one legged burpee
• ab roller or plank reach
• hanging oblique leg lifts
• sit out or mountain climber
• shoe touch

Do each exercise for 40 seconds with a 7 second transition to switch.

This is a great way to burn fat and focus on abdominal strength all at once.
Check out Challenge Fat Loss for more of this type of workout and let me challenge you. I can help you reach your fat loss goals no matter what your current fitness level is. The beauty of video follow along workouts is that I modify and intensify each exercise so that you’ll find the exact level for you. The key is to do your best, push yourself and increase your performance on each workout. I’ll help you every day. We can do it together.

About Shawna
Shawna Kaminski is a retired schoolteacher of 20 years who’s found her passion in the fitness industry. She’s parlayed her ability to teach and her love of training into programs that you can directly benefit from. Shawna just turned 50, is a mother of two teenagers and understands how busy life can be. Her workouts are short and intense and often can be done anywhere. She’s always up for a challenge and shares her fitness challenges with you. Currently she runs her own fitness boot camps and coaches clients in person and online with her amazing result getting programs.
Check out Challenge Fat Loss for more of this type of workout and let me challenge you. I can help you reach your fat loss goals no matter what your current fitness level is. The beauty of video follow along workouts is that I modify and intensify each exercise so that you’ll find the exact level for you. The key is to do your best, push yourself and increase your performance on each workout. I’ll help you every day. We can do it together.
Source: http://exercisesforinjuries.com/what-is-muscle-metabolism-acceleration/

Do Supplements improve our health?

Over 40% of us regularly take at least one vitamin or mineral supplement, but do they really improve our health, or are they just money down the drain? Matt Lovell, performance nutritionist explains.

In an ideal world people would follow a regime of regular exercise and healthy eating, such as a fully varied and nutritious diet. There then wouldn’t be a need for additional vitamins and dietary supplements (e.g. protein drinks). However, we all know that time pressure, combined with modern food choices and farming methods has reduced the range of nutrients available to us.

Supplements can help provide convenience and make up for short falls in our diets. If diet alone was adequate then we wouldn’t have a large percentage of the population showing deficiencies in certain nutrients, such as omega 3 fats, b-vitamins and things like vitamin D.

Statistically, people are buying more supplements and this is both good and bad. It’s good as people might be more health aware but it is bad if they are using them instead of a varied diet. Advertising probably has a lot to do with it, as do diet programmes which rely overtly on shakes as meal replacements.

In the real world people are simply not eating appropriately. This is due to an over emphasis on omega 6 fats, a generally inadequate level of proteins and omega 3 fatty acids, combined with excess grain consumption and severely restricted vegetable and fruit consumption. B-vitamins are also hugely lacking in people’s diets, along with magnesium and other essential minerals.

It should be noted that if you supplement regularly it is advisable to get your bloods checked from a medical professional.

Also, make sure to look out for brands with a pharmaceutical grade, they should follow GMP manufacturing standards, drug screening and use quality forms of ingredients – e.g. no fillers or binders. They should also keep to bioavailable forms of minerals and vitamins – using the enzyme activated forms where possible.

Therefore, if you are going to use supplements make sure you do your research and also ensure that you follow a healthy, balanced and varied diet plan.

www.optimisevitamins.co.uk



Source: http://repsuk.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/do-supplements-improve-our-health/

Fifty Fat Loss Tips

by Charles Poliquin
 
1.    Train using the most “bang for your buck,” multi-joint lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench press, chin-ups, and Olympic lifts.

2.    Avoid isolation, single-joint lifts such as bicep or leg curls unless you have unlimited training time.

3.    Use very short rest periods (10 to 60 seconds) to trigger the greatest growth hormone response.

4.     Vary the tempo of lifting phases and rest periods to provide new stimulus for the body to adapt.

5.    To get lean fast, use a hypertrophy-type protocol (8 to 12 reps, more than 3 sets, 70 to 85 percent 1RM load).

6.    Use a longer time under tension to burn more energy and increase postexercise oxygen consumption—try a 4-second eccentric and 1-second concentric phase.

7.    Train to create an anabolic response. Increasing growth hormone is the priority because of its significant lipolytic (fat burning) effects.

8.    Perform circuit training with little rest between sets for maximal growth hormone response.

9.    For gradual fat loss over a longer period, include strength cycles that favor testosterone release with heavier loads (up to 95 percent 1RM), slightly longer rest (2 to 3 minutes), and lots of sets.

10.    Work harder. If you’re not getting results, you’re not working hard enough.

11.    Give priority to training the anaerobic energy system over the aerobic system when strength training and conditioning.

12.    Do high-intensity sprint intervals for conditioning. Two examples are 60 cycle sprints of 8 seconds each, 12 seconds rest; or 6 all-out 30-second running sprints on a track, 4 minutes rest.

13.    Be as active as possible in daily life. Move more: Take regular brisk walks during the day, always take the stairs, park far away in any parking lot, or do your own yard work.

14.    Do relaxing physical activity instead of sitting in front of a screen: yoga, stretching, foam rolling, martial arts, or walking mediation.

15.    Eliminate all processed foods from your diet—don’t eat them ever.

16.    Eliminate all trans-fats from your diet such as margarine and shortening—they MUST be removed from the diet.

17.    Don’t avoid fat. Research shows that people with diets with 30 to 50 percent coming from smart fats have higher androgens and lower body fat.

 
18.     Eat smart fat, favoring the omega-3 fats that come from fish and wild meats.

19.    Take fish oil to boost omega-3 fat intake and ensure your omega-3 to omega-6 fat intake is balanced.

20.    Eat a diet with high-quality protein—organic meats will provide the largest “bang for your buck” protein.

21.    Eliminate wheat and avoid grains in favor of vegetables.

22.    Raise resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories the body burns at rest) by eating a higher protein diet with 15 to 25 percent of the diet coming from high-quality protein.

23.    Eliminate all high-glycemic carbs and eat only low-glycemic vegetables and berries.

24.    Eat an antioxidant-rich diet to prevent inflammation, which leads to fat gain. Try kale, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, berries, pomegranates, and cherries.

25.    Non-green veggies that help you lose fat are colored peppers, eggplant, garlic, onions, mushrooms, hearts of palm, spaghetti squash, and water chestnuts.

26.    Drink a lot of water (at LEAST 3 liters a day) to stay hydrated and help detox the body.

 27.    Avoid alcohol, juice, soda, and sports drinks.Stick to water, tea, and coffee.

28.    For a radical approach, eliminate all alcohol. If alcohol can’t be eliminated, Sardinian and Spanish red wines are the best worst option.

29.    Try acupuncture—studies have shown it can aid in treating obesity.

30.    Make sure your vitamin D level is over 40 ng/ml. Take vitamin D if not.

31. Take a probiotic to improve your gut health.

32.    Make sure your magnesium level is up to par. Scientists suggest 500 mg of magnesium a day.

33.    Take a liquid zinc test to see if you can taste zinc. If not, you are deficient and should take zinc to speed fat loss.

34.    Don’t buy cheap, poor quality supplements because they will do more harm than good if they are tainted with heavy metals or pollutants.

35.    Take B vitamins, especially if you eat a high-protein diet or take BCAAs because the extra amino acids take away from the pool of available B vitamins need for detox.

36.    Drink coffee or take caffeine before workouts to increase fat burning and work capacity—research shows we will self-select heavier loads if we take caffeine before training.

37.    Drink organic green tea to elevate fat burning and aid in detoxifying the body.

38.    Take carnitine to help the body use fat for fuel and increase time to exhaustion when training hard.

39.    Take the amino acid taurine because it lowers the stress hormone cortisol and helps the body digest fat.

40.    Take R-form alpha lipoic acid because it supports detox and recovery from training.

41.    Use the herb fenugreek with meals to improve insulin sensitivity and energy use.

42.    Remove body piercings to lose fat fast, especially belly piercings.

43.    Limit fructose in the diet because it gets in the way of losing belly fat.

44.    Never eat fructose before workouts because it blunts fat burning and lowers metabolic rate.

45.    Avoid milk before workouts because it is very “insulinotropic,” meaning it causes persistently high insulin levels that make you burn less energy.

46.    Don’t drink caffeine after workouts because it may raise cortisol at the point where you need to clear it for the best fat-burning and recovery effect.

47.    Eat high-quality protein for breakfast. Avoid cereal and all processed foods.

48.    Eliminate all sugar from your diet. It’s way more trouble than it’s worth if you want to lose fat.

49.    Make an effort to get enough sleep. An early-to-bed, early-to-rise sleep pattern has been shown to improve body composition.

50.    Know that you have complete control over what you put in your mouth. No one ever ate anything by accident.

Coenzyme Q10 may protect against heart disease in diabetics

By David Liu, PHD

foodconsumer.org

Taking Coenzyme Q10 supplements may help prevent heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a study most recently published in Diabetologia.  It is a possibility only because the study was conducted in an animal model.

K. Huynh of Monash University in Clayton, Vic. Australia and colleagues conducted the study in six-week-old non-diabetic db/+ mice and diabetic db/db mice and found addition of the antioxidant Coenzyme Q10 to the ACE inhibitor ramipril treatment protects against the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy in mice with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is caused by the increased production of reactive oxygen species. Huyng et al. conducted the study in hopes to demonstrate how Coenzyme Q10 would protect the diabetic heart against dysfunction and remodeling in the db/db mouse model of type 2 diabetes.

For the study, six-week-old non-diabetic db/+ mice and diabetic db/db mice were given either normal drinking water or water supplemented with Coenzyme Q10 for 10 weeks. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography and catheterisation and ventricular tissue was sampled for histological, genetic and protein analysis.

It was found that untreated db/db diabetic mice exhibited hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) along with diastolic dysfunction and adverse structural remodelling like cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis and increased apoptosis. An increase was observed in systemic lipid peroxidation and myocardial superoxide in db/db mice.

In another group of db/db mice, Coenzyme Q10 and ramipril treatment reduced superoxide formation, ameliorated diastolic dysfunction and reduced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis. Phosphorylation of Akt was restored with Coenzyme Q10 administration where it was depressed in untreated mice with type 2 diabetes. 

The researchers postulated that Coenzyme Q10 protected against pathological cardiac hypertrophy in db/db mice by preserving cardioprotective Akt signaling.

They concluded  "Coenzyme Q10 attenuates oxidative stress and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and remodelling in the diabetic heart. Addition of Coenzyme Q10 to the current therapy used in diabetic patients with diastolic dysfunction warrants further investigation."

Type 2 diabetes affects an estimated 24 million Americans.  There is no cure for the disease, but the disease is manageable or treatable.   There are many things people can do to prevent the disease from developing in the first place.  For example, curcumin and cinnamon have been proved to be every effective in protecting against the disease.  Vitamin D is another supplement people may take to prevent the disease and many other medical conditions.

Coenzyme Q10, also known as ubiquinone, ubidecarenone, coenzyme Q, and abbreviated at times to CoQ10, CoQ, or Q10 is a 1,4-benzoquinone, according to wikipedia.org

Coenzyme Q10 supplements can help the heart, migraine headaches, cancer, high blood pressure, periodontal disease, lifespan, radiation injury and Parkinson's disease.  It may also help weight loss.

People who are on statins may better off taking coenzyme Q10 because statins inhibits synthesis of Coenzyme Q10.

Co-Q10 is a vitamin-like substance present in every cell in the body. It is vital for cellular energy.  Co-Q10 helps reduce oxidative stress on cells throughout the body and especially contributes to the health of the heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas. It is also known for its antioxidant properties and for its support of already-normal-range blood pressure levels.
    •    Helps reduce oxidative stress in all cells throughout the body.
    •    Supports the health of the heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.
    •    Promotes healthy cardiovascular function and general longevity.
    •    Supports energy production.
    •    Exhibits antioxidant and neuron-protective properties.
    •    Supports already-normal-range blood pressure levels.
    •    Provides 50 mg non-crystallizing, highly bioavailable co-enzyme Q10 per serving.

Co-Q10 material is often found in a crystalline state, which is less-absorbable by the body.

Nature’s Sunshine uses a patented lipid blend to keep co-Q10 from crystallizing, and it yields maximum bioavailability.
A double-blind human clinical trial showed that NSP Co-Q10 50 mg was at least eight times more readily absorbed by the body than competing (crystalline) products.