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Why You Should Lift Weights More and Run Less

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OK, so maybe you shouldn’t hang up your running shoes for good, but if your goal is to burn stomach fat and gain that sexy six-pack, your routine shouldn’t ignore the weight room. While burning calories may be key to dropping pounds, when aiming to burn fat, lifting proves to be the missing piece of the puzzle. 
According to a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, when men participated in lifting for a specific amount of time, rather than aerobics for the same amount of time, they had less of an increase in abdominal fat than those who ran for the same amount of time.
Despite potential weight gain from lifting, there was still a decrease in overall fat. The key then might be to have a balance of weight lifting and aerobic exercises, because while cardio burns fat and muscle, strength training will target calories from mostly fat.
This study also varied from previous research on the subject, because it focused on long-term effects and tested a large sample of various healthy men who ranged in BMI.
“To maintain a healthy weight and waistline, it is critical to incorporate weight training with aerobic exercise,” said Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology and senior author of the study.
A great way to incorporate weight training with cardio, and in turn get the best of both worlds, is creating interval workouts, or trying HIIT workouts to build muscle and burn calories. 
According to Bodybuilding.com, “Interval cardio is 4-6 challenges that are 60-90 second burt of exercise with rest periods in between.” There are many different types of interval training, and plenty of ways to add in running with lifting or body weight exercises to maximize results.
Other benefits of interval training include the efficiency of the workouts, and the ability to build muscle and add strength to your everyday lifting routines, while also burning fat and increasing stamina. 

Posted By HAMZARAZA2:28 AM

THE 9 MOST BASIC FACTS ABOUT LOSING LOVE HANDLES AND BELLY FAT

Unlike women, who tend to distribute extra pounds all over, men hoard all of theirs in one spot: the belly, producing unattractive love handles and the potential for cardiovascular disease and other health ailments. Unfortunately, getting rid of love handles and belly fat isn’t as easy as it is to get them in the first place. It takes a concerted effort around the clock, not just during a one-hour daily workout. But, there is some good news: a lot of small lifestyle changes can make those love handles disappear—if you recognize the facts of the matter.

The Fat Guy's Guide to Losing Weight >>>

Pete Williams is a NASM certified personal trainer and the author or co-author of a number of books on performance and training.

Posted By HAMZARAZA2:26 AM

5 Bodybuilding Exercises That Build More Muscular Arms

A man with giant arm muscles
Guns, pythons, Old Thunder n’ Lightning — whatever you call your arms, a muscular set will definitely demand attention. Arms are traditionally one of the first parts of the body people try to build up when getting in shape, as they are right out front for everyone to see. So, it’s important, at least for some people, to pump “Rock” and “Roll” up; you know, to send a message.
There are three major muscle groups that lifters target when exercising the arm: triceps, biceps, and forearms. Of course, your arms are intricately related to other muscle groups in your body as well — notably the chest and back, and even your abs. For that reason, arm exercises will also give those muscles a workout, and build additional resolve in your core.
There are a multitude of arm exercises, and corresponding workout programs available for perusing. You can build your own routine too, but the trick is to figure out which exercises will help you bulk up, build definition, and grow significantly stronger. To help you get there, in true Cheat Sheet style, we’ve put together a short list of some of the most effective moves to give you a head start.
Here are five exercises that will help you build your arms into the lethal weapons you’ve always wanted.

Posted By HAMZARAZA2:24 AM

5 things women hide from their husbands




After you tie the knot, the “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine” mentality can begin to shape your life together. However, for most women, there are at least a few things they tend to hide from their guys—even if they’ve got a tight bond. (Because hey, the men hide stuff, too!) We tapped the experts to find out what women commonly stay hush-hush about. Guilty of any of these?

1. Health Concerns
If a woman finds a suspicious mole, a lump in her breast or has an otherwise disconcerting “symptom,” she may often stay mum or downplay her anxieties.

“Women will hide worrisome concerns from their spouse to protect their husband or decrease distress—especially if it feels major,” said psychologist Kristen Carpenter, PhD, Director of Women’s Behavioral Health at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center.

But this gut instinct to stay quiet about worries—as if keeping mum about something means that it doesn’t exist—isn’t the best idea.

“You’re closing yourself off to support and not allowing him to see concerns,” she explained.

So resist the urge and don’t bite your tongue. You deserve a shoulder to lean on, and tag-team support is what marriage is all about.


2. Trouble in the Relationship
Think: Fighting. Passive-aggressiveness. Disagreeing about where to live; if kids are in the future. If a woman can’t seem to work through relationship issues with her spouse privately, she’ll often schedule a therapy session—and attend alone, according to Jodie Voth, MMFT, a therapist in practice in Canada.

“I cannot tell you how often women come to therapy without their husband’s knowledge,” she said. “Their goal? To decide if the relationship is worth saving or not.”

While doing this individually can be effective, Voth said, but in order to maintain that trust with your man, it’s really better if he’s on the couch right next to you.

“Women hide therapy because it feels risky to involve him,” Voth said. “He now has equal opportunity to influence the fate of the relationship. It’s OK to do personal work in a given session, but he deserves a chance to be involved when it relates to him, too.”

3. Sexual Preferences
Carpenter said she regularly has women in her office who complain that they’re sexually unsatisfied.

“Women don’t talk about sex nearly as much, and very seldom does [any sort of formal] sex ed include talk of pleasure,” she said. “People often just fall into their sexual lives.” So if it’s meh? Ladies just “deal.” Don’t deal!

That’s largely in part, perhaps, because wives generally don’t want to tell their guys about between-the-sheets action they don’t like, Carpenter said. “It’s an emotionally-charged topic, and women are afraid they’ll hurt his feelings,” she added, “which is why I always suggest a conversation about sex outside the bedroom, bringing it up slowly, and telling him something you do like along with what you don’t.”


4. Personal Successes
Believe it or not, women are less inclined to go home and gab about a promotion at work, a big raise or even an improved marathon time.

“They do not share successes enough,” Carpenter said. “They don’t want to feel there is a race between themselves and their spouse, and think discussing their successes interferes with the male provider role.”

But let’s be real. If you wield more power at work, are the more accomplished athlete or bring home more bacon than him, does it really matter? According to Carpenter, some men do feel threatened.

“Many will say, ‘I want a smart woman, an accomplished woman, but not more so than me,'” she explained. “Unfortunately, that exists. The best is answer is to find the right guy—someone who derives their notions of self-worth from a variety of domains, not just the areas where you’re successful, too.” So don’t sabotage your personal successes on a man’s behalf. Ever!

5. Bank Accounts
“Women may keep secret bank accounts for different reasons, but I’ve found this is something they may have been taught by their mothers,” said Detroit-based clinical therapist Tomanika Witherspoon, LMSW. “For some, it’s a golden rule to always have a stash, just in case the relationship does not work.”

This may give women a sense of security—a nest egg egg to fall back. However, if a husband finds out about secret funds, he may think you’re banking on your marriage to fail.

“There may be a sense of betrayal,” Witherspoon added. “The husband may feel that his wife may be hiding larger secrets.”

Finances are loaded concerns in a marriage, so it’s best to weigh possible outcomes before withholding funds from your partner.

So while you probably don’t have to divulge everything—after all, that’s necessary to maintaining your own sense of self—holding on to certain secrets can impact the trust and support system of your marriage. If there’s an opportunity to open up for the sake of a stronger relationship, why not give it a try?

Posted By HAMZARAZA2:21 AM

The 5 foods to avoid if you want a six pack




Carrying a spare tire around your belly? You're not alone: Fifty-four percent of U.S. adults now have abdominal obesity, up from 46 percent in 2000, according to a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. If you fall into that category (male abs are considered fat if the waistline measures more than 40 inches), it's time to consider cutting down your consumption of these five foods:

1. Refined grains

Not sure what a refined grain is? It's an ingredient found in foods like white rice, white bread, and regular white pasta. The unrefined stuff (whole wheat, brown rice and quinoa) is always healthier. Pennsylvania State University researchers found that people who ate whole grains in addition to keeping a healthy diet—of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and protein—lost more weight from the abdominal area the group of people who kept the same healthy diet but ate all refined grains.


2. Potato products

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed the weight changes of more than 120,000 men and women for up to 20 years. The participants were checked every four years and, on average, they gained 3.35 pounds each time—so almost 17 pounds by the time the study was finished. The foods associated with the greatest weight gain? You guessed it—potato chips and potatoes.

3. Red and processed meat

The same 20-year study found that people who ate more red and processed meat gained weight, too—about one extra pound every four years. In another study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers worked with more than 370,000 people and found that folks who ate the equivalent of a small steak a day gained about five pounds in five years.

4. Frosting

Those cupcakes your coworker makes for special occasions? Yeah, don't eat them. While the FDA has basically declared war on trans fats, store-bought frosting still contains a not-so-healthy dose of the stuff. How bad can trans fats be? Researchers at Wake Forest University gave groups of monkeys two different diets; one group ate trans fats and the other ate unsaturated fats.

The results: The group eating trans fats upped their body weight by 7.2 percent in six years and the other only gained 1.8 percent. Not only did the trans fats add new fat, it was also responsible for moving fat from other areas to the belly. Check for trans fat in other foods like pre-made baked goods, snack foods, and frozen pizzas.

5. Diet soda

It's easy to get fooled by the zero-calorie label, yet sodas made with sugar substitutes are believed by many to play a role in weight gain. A new study published this month found that people who drank diet soda gained almost three times the amount of abdominal fat over nine years as those who didn't drink the no-cal stuff.

Sure, that study only looked at adults ages 65 and older, but consider this: Recent research from the Weizmann Institute of Science found that mice drinking water with artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame and sucralose) became vulnerable to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance—two things known to lead to weight gain.

Posted By HAMZARAZA2:20 AM

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