Pork... and these are just examples. This is how your Washington representatives feel they are entitled to spend your money in epic proportions. If nothing else, this article should make you mad as hell.
50 Examples of Government Waste
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Resolving To Get More Active? Make It Happen With A “Move More” Plan!
This year, make a Move More Plan instead of a New Year’s resolution. Chances are you have room for increasing your activity, because fewer than one in four Americans over 18 years old meet the recommendations for physical activity, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And even if you do meet the activity recommendation, you may still be sitting too much. Replacing sitting time with movement and boosting your moderate physical activity to more vigorous activity means more health benefits, including lowered cancer risk, improved blood sugar control for those with diabetes, better sleep and less anxiety.
A great place to start your Move More Plan is with AICR’s second Recommendation for Cancer Prevention: “Be physically active as part of everyday life – walk more and sit less.” Whatever your level of activity, developing a Move More Plan will help you map out specifically what you want to change, how you will make the change and ways you can tweak it as necessary.
Here's how:
1). Measure your sitting minutes: keep track of how much time you sit – whether at your desk, watching TV, driving or relaxing. Do this over 2–3 days for your baseline.
2). Find times when you can break it up with a minute or more of activity.
a). Working at your desk: take a water break, walk around the office or go up and down the stairs a few times.
b). Watching TV or during other screen time: set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and take a a 1–2 minute walking or jumping jacks break. Marlene’s Note: Standing marches, squats (holds, pulses, and/or full range), punches to the air, rotary torso moves, mini kicks, shoulder rotations, big arm circles, hip circles (looks like “the hula”, but do both directions), calf raises, push-pull moves…there’s a wide variety of things you can do standing in one spot. I know ‘cuz I do them!
c).Sitting in a large conference: sit where you can easily move to the back of the room to stand so you can do a few subtle stretches and moves.
3). Set a timer on your phone or computer to remind you to get up and move.
4). Go for a walk for your meetings: moving is great for creativity, increased energy and a positive outlook. Think of how much more you’ll accomplish with a walk than sitting at a desk talking.
5). Do more stairs: whenever possible swap out the elevator for the stairs, or walk up or down escalators.
6). Keep a stretch band or light hand weights handy: stand up to use hand weights at your desk, TV or favorite chair. Use your stretch band to do these 1-minute stretches
7). Measure sitting minutes after two weeks of your plan: compare your sitting time before your move more plan and two to three weeks later. Are you sitting a bit less? Getting some activity breaks in? Finding new ways to move more?
A notebook, an app or a pedometer can help you keep track of how you are doing and provide some accountability. Better yet, find a friend to do a move more plan with so you can compare notes, encourage each other and share ideas.
You can also sign up for AICR’s New American Plate Challenge, scheduled to begin in February 2019 for weekly challenges with tips, SMART goals, diet and activity guidance and support.
And even if you do meet the activity recommendation, you may still be sitting too much. Replacing sitting time with movement and boosting your moderate physical activity to more vigorous activity means more health benefits, including lowered cancer risk, improved blood sugar control for those with diabetes, better sleep and less anxiety.
A great place to start your Move More Plan is with AICR’s second Recommendation for Cancer Prevention: “Be physically active as part of everyday life – walk more and sit less.” Whatever your level of activity, developing a Move More Plan will help you map out specifically what you want to change, how you will make the change and ways you can tweak it as necessary.
Here's how:
1). Measure your sitting minutes: keep track of how much time you sit – whether at your desk, watching TV, driving or relaxing. Do this over 2–3 days for your baseline.
2). Find times when you can break it up with a minute or more of activity.
a). Working at your desk: take a water break, walk around the office or go up and down the stairs a few times.
b). Watching TV or during other screen time: set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and take a a 1–2 minute walking or jumping jacks break. Marlene’s Note: Standing marches, squats (holds, pulses, and/or full range), punches to the air, rotary torso moves, mini kicks, shoulder rotations, big arm circles, hip circles (looks like “the hula”, but do both directions), calf raises, push-pull moves…there’s a wide variety of things you can do standing in one spot. I know ‘cuz I do them!
c).Sitting in a large conference: sit where you can easily move to the back of the room to stand so you can do a few subtle stretches and moves.
3). Set a timer on your phone or computer to remind you to get up and move.
4). Go for a walk for your meetings: moving is great for creativity, increased energy and a positive outlook. Think of how much more you’ll accomplish with a walk than sitting at a desk talking.
5). Do more stairs: whenever possible swap out the elevator for the stairs, or walk up or down escalators.
6). Keep a stretch band or light hand weights handy: stand up to use hand weights at your desk, TV or favorite chair. Use your stretch band to do these 1-minute stretches
7). Measure sitting minutes after two weeks of your plan: compare your sitting time before your move more plan and two to three weeks later. Are you sitting a bit less? Getting some activity breaks in? Finding new ways to move more?
A notebook, an app or a pedometer can help you keep track of how you are doing and provide some accountability. Better yet, find a friend to do a move more plan with so you can compare notes, encourage each other and share ideas.
You can also sign up for AICR’s New American Plate Challenge, scheduled to begin in February 2019 for weekly challenges with tips, SMART goals, diet and activity guidance and support.
Wednesday, January 09, 2019
God, Heaven, and Evil
A Renewed Defense of Atheism
BY KEN LEVY
BY KEN LEVY
After EgyptAir Flight 804 crashed on May 19, 2016, I asked the same question that many others undoubtedly asked as well: How could God let this happen? Of course, this plane crash is just one relatively small tragedy in the whole scheme of things. When we add in all of the other tragedies—all the violence, pain, suffering, and premature death that occur on this planet—the same question becomes correspondingly more difficult to answer.
This is the problem of evil, an argument that is typically used in support of atheism. If God were omnibenevolent, He would want to minimize such evils as violence, pain, suffering, and premature death; if God were omniscient, He would know everything that is happening in the universe; and if God were omnipotent, He would be able to act on His omnibenevolence and omniscience to prevent most or all evil from occurring. Yet all of this evil still occurs. Therefore God—an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent being—probably does not exist. If a higher intelligence exists at all, it probably lacks at least one of these three qualities.
Theists, or believers, generally respond to this argument by proposing two reasons to believe that God’s existence is perfectly compatible with all of the evil that we observe and experience:
1. Despite His omnipotence, God simply could not have created a world that lacked evil. If there is to be good, there must also be evil. The existence of evil makes good possible.
2. Evil contributes to a much greater or higher good. For example, suffering builds moral character or brings victims much closer to God or to each other.
Believers always have at least these fallback answers at their disposal to allay any theological doubts. But the very fact that these two hypotheses can be applied no matter the kind or degree of evil in question should make us suspicious. Quite simply, they prove too much. They commit theists to the incredible position that God’s existence should not be doubted even if the degree of evil in the world far outweighs the good. Atheists are right to respond to this theistic “spin”: if God exists no matter how much evil there is, then what good is He in the first place? Better, it would seem, to have much less evil and no God than much more evil and God. […]
The Scientific Approach to Keeping New Year’s Resolutions
by Dr. Lisa Firestone, PhD from Psych Alive
Effective tips to help you make a change…I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. On the one hand, I am all for setting goals and going after what you want in life. On the other hand, I see a problem with the way many people view and treat themselves when it comes to making a change. Many of us make resolutions based on a critical and faulty way of seeing ourselves to begin with, but even if we set realistic goals about meaningful things we want to change, we tend to beat ourselves up the minute we face a setback or make a mistake.
Effective tips to help you make a change…I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. On the one hand, I am all for setting goals and going after what you want in life. On the other hand, I see a problem with the way many people view and treat themselves when it comes to making a change. Many of us make resolutions based on a critical and faulty way of seeing ourselves to begin with, but even if we set realistic goals about meaningful things we want to change, we tend to beat ourselves up the minute we face a setback or make a mistake.
The problem with this attitude toward ourselves isn’t just that its painful to experience, but that it actually interferes with our ability to make and maintain the changes we desire. So, how can we adopt a new strategy for this new year that can help us meet our goals? Here are some effective, science-based tips that can guide us on a path to personal growth.
1. Assess your readiness: Dr. John Norcross, psychologist and author of Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals & Resolutions, says there are five possible stages we may be in in relation to making a change, and our actions should reflect the stage we’re in. Leap in too soon, and we may be setting ourselves up for failure. Norcross has drawn from 30 years of intensive research to conclude what works when it comes to making change. The five stages he describes are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.
In the precontemplation stage, we may feel pressure to change, but the things we specifically want to shift may not be totally clear to us yet, and we may even be resistant to changing our behavior. Norcross suggests that people in precontemplation probably shouldn’t try to take action quite yet.
If we’re in contemplation, we may be starting to consciously consider changes we wish to make, but we’re probably feeling pretty ambivalent. We may lack confidence or certainty. This is a good time to weigh the pros and cons of making a change, says Norcross. We might start to take little steps, by making early preparations or “getting tools in order” that we’ll need along the road.
If we’re in preparation, we’re nearly ready to take action. We’re setting the stage with tasks like getting our energy level up, ensuring we have time for the actions we need to take, assembling a support system, setting dates and goals, and talking to others about our intentions.
Just like it sounds, the action stage is the time for us to start taking the actions we set out to alter. Once we’re on track, we can move into maintenance. While many people think of this as the most challenging stage of change, by having been attuned and sensitive to ourselves in moving through the first four steps, we’re likely to feel much stronger and more resilient in this fifth and final stage.
Determining our stage of readiness can help us break the cycle of one step forward, two steps back that often demoralizes us in relation to our goals. To help with this, Norcross’s website even offers assessments to determine if we’re ready to make a change.
2. Get ahold of your critical inner voice: One of the reasons it’s such a challenge to stick with any step we’re taking toward our goals is that we all have an inner critic driving a wedge between where we’re at and where we want to be. Like a cruel coach, this voice in our heads serves to demoralize, demean, and undermine us, and it tends to get a lot louder when we attempt to make a change. For example, if our goal is to get healthier by exercising more, our critical inner voice may feed us thoughts that at first seem friendly, such as:
Just sleep in a little longer. You can’t run today. You need your rest.
Wouldn’t it be nice to head straight home instead of going to the gym? It’s been a tough day.
You did well yesterday. Take it easy and start again tomorrow.
The trouble is, once we’ve taken its advice, the tone of our inner critic quickly changes:
You are so lazy. I told you that you’d fail at this.
You never follow through with anything. You look terrible. Just give up.
You thought you were doing well? You’re fooling yourself!
If we want to empower ourselves to make a change, we have to combat this internal enemy. Here are some steps to help counter our critical inner voice.
a). Identify: Start to notice when “voices” creep into your thought process. Often, right before we start to feel bad or discouraged, there’s a little voice in our heads sending us a message. That voice can be mean and outright attacking, “Ugh, you sounded like an idiot. Just shut up already.” It can be subtle or sound self-protective, “Are you sure you want to ask your boss for that meeting? You may embarrass yourself.” It can even seem self-soothing, “Just have another drink. You deserve to feel good.” Every single one of these voices leads us to a path of self-limiting or self-destructive actions that interfere with our real goals.
b). Write them down: As an exercise, write down your critical inner voices in the second person, as “you” statements. (i.e. “You are so stupid. There’s no way you can do this.” as opposed to “I am so stupid. There’s no way I can do this.”) This can help us separate our inner critic from our real point of view. Try to notice your “voices” each time they arise, and make it a practice to record them, whether on your phone, your computer, or in a notepad.
c). Respond: Next to each “critical inner voice” you’ve listed, write down a compassionate and more realistic response. Think of what you would say to a friend who said the same thing about themselves. This time, write in the first person, as an “I” statement. (i.e. “I am not stupid. I challenge myself to learn new things and work hard to achieve goals. It may take me a little time to understand certain things, but I am resilient and completely capable of doing this.”) The point of this exercise isn’t to build ourselves up, but to have some self-compassion and believe in our real capabilities.
When we first make changes, we should fully expect our critical inner voice to get louder. This is part of why it can be harder to maintain a change than to make it in the first place. Yet, one of the most empowering tools we keep in our toolbox is our determination to consistently challenge our critical inner voice.
3. Practice self-compassion: We all want to have healthy self-esteem, but perhaps a better goal is to embrace more self-compassion. Unlike self-esteem, self-compassion is not based on evaluating ourselves or comparing ourselves to others. In her extensive research on the subject, Dr. Kristin Neff, has found that self-compassion can help us to make changes that matter to us. It is associated with “greater emotional resilience, more accurate self-concepts, more caring relationship behavior, as well as less narcissism and reactive anger.” Moreover, as Neff concluded from her studies, people who are self-compassionate have more intrinsic motivation in life — trying hard because they want to learn and grow, not because they need to impress themselves or others. Self-compassionate people are more likely to take responsibility for their past mistakes, while acknowledging them with greater emotional equanimity. Research also shows that self-compassion helps people engage in healthier behaviors like sticking to their weight-loss goals, exercising, quitting smoking and seeking medical care when needed.
So, what does it mean to have more self-compassion? First, we have to practice self-kindness over judgment. That means cultivating a more tolerant, compassionate attitude toward ourselves and whatever we’re going through, rather than assessing and critiquing. In other words, regarding ourselves the way we’d regard a friend. When we do this, we are much more likely to stick with things and challenge ourselves further.
The next element of self-compassion is mindfulness as opposed to over-identification. This means allowing our negative thoughts and feelings to come and go without attaching ourselves to them too strongly or judging ourselves too harshly. We can be curious about our thoughts and reactions without allowing them to sweep us up and overwhelm us. This practice is particularly helpful when we’re making a change, because challenging an old sense of identity can stir up our critical inner voices or trigger deep emotions from our past. By taking a mindful approach to whatever arises inside us, we can be like a mountain in a storm, allowing it to pass without being carried off course.
The last element of self-compassion is accepting our common humanity as opposed to feeling isolated and different. This attitude involves seeing ourselves and our struggles as part of a shared human experience. Everyone experiences pain and difficulty. We are not alone. We can depend on others and extend ourselves to them. We can give up any attitudes of self-loathing or victimization as well as any expectations of grandeur, because we are simply a worthy human being like every other worthy human being. Embracing this belief can free us of unrealistic pressure as we continue on our path, strengthened by the knowledge that the challenges we face are just part of being a person.
What we can take away from research is that making changes involves some degree of preparation, but once we’re in the thick of it, what we really need is a solid combination of self-compassion and grit. We need to stay strong and resilient when it comes to standing up to our critical inner voice, but we must also remain tolerant and kind when it comes to the way we treat ourselves and any setbacks we face. Therefore, whether or not we set a New Year’s resolution this year, whatever that resolution or intention may be, and whatever stage we’re in in relation to it, we could all benefit from standing up to our inner critic and embracing more self-compassion.
1. Assess your readiness: Dr. John Norcross, psychologist and author of Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals & Resolutions, says there are five possible stages we may be in in relation to making a change, and our actions should reflect the stage we’re in. Leap in too soon, and we may be setting ourselves up for failure. Norcross has drawn from 30 years of intensive research to conclude what works when it comes to making change. The five stages he describes are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.
In the precontemplation stage, we may feel pressure to change, but the things we specifically want to shift may not be totally clear to us yet, and we may even be resistant to changing our behavior. Norcross suggests that people in precontemplation probably shouldn’t try to take action quite yet.
If we’re in contemplation, we may be starting to consciously consider changes we wish to make, but we’re probably feeling pretty ambivalent. We may lack confidence or certainty. This is a good time to weigh the pros and cons of making a change, says Norcross. We might start to take little steps, by making early preparations or “getting tools in order” that we’ll need along the road.
If we’re in preparation, we’re nearly ready to take action. We’re setting the stage with tasks like getting our energy level up, ensuring we have time for the actions we need to take, assembling a support system, setting dates and goals, and talking to others about our intentions.
Just like it sounds, the action stage is the time for us to start taking the actions we set out to alter. Once we’re on track, we can move into maintenance. While many people think of this as the most challenging stage of change, by having been attuned and sensitive to ourselves in moving through the first four steps, we’re likely to feel much stronger and more resilient in this fifth and final stage.
Determining our stage of readiness can help us break the cycle of one step forward, two steps back that often demoralizes us in relation to our goals. To help with this, Norcross’s website even offers assessments to determine if we’re ready to make a change.
2. Get ahold of your critical inner voice: One of the reasons it’s such a challenge to stick with any step we’re taking toward our goals is that we all have an inner critic driving a wedge between where we’re at and where we want to be. Like a cruel coach, this voice in our heads serves to demoralize, demean, and undermine us, and it tends to get a lot louder when we attempt to make a change. For example, if our goal is to get healthier by exercising more, our critical inner voice may feed us thoughts that at first seem friendly, such as:
Just sleep in a little longer. You can’t run today. You need your rest.
Wouldn’t it be nice to head straight home instead of going to the gym? It’s been a tough day.
You did well yesterday. Take it easy and start again tomorrow.
The trouble is, once we’ve taken its advice, the tone of our inner critic quickly changes:
You are so lazy. I told you that you’d fail at this.
You never follow through with anything. You look terrible. Just give up.
You thought you were doing well? You’re fooling yourself!
If we want to empower ourselves to make a change, we have to combat this internal enemy. Here are some steps to help counter our critical inner voice.
a). Identify: Start to notice when “voices” creep into your thought process. Often, right before we start to feel bad or discouraged, there’s a little voice in our heads sending us a message. That voice can be mean and outright attacking, “Ugh, you sounded like an idiot. Just shut up already.” It can be subtle or sound self-protective, “Are you sure you want to ask your boss for that meeting? You may embarrass yourself.” It can even seem self-soothing, “Just have another drink. You deserve to feel good.” Every single one of these voices leads us to a path of self-limiting or self-destructive actions that interfere with our real goals.
b). Write them down: As an exercise, write down your critical inner voices in the second person, as “you” statements. (i.e. “You are so stupid. There’s no way you can do this.” as opposed to “I am so stupid. There’s no way I can do this.”) This can help us separate our inner critic from our real point of view. Try to notice your “voices” each time they arise, and make it a practice to record them, whether on your phone, your computer, or in a notepad.
c). Respond: Next to each “critical inner voice” you’ve listed, write down a compassionate and more realistic response. Think of what you would say to a friend who said the same thing about themselves. This time, write in the first person, as an “I” statement. (i.e. “I am not stupid. I challenge myself to learn new things and work hard to achieve goals. It may take me a little time to understand certain things, but I am resilient and completely capable of doing this.”) The point of this exercise isn’t to build ourselves up, but to have some self-compassion and believe in our real capabilities.
When we first make changes, we should fully expect our critical inner voice to get louder. This is part of why it can be harder to maintain a change than to make it in the first place. Yet, one of the most empowering tools we keep in our toolbox is our determination to consistently challenge our critical inner voice.
3. Practice self-compassion: We all want to have healthy self-esteem, but perhaps a better goal is to embrace more self-compassion. Unlike self-esteem, self-compassion is not based on evaluating ourselves or comparing ourselves to others. In her extensive research on the subject, Dr. Kristin Neff, has found that self-compassion can help us to make changes that matter to us. It is associated with “greater emotional resilience, more accurate self-concepts, more caring relationship behavior, as well as less narcissism and reactive anger.” Moreover, as Neff concluded from her studies, people who are self-compassionate have more intrinsic motivation in life — trying hard because they want to learn and grow, not because they need to impress themselves or others. Self-compassionate people are more likely to take responsibility for their past mistakes, while acknowledging them with greater emotional equanimity. Research also shows that self-compassion helps people engage in healthier behaviors like sticking to their weight-loss goals, exercising, quitting smoking and seeking medical care when needed.
So, what does it mean to have more self-compassion? First, we have to practice self-kindness over judgment. That means cultivating a more tolerant, compassionate attitude toward ourselves and whatever we’re going through, rather than assessing and critiquing. In other words, regarding ourselves the way we’d regard a friend. When we do this, we are much more likely to stick with things and challenge ourselves further.
The next element of self-compassion is mindfulness as opposed to over-identification. This means allowing our negative thoughts and feelings to come and go without attaching ourselves to them too strongly or judging ourselves too harshly. We can be curious about our thoughts and reactions without allowing them to sweep us up and overwhelm us. This practice is particularly helpful when we’re making a change, because challenging an old sense of identity can stir up our critical inner voices or trigger deep emotions from our past. By taking a mindful approach to whatever arises inside us, we can be like a mountain in a storm, allowing it to pass without being carried off course.
The last element of self-compassion is accepting our common humanity as opposed to feeling isolated and different. This attitude involves seeing ourselves and our struggles as part of a shared human experience. Everyone experiences pain and difficulty. We are not alone. We can depend on others and extend ourselves to them. We can give up any attitudes of self-loathing or victimization as well as any expectations of grandeur, because we are simply a worthy human being like every other worthy human being. Embracing this belief can free us of unrealistic pressure as we continue on our path, strengthened by the knowledge that the challenges we face are just part of being a person.
What we can take away from research is that making changes involves some degree of preparation, but once we’re in the thick of it, what we really need is a solid combination of self-compassion and grit. We need to stay strong and resilient when it comes to standing up to our critical inner voice, but we must also remain tolerant and kind when it comes to the way we treat ourselves and any setbacks we face. Therefore, whether or not we set a New Year’s resolution this year, whatever that resolution or intention may be, and whatever stage we’re in in relation to it, we could all benefit from standing up to our inner critic and embracing more self-compassion.
Tuesday, January 08, 2019
My Polish Connection... or lack thereof
I have a request for anyone out there who might have suggestions or guidance in this type of situation.
I have 50% second generation Polish ancentry, but know very little about that side of my family. I am now the oldest living male on my father’s side. There were four brothers (my father being one of them), but all are gone, While they were alive, they spoke little of their Polish ancestry and I have little further to go on. Two of the brothers were actually born in Poland.
My grandfather’s name was Wojiech (George) Golab. I do not know where he was born, but he was born April 16, 1888. He came to the USA in 1913 and worked as a steel worker. My grandmother’s name was Mary Ann Niedopytalski. She was born July 22, 1889 in Kielce, Poland and had at least two sisters and one brother.
They were married May 1, 1910. My grandfather brought his wife and their existing two sons to the USA in 1926. Working through the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, they departed from Gdansk on a ship called the Estonia and entered the USA through Ellis Island. My dad and his young other brother were born in Ohio.
I have other details, but they are sketchy and somewhat personal. I’m not certain if any additional information can be found from my Polish connection at this late point in time, but my curiosity has been with me for years. I’ve already been to sites like ancestry.com, but they were of no help. As far as I can tell at this point in time, there will be no further information possible, but I’m thinking with the world connections we now have, there is still a glimmer of hope.
This is the only existing picture of my grandparents and taken around possibly 1936.
I have 50% second generation Polish ancentry, but know very little about that side of my family. I am now the oldest living male on my father’s side. There were four brothers (my father being one of them), but all are gone, While they were alive, they spoke little of their Polish ancestry and I have little further to go on. Two of the brothers were actually born in Poland.
My grandfather’s name was Wojiech (George) Golab. I do not know where he was born, but he was born April 16, 1888. He came to the USA in 1913 and worked as a steel worker. My grandmother’s name was Mary Ann Niedopytalski. She was born July 22, 1889 in Kielce, Poland and had at least two sisters and one brother.
They were married May 1, 1910. My grandfather brought his wife and their existing two sons to the USA in 1926. Working through the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, they departed from Gdansk on a ship called the Estonia and entered the USA through Ellis Island. My dad and his young other brother were born in Ohio.
I have other details, but they are sketchy and somewhat personal. I’m not certain if any additional information can be found from my Polish connection at this late point in time, but my curiosity has been with me for years. I’ve already been to sites like ancestry.com, but they were of no help. As far as I can tell at this point in time, there will be no further information possible, but I’m thinking with the world connections we now have, there is still a glimmer of hope.
This is the only existing picture of my grandparents and taken around possibly 1936.
Monday, January 07, 2019
5 Common Myths and Facts About Your Abs
Can you get flat abs?
That's probably the single biggest question many of us have when it
comes to losing body fat. Many of us have probably done countless ab
exercises in order to get flat abs but see very little success.
It's hard to believe that one body part could cause so much anguish
for many of us, but it does simply because we can't always control how
our bodies respond to exercise and diet. We can't always control where
the fat is stored or how quickly we lose it and this is especially true
of the midsection.
With that in mind, what's the real answer to getting flat abs? It
helps to know just what your body is capable of and how much control you
really have over losing body fat.
Read about it.
Read about it.
7 Abs Exercises You Can Do Every Day for a Stronger Core
Do this core circuit before every workout and you’ll hit every angle of those abs.
Think
of this circuit training routine as a mini-workout that can be done on
its own or as a part of any other larger total-body workout you have
planned. Katie Dunlop of Love Sweat Fitness
crafted these moves so that you’ll hit every muscle in your core while
still leaving room (read: energy) for you to make them a part of your
everyday routine if you wanted. (P.S. Katie also has your recipe for cardio HIIT exercises that burn fat and reduce stress.)
Bottom line: There are officially no excuses for skipping core work. Get to it.
Bottom line: There are officially no excuses for skipping core work. Get to it.
How it works:
You’ll perform each exercise in order for the reps allotted, then
repeat the entire circuit twice or three times through depending on how
long you want the workout to be.
Total Time: up to 30 minutes
You will need: No equipment
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
The 4-Week Total Body Workout Will Help You Start 2019 Right
From Men's Health
EB’S ULTIMATE 10 FOR 2019
This year, Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., Men’s Health’s fitness director, will guide you through the MH Ultimate 10, a series of month-long training plans designed to get you the specific results we know you want, from a six-pack to arms of steel. This is the first installment-next month, we'll give you more.
To help you recover from holiday gluttony, we turned to Sean Garner, N.S.C.A.-C.P.T., creator of Project DadBod, for a full-body session. For the past eight years, Garner has worked with hundreds of guys to help them reclaim their best bodies without turning every workout into a suffer-fest.
This program emphasizes four key ways you move: a push, a pull, a hip hinge, and a squat. You’ll also target your abs, and you will redline your heart rate with bursts of cardio. The result: awakened muscles and lubricated joints, setting you up for a great year of fitness. Let’s get started!
Eb says: “This is great core work, too. Contract your abs hard one very rep and fight the urge to rotate your torso as you row the weight upward.”
Eb says: “This move shouldn’t just build muscle; try to feel a strong stretch in your back leg’s hamstring and hip flexor.”
EB’S ULTIMATE 10 FOR 2019
This year, Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., Men’s Health’s fitness director, will guide you through the MH Ultimate 10, a series of month-long training plans designed to get you the specific results we know you want, from a six-pack to arms of steel. This is the first installment-next month, we'll give you more.
To help you recover from holiday gluttony, we turned to Sean Garner, N.S.C.A.-C.P.T., creator of Project DadBod, for a full-body session. For the past eight years, Garner has worked with hundreds of guys to help them reclaim their best bodies without turning every workout into a suffer-fest.
This program emphasizes four key ways you move: a push, a pull, a hip hinge, and a squat. You’ll also target your abs, and you will redline your heart rate with bursts of cardio. The result: awakened muscles and lubricated joints, setting you up for a great year of fitness. Let’s get started!
Directions
Do the 3-minute warmup, then do 3 rounds of the workout circuit. Do this workout 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks.The Warmup
Do each drill for 60 seconds. Don’t count reps; focus on form and take your time.1. T-Spine Rotation to Downward Dog
Start in pushup position. Keeping your left leg straight, place your right foot just outside your right hand. Hold. Lift your right arm and reach for the ceiling. Hold, then return to pushup position. Shift your feet forward slightly, then raise your hips high. Try to form a straight line from your hands through your hips while also trying to keep your legs straight. Hold, then return to the start. That’s 1 rep.2. Toe-Touch Squat
Start standing, feet about shoulder-width apart, arms held in front of you. Keeping your back flat, bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at your hips until your hands touch your toes. When they do, bend at the knees so you finish in a low squat position. Reach your arms overhead. Stand back up. That’s 1 rep.3. Sprint Buildup
Start standing. For 15 seconds, march slowly in
place, lifting each knee as high as you can on each step. Then jog in
place for 15 seconds. Finish by speeding up to an all-out sprint for 30
seconds, moving as quickly as you can. Aim to lift each foot up as fast
as possible once it touches the floor.
Eb says: “During the march, lift each knee so it’s
at least as high as your hip. Pause, balancing on your grounded foot.
It’s an underrated challenge.”Strength
Do the exercises in order. Rest for 60 seconds between rounds. Each week, on all moves except the hollow body hold, reduce the reps you do for each exercise by 1 and slightly increase the weight.1. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
Stand holding medium-weight dumbbells at your sides, feet hip-width apart, core braced, knees slightly bent. This is the start. Hinge at your hips and push your butt backward, lowering your torso. Hinge until you feel a slight stretch in your hamstrings. Pause, then stand up, squeezing your glutes. That’s 1 rep; do 12.2. Alternating Dumbbell Row
Stand holding medium-weight dumbbells. Hinge at your hips until your torso is almost parallel to the floor. This is the start. Squeeze your shoulder blades and row the right dumbbell to your chest. Lower it and repeat with the left dumbbell. That’s 1 rep; do 12.Eb says: “This is great core work, too. Contract your abs hard one very rep and fight the urge to rotate your torso as you row the weight upward.”
3. Side-Plank Press
Start in a left-side plank, your left elbow on the floor and your torso and hips tight, a light dumbbell in front of you. Grasp the dumbbell with your right hand. Continue pressing your hips upward as you lift the dumbbell off the floor and pull it close to your right pec. Press it toward the ceiling, then return it to the floor. That’s 1 rep; do 12 per side.4. Glute Bridge Floor Press
Lie on the floor holding medium-weight dumbbells, upper arms on the floor, elbows bent 90 degrees. Tighten your glutes and push your hips upward. Press the dumbbells upward. Pause, then lower them back to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 12.5. Bulgarian Split Squat
Place your right foot on a bench or box that’s about knee height, bending your knee slightly, and step your left foot about 18 inches away. Your left leg should be almost straight. Hold medium-weight dumbbell sat your shoulders. Bend your left knee, sitting back; your right knee will bend more as you do this and nearly touch the floor. Hold when your left thigh is parallel to the floor, then stand back up. That’s 1 rep; do 12 per side.Eb says: “This move shouldn’t just build muscle; try to feel a strong stretch in your back leg’s hamstring and hip flexor.”
6. Hollow Body Hold
Start lying on your back, arms
and legs extended. Tighten your abs, pressing your lower back into the
floor as you do so. This should lift your legs off the floor; work to
keep them straight. Lift your shoulder blades off the floor as well;
keep extending your arms back as you do this. Hold for 30 seconds.
That’s 1 rep; do 3 to 5.
Tuesday, January 01, 2019
Please Touch
BY CAROL TAVRIS
Here are a few small studies you can do on your own to introduce this column’s subject:
- Sit in a coffee shop and watch people who are eating together. Count how many times one person touches the other as they converse. If you live in a large city, you should have a wealth of diverse individuals to observe; if your coffee shop is monocultural, you might have to do a little traveling. Many years ago, Sidney Jourard did this in San Juan (Puerto Rico), Paris, London, and Gainesville (Florida).1 His scores were: San Juan, 180; Paris, 110; London, 0; and Gainesville, 2.
- Examine the photos of survivors of any horrible event—a natural disaster, such as flood or fire, or a human-made disaster, such as a mass shooting or bomb. Try to find an image of survivors standing apart from one another, arms crossed in front of them. You can’t, can you? Total strangers as well as neighbors will be hugging each other, whether stoically or in tears, for comfort and support.
- If you can find some little kids to watch, your own or anyone else’s (or if you remember being a little kid yourself), observe what they typically do when they fall and hurt themselves, have a scary nightmare, or feel lonely: run to a loved adult for a comforting cuddle.
- Listen to what people say when a gift or experience moves them emotionally and when they reconnect with old friends: “I’m touched,” they say, and “I’m sorry we lost touch.” Notice they don’t say “I’m hearing” or “I’m sorry we lost smell.” What is the touch that has touched them?
- Observe all the signs in museums that say “don’t touch.” If touching were not a natural impulse, why tell us repeatedly (and often uselessly) not to do it?
Touch is the often the last, but not the least, of what are considered the five basic senses, following vision, hearing, smell, and taste. But it is just as crucial for human survival; the need to touch and be touched emerges the minute a baby is hatched. Babies are born with a grasping reflex—they will cling to any offered finger—and it’s abundantly clear, from the pioneering research of the British psychiatrist John Bowlby and the psychologist Harry Harlow, that babies crave as much “contact comfort” as they can get. Infants who get little touching and cuddling will grow more slowly and release less growth hormone than their amply cuddled peers, and throughout their lives, they will have stronger reactions to stress and be more prone to depression and its cognitive deficits.2 Babies who are raised with “creature comforts” but not contact comfort may be physically healthy but emotionally despairing, remote, and listless. […]
The Holidays Are OVER! Now Back To Reality!
by Marlene Harris, NSCA-CSCS
Despite the best of intentions, the winter holiday season is especially challenging for many people when it comes to health and fitness efforts. I tend to see the same patterns year after year: nutrition in the tank due to all the holiday parties and meals, exercise has come to a screeching halt due to holiday-related events and prep activities, weight gain creeping back into the picture, and a fair amount of guilt over it all. Here’s a quick start guide to getting back into your health and fitness game in 2019!
1). Gut the Guilt! You did what you did over the past few months. Like 2018, that’s now in the past. No amount of guilt, remorse, or angst will change that. Today is not only the first day of a shiny new year, but you can also treat it as the first day of the rest of your life and just move forward. It’s impossible to steer ahead into a bright future while your eyes are peering in the rearview mirror. One last thought; if you’re feeling guilty, perhaps your strategy and approach to the holidays could use some updating. Get cranking on that now so you can get a better outcome next time.
2). Move it! In terms of physical activity, it doesn’t matter what you do today, just do SOMETHING! A short walk, a long one, pick up that dusty kettlebell and toss it about a bit (carefully…), play catch with the kids/grandkids, do high-knee marches around the house like some over-zealous leader of a New Year’s parade…just do some dang thing physical and get yer arse moving again! You know you need it! Your body will thank you for it, and you’ll be pretty proud of yourself for having done so as well. So, move already. Now would be a good time.
3). Start Eating to Live and Stop Living to Eat! As previously stated, the holidays are now OVER, done, caput, ceased, finished. Time to stop catering exclusively to your eyeballs and taste buds, family/peer pressure, and childhood memories, and start catering to your health, energy needs, and fitness/improvement goals. You know what healthy food is (and isn’t). Take off the sparkly holiday fantasy pj’s, get in touch with your real-world inner adult, and renew your commitment to healthful eating. Today. Not tomorrow. TODAY!
That is all. This has been a public service announcement. Now get after it! 😊
Despite the best of intentions, the winter holiday season is especially challenging for many people when it comes to health and fitness efforts. I tend to see the same patterns year after year: nutrition in the tank due to all the holiday parties and meals, exercise has come to a screeching halt due to holiday-related events and prep activities, weight gain creeping back into the picture, and a fair amount of guilt over it all. Here’s a quick start guide to getting back into your health and fitness game in 2019!
1). Gut the Guilt! You did what you did over the past few months. Like 2018, that’s now in the past. No amount of guilt, remorse, or angst will change that. Today is not only the first day of a shiny new year, but you can also treat it as the first day of the rest of your life and just move forward. It’s impossible to steer ahead into a bright future while your eyes are peering in the rearview mirror. One last thought; if you’re feeling guilty, perhaps your strategy and approach to the holidays could use some updating. Get cranking on that now so you can get a better outcome next time.
2). Move it! In terms of physical activity, it doesn’t matter what you do today, just do SOMETHING! A short walk, a long one, pick up that dusty kettlebell and toss it about a bit (carefully…), play catch with the kids/grandkids, do high-knee marches around the house like some over-zealous leader of a New Year’s parade…just do some dang thing physical and get yer arse moving again! You know you need it! Your body will thank you for it, and you’ll be pretty proud of yourself for having done so as well. So, move already. Now would be a good time.
3). Start Eating to Live and Stop Living to Eat! As previously stated, the holidays are now OVER, done, caput, ceased, finished. Time to stop catering exclusively to your eyeballs and taste buds, family/peer pressure, and childhood memories, and start catering to your health, energy needs, and fitness/improvement goals. You know what healthy food is (and isn’t). Take off the sparkly holiday fantasy pj’s, get in touch with your real-world inner adult, and renew your commitment to healthful eating. Today. Not tomorrow. TODAY!
That is all. This has been a public service announcement. Now get after it! 😊
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)