10 Benefits of Running

1) Running can help you Lose weight – running is second only to cross-country skiing in burning calories per minute. Seeing as it’s unlikely you’ll be skiing to the shops anytime soon then running is your best bet for losing body fat. If you’re struggling to control your cravings then the good news is that running tends to lessen your appetite.

2) Running Can slow down the aging process – the natural process of muscle and bone loss as we age can be slowed down in the bodies of frequent runners. Muscles and bones get healthier and stronger due to the demands put on them by a regular pounding around a track or a park. This means you are more likely to delay or avoid the effects of osteoporosis. But don’t just take our word for it; read an interview at New Scientist with a man who is still running marathons in his 80s!

3) Running and Better sex! – scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that men who were physically active (such as runners) had 30% less chance of developing problems in the bedroom and that the increased blood flow around the body caused by regular exercise meant that both men and women experienced a more ‘potent love life’. Sounds good to us!

4) Running to Lower blood pressure – when you run your arteries get flexed more, in effect giving them a work out at the same time as you. By maintaining the flexibility of your arteries in this way you’ll also be making sure your blood pressure is lowered.

5) Running makes for Healthier lungs – by taking deep breaths during your run you are forcing your lungs to use more of their potential, up to 50% of the lung tissue you don’t normally use! If you’re a smoker then one of the benefits of jogging can be recovering large proportions of your lung potential.

6) Running Boosts your brain – regular runners have significantly improved mental skills as they get older than more sedentary people. Also just 25 minutes of aerobic exercise has been shown to boost creativity.

7) Running Improves your mood – there’s no doubt about it, one of the main benefits of running is the great feeling you get by getting away from all the stresses and strains of everyday life. Be it running through woodlands, along the street or on a treadmill, when the endorphins start coursing through your system everything might just seem to be a bit more manageable. BBC News has a great article on how Ronnie Sullivan used running to combat his depression.

Running assists with a Stronger cardiovascular system – your heart and lungs will get stronger and more efficient when they get a regular chance to show off their stuff.

9) Running and Lowering cholesterol – running increases the levels of High Density Lipoproteins (the “good” kind of cholesterol) in your body while reducing the Low Density Lipoproteins (the “bad” kind). This can lower your chances of having a stroke or heart attack.

10) Running and Joining the community! – thousands of people around the country run everyday and you can join them. There are loads of clubs and communities you can get involved with and make new and enthusiastic friends who’ll support you in reaching your goals.

[source: www.therunningbug.co.uk]

The Top Benefits of Running

A lot of people start running due to the benefits of running and active aerobic exercises. It is true that more than 60% of persons buy running shoes to make us of these benefits related with health and weight. However many young people dedicate their free time doing jogging due to the positive benefits of running related with better self confidence, muscles building and fun.

One of the biggest advantages of running is that you lose weight very efficiently and build muscles at the same time. The muscles start to burn fat more effectively. Actually 60% of the runners do it due to one of the most famous benefits of running: burning fat, reducing the cholesterol levels and the triglycerides.

The frequent cardiovascular exercises performed by e.g. runners and triathletes cause the building of muscles and prevent from losing muscle mass as well as bone mass. Frequent sitting in front of a computer leads to muscle regression and weakness of the bones. Your skeleton can stay in better health condition and support the weight of your bones and tissues as a consequence of regular running training.

Medicine has discovered that among above listed benefits of running the risk of stroke, cardiovascular diseases and breast cancer are decreased. Running is frequently prescribed to patients with early symptoms of osteoporosis, hypertension or diabetes. The arteries of runners and triathletes are more elastic and contract without any problems almost three times faster than the ones of untrained people. Ordinary people make use of about 50% of their lungs while runners and endurance sportsmen get to use up to 100% of their lungs volume.

One of the major benefits of running is that it builds your confidence. You may build your individual program, starting from the easiest exercises and going towards more difficult tasks when growing stronger. With running you create feelings of inner peace and closer connection to nature which both ultimately increase your spirit and even your productivity.

In running the last point is often referred to as the “Runner’s High”. Running outdoors leads to releases of endorphins – the “hormones of happiness”. The result is a sense of happiness or even euphoria. Triathletes know about this effect and appreciate it as an additional benefit during training and competition. Just as a side note: Doctors also perfectly know about these ramifications and use them in treating depressions and different types of addictions.

Another worthwhile benefit of running is improving your coordination. Running training especially on unpaved trails dramatically increases your intra-muscular coordination. Triathletes who also run offside the road e.g. on a park trail or in a wood regularly train their foots, ankles, knees and overall sense of coordination.

TriathlonAdventures will help you to find the right balance in your training efforts and avoid stupid beginner mistakes. The author has been a triathlete for more than 10 years now and will help you to jump over some first hurdles and really start to enjoy your new sport. For more great information simply go to http://www.triathlonadventures.com and sign up for the RSS news-feed.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sebastian_Wick

Michael Phelps swimming diet and training routine

Michael Fred Phelps born in Baltimore (Maryland) is an American professional swimmer who is generally considered the greatest swimmer of all time as well as one of the greatest Olympians of all time. He has won 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian. As of August 2, 2009, Phelps has broken thirty-seven world records in swimming.
DOB: June 30, 1985

Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals at a single Olympics, his eight at the 2008 Beijing Games surpassed American swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven-gold performance at Munich in 1972.

Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals, Phelps’s international titles and record breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008 and American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008. He has won a total of fifty-four career medals thus far in major international competition, forty-five gold, seven silver, and two bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships. His unprecedented Olympic success in 2008 earned Phelps Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year award.

Michael Phelps ESPN magazine

Michael’s Phelps’ Diet

Phelps does not have a strict menu to follow. He actually eats what he wants to eat, whenever he wants it. For the normal day, here is what he usually eats:

Breakfast: 3 fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; 5-egg omelette; 3 sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; 2 cups of coffee
Lunch: Half-kilogram (1 pound) of enriched pasta; 2 large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks
Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks
He eats white bread instead of whole wheat bread.
He eats only 3 big meals instead of spreading them to more meals with smaller portion.
He eats not so much fruits and vegetables. Instead, he eats damn lot of carbohydrates – pasta and bread.

Michael Phelps’ Workouts and Training Routines

Phelps trains for six hours a day, six days a week, without fail.
“He swims approximately 50 miles (80km) each week, which is over 8 miles per training day. He has two massages everyday and also takes icebaths to help his body to recover.”

“In order to slice through water with those deadly powerful strokes, one must be strong in multiple planes of motion. True enough, according to what his coach has disclosed, Michael Phelps does diagonal wood choppe and straight wood chopper.

Phelps does other typical strength trainings, 3 times a week with 1 hour each session, but those trainings focus in building his muscle endurance and flexibility in addition to improving his stroke power. With such a powerful and long stroke, when others have to take 12 strokes, he probably cover the same distance with only 8 strokes.

As for cardiovascular exercise, Micheal Phelps relies on stationary bike because running is too much hazard for his knees. Believe it or not, Phelps often tripped and fell often when he run. Rumor said his flexibility in his knees and ankles, though enhanced his performance in pool, results in some loss of stability on land.”

Here are guidelines how you can do diagonal woodchopper:
1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold a medicine ball with both hands.
2. Lift the medicine ball over your right shoulder.
3. Then, chop down across your body by moving the medicine ball towards the ground outside of your left foot.
4. Return to the starting position.
5. Do 3 sets with 10 repetitions for each side.

How you can do straight woodchoper
1. Lie on your back on the floor. Bend your knees, but your feet remains flat on the floor.
2. Hold the medicine ball directly above your head.
3. Contract your abdominal muscles and lower the ball behind your head as far as you can without lifting your back or bending your arms. The motion is like chopping the air, but in one single straight plane.
4. Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

[source: www.usms.org, www.findarticles.com, munfitnessblog.com]

Michael Phelps Training Video 42min

Demi Moore and that bikini body

Seeing Demi Moore in a bikini in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle makes us wonder how she stays in shape.
DOB: November 11, 1962

Demi Moore Bikini Body

Demi Moore is an American actress of Greek descent. In the early 1990′s she became one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood following her successes in A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993) and Disclosure (1994). She returned to prominence with her role in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003).

Demi Moore is the mother of three daughters from her marriage to Bruce Willis. She has been married to actor Ashton Kutcher since 2005.

Demi Moore Diet
Moore has used the Zone diet and herbal teas and vitamins to help boost her energy and keeping her alert. She also get help with an organic and raw diet.

Demi Moore Exercise
Demi is into yoga, pilates, and cardio.

Demi has recently admitted she hasn’t been as dedicated as her husband. She confessed,
“I have only done the yoga DVD of the P90X so far and that kicked my a–! The husband is banging it out everyday though! I need to motivate!!”
[source: Us Weekly]

2009 Movies
Bunraku as Alexandra – post-production
Happy Tears as Laura – post-production
The Joneses as Kate – filming

Demi Moore black bikini

Denise Richards talks Pilates and healthy lifestyle

DOB: February 17, 1971
Denise Lee Richards is an American actress and former fashion model. She became famous in the late 1990s, after a string of films that highlighted her sex appeal, including Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and The World Is Not Enough. She also has her own reality TV show, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated which is broadcasted on American channel E!.

Denise Richards Red Bikini

OK Magazine: What’s the best part about exercising?
Denise Richards : I feel healthy and strong, and I love how I feel mentally and physically. This is the first season in a long time that I have felt comfortable on the beach without a sarong covering my bottom.

OK Magazine: Do you find stress causes your weight to fluctuate?
Denise Richards : Stress definitely affects my weight. I am thinner when I’m stressed or have a lot going on.

OK Magazine: With such a busy schedule, is it difficult to find the time to exercise?
Denise Richards : No, because it is part of my lifestyle. I don’t work out only when I’m preparing for a project or shoot or bikini season. Exercising is part of my routine. I try to do it five days a week for an hour. That’s an hour of time to myself, unless the girls come in, but that’s okay too. That’s the luxury of working out at home.

There’s more on working out with two young daughters as well what she wants to instill in them about body image, so read more

OK Magazine: Is it hard to get motivated with two daughters?
Denise Richards : No, my girls motivate me to exercise and eat right! I am a single mom, so I am outnumbered! I need my energy to keep up with them.

OK Magazine: How did you lose weight after having your daughters?
Denise Richards : I am naturally thin, and I feel that I am at a good weight for my body. I work out to be lean and have some definition. Of course my body went through many changes having two babies back to back. For me, losing the weight wasn’t that difficult; I was lucky. And no, I didn’t work out five hours a day, I had to wait six weeks to do anything after each baby because I had a C-section with each birth. I took it very slow getting back into my routine.

OK Magazine: What will you hope to instill in your daughters about body image?
Denise Richards : I will try to teach my daughters to love their body. Sami was looking at Lola and said, “Wow, look at Lola’s big belly,” and I told Sami that Lola has a beautiful belly. Now, Sami tells her sister her belly is beautiful.

OK Magazine: Who do you think has the best body in Hollywood?
Denise Richards : Demi Moore still has the best body in Hollywood!

OK Magazine: What are your favorite food splurges?
Denise Richards : Chips and guacamole. And ice cream!

Quote:
“Pilates is the only exercise that doesn’t aggravate my back,” says the actress. In addition to feeling better, Denise is also happier with the way she looks. “Pilates was the only workout that made my belly flat again after having two kids,” says Richards. “I just love it.”

[source: OK! Magazine]

Ashley Tisdale diet and piloxing workout

“I’ve picked up this thing called Piloxing. It’s the best time of your life! Vanessa and I go all the time. It’s a class that mixes Pilates and boxing. You have these little weights on your hands, and you’re doing boxing moves. Then the Pilates comes in, where you do dance and ballet moves.”

ashley tisdale bikini shape magazine

DOB: July 2, 1985
Ashley Michelle Tisdale is an American actress, singer-songwriter and television producer. Famous for her role in High School Musical.

“Now before I work out,” she says, “I think, ‘I love exercise’ – and it works.”

Getting Fit
To kick things off, Ashley started working with LA-based trainer Christopher Hebert eight months ago. She does an hour-long workout three or four days each week consisting of 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of weight training and core exercises to keep her back strong.

One exercise has Tisdale running up and down a set of stairs with a weighted medicine ball held overhead. Her workout routine can be tough, but Tisdale says her trainer is her secret weapon.

“He’s cute, which makes it fun,” she says. “And he never lets our exercise sessions get boring.”

Now that Tisdale is finally having fun in the gym, she has also started to feel some of the positive side effects.

Before exercising, “I was always super-thin – too skinny, actually,” she says. “I felt like someone could break me in half. I realize now that being a bit more curvy and toned is so much more beautiful.”

One exercise has Tisdale running up and down a set of stairs with a weighted medicine ball held overhead. Her workout routine can be tough, but Tisdale says her trainer is her secret weapon.

On her favorite body part – “My legs because I have very long skinny legs. When I put on heels or shorts they look like they are a mile long. I am always wearing skirts or shorts because I like my legs. They are very in shape.”

When traveling she does an exercise DVD called Piloxing, which is a mix of pilates and boxing. She explains,

“It’s Pilates and boxing put together. I always make time for it, because not only is it healthy for you, but it also relieves my stress. I’m so busy doing stuff and I get stressed a lot that working out takes me away from that.”

What muscles does Piloxing target? Everything – arms, legs, butt, abs, obliques and waistline.

[source: shape magazine, ok magazine]

Usain Bolt sprint training and 100 meter world record video

DOB: born 21 August 1986
Usain Bolt CD is a Jamaican sprinter. Bolt holds the Olympic and world records for the 100 metres at 9.69 seconds, the 200 metres at 19.30 seconds and, along with his teammates, the 4×100 metres relay at 37.10 seconds, all set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bolt became the first man to win all three events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. His name and achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname “‘Lightning’ Bolt”.

Bolt distinguished himself with a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition’s youngest-ever gold medalist. In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, Bolt became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking Roy Martin’s world junior record by two-tenths of a second. Bolt also set competition records at a number of other junior events.

Bolt turned professional in 2004 but missed most of his first two seasons due to injuries; he was eliminated in the first round of the 200 m heats at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2007, Bolt beat Don Quarrie’s 200 m Jamaican national record with a run of 19.75 s. In May 2008, Bolt set his first 100 m world record with a time of 9.72 s, improving upon his previous personal best of 9.76 s which was made earlier in the month.

As a result of Bolt’s successes in athletics, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009.

http://www.usainbolt.com

In the video below, watch the rear foot and calf at take-off, and how the stretch reflex is utilized on these “short height blocks”
[source: www.speedendurance.com]

Katy Perry Workout Routine

Katy Perry Bikini Green

DOB: October 25, 1984

How do you stay in shape on the road?

I get a workout by being onstage for an hour every night, so I don’t have to do a whole lot. Drinking lots of water and skipping fruit juice is the easiest trick. Another thing I swear by is jumping rope. I hate working out, but I love jumping rope; it’s like dancing. I can double jump, I can cross, I can do all of it. I look like Rocky!

“When I want to get in shape, I jump rope. It’s rhythmic and it’s so easy and I can listen to music while I do it and I can jump rope for a half an hour straight. It’s really exciting.”

During the interview Katy was also asked what music she listens to while working out, and who else would it be but Madonna, another fit and sassy singer and dancer:

“Madonna. There’s so much to listen to but Madonna is so inspiring. She’s like the energizer bunny and one-ups everybody, and she’s 50. I think, wow, if you can do it, I can do it.”

Studio Albums:
- 2001: Katy Hudson
- 2008: One of the Boys