Undercover Benefits

While you're exercising and getting fit, undercover benefits are in process.

It really is a work in the process as you exercise. Toxins are spilling out of your body as you sweat. Exercise keeps you just as clean as a clean diet, if not, more.

   When you sweat, you're losing salt and minerals as well. Certain things that are toxic to your body, those combinations, gases, chemicals and other fluids that cause you not feel so good are being lost and excised at the most possible when you're exercises are in the hottest of the most humid and disgusting weather that causes the back of your pants to look like somebody sprayed you with a hose.

   Usually after those days, I feel the best ever because my body so incredibly clean that focusing and exercising and everything of the like that would require anything of the mind is easy and fun. When you focus at first on getting those toxins out of your body through the skin, you'll be able to focus more on power and energy transfer a little better each time because there will be less and less making you better at what you're doing.

   Soon, after enough time, you will have to worry about expelling yesterdays toxins, and that will only be part of your regular workout. It's simple to expel toxins, you don't have to spend any kind of money doing hot yoga or sitting in a sona, simple exercise is more beneficial and uplifting than sitting around with a bunch of fat and stinky people. In exercise, you'll be the only person you can smell. And if you notice, when you workout at a gym, everybody keeps they're distance from the others in fear of getting hurt, or being gagged by noxious body odor fumes.

   To tell the truth, with the complexity of today's foods and how little people drink water and how much they drink sugary beverages, you really can't tell the difference between sweat and a jar of week old urine from somebody who's dehydrated.

Opening The Mind Through Solo Exercise

Through exercise, freedom in the mind is something that will follow greatly.

Like a large field that you run, bicycle, tumble, hop, or walk on your hands through, your mind will open up if you exercise. Any kind of physical activity that you do, sports, dancing, cycling, track, anything, is a perfect way of keeping your spirits and mind up.

   The only thing you should be be concerned about in exercise, is bettering yourself or maintaining that place of strength and agility that you are at.

   When you exercise, your mind will open and expand to certain areas. Because you're doing something with your body and concentrating on that next movement that you are so intent on succeeding at, you won't be thinking only about that. Your mind won't be fully focused on that, about eighty percent is what you're going to be using for full focus, you're going to have other thoughts that are going on at the same time as you exercise. And in between breaks, you will also be thinking on other things than just, "push this way" or "pull that way". It's just entirely inevitable that your thoughts will be going somewhere else, other than that specific movement when you're doing something.

   That's why all of fitness gurus are such legit people when it comes to being thoughtful, because we have a lot of time to think about pretty much everything when we're working out. When you think about everything, you start to think of solutions, and reasons, they start out to be obvious things at first, but then they start to get a little deeper just about every day.

   Deeper and deeper, wider and more open becomes your mind and your thoughts. A lot of people who exercise unless they're sports players or uneducated muscle heads (I'm not saying they're in the same category, just, sports lovers are focused more on sports than  much else) they're going to be very thoughtful with a wide range of understanding.

   You can be an athlete without chasing a ball. Plenty of people do it, I'm one of those people. Sports are good, and also help open the mind. They're excellent, you're just with a bunch of other people doing the same thing, so you're going to be communicating and focusing a little more. 

   Solo exercise is the best way to open the mind and have so many different thoughts at one time while focusing on something completely different. If you're focused on something physically, you're going to be focused on something mentally.

   Opening your mind with the power of exercise is a beneficial activity. If you go into ten degree weather to go running, or ninety five degree humidity to go do pull ups and push ups, that will be a sign of proper devotion meaning you are open to having an open mind, with every movement, your body learns something new.

   I would know about the power of devotion to exercise as of living in Florida. Those humid ninety seven degree days are some of the worse, but also some of the best. The unpleasantness of going outside and watching condensation form on your unicycle frame is by far, one of the worst things. Those are usually the days where I end up resorting to use of petroleum jelly instead of gold bond powder to prevent chaffing.

   In the south, there are days where you step outside and it's like stepping into a sonna. Those are the days where your mind opens up, and frees itself in some of the best way because you're losing a ton of the toxins inside of your body making you feel better and better with every time a drop of water falls from your body.

   And those freezing days where you have to keep moving or the sweat on your back will freeze to the point of prohibiting further movement build just as much character and free the mind as much.

   And those breezy days where you ride your run down the path in the park are probably the best days to open your mind. But either way, when you start exercising, discomfort will happen, after a while, it'll start to feel good, and your mind will begin to open even more.

Joint Pain

There's a lot of complaints that go around about sore joints. Sore joints hurt, and it's probably for one reason or another or multiple causes.

Your joints can hurt for multiple purposes as I've said. Unnecessary impact, loss of cartilage, unnecessary stress. I've experienced the first and the latter. Both can be seriously unpleasant or not so bad. You can take joint supplements to make things better. If you have arthritis, that would be something to talk to your doctor about. But unnecessary impact and stress can be reversed. Simply by stopping what you're doing.

   Flips for instance, front flips are hard on the joints if you stick them instead of moving afterwards because it's an incredibly stressful movement, and when you keep moving the momentum is still being dispersed until you're done walking which is stress that your body doesn't even recognize.

    People will tell you that, when they didn't know about moving after unnecessary stress on the joints, their knees and ankles hurt for the longest time. It took me about three weeks for my ankles to stop hurting after that.

   And then long exposure to unnecessary stress can really cause some serious joint damage. Weight that you know you can't handle won't go into your muscles completely if it's something very heavy, after being taken in by your muscles, it starts to go into your joints causing minor to sever damage.

   If your joints hurt from doing something like lifting weight, you need to ease up a bit on the weight because the benefits of joint pain in weight lifting are ones you don't want, because those will last the rest of life, and be more prominent than the good results.

   As we all know, destruction is easier to cause than building. It takes years to build a strong powerful body, but it takes only a split second to turn yourself into an extremely weak and damaged cripple.

   It's easy to cause joint damage, simply do things the wrong way and you've got yourself a body that hurts and will refuse to move.

   I've had shoulder joint pain in the past as well as ankle pain. Neither are pleasant, and the shoulder pain was by far the most unpleasant. Ankle pain, you can get used to that because your body knows it will have to use those and your ankles are incredibly resistant to any kind of possible force until they're to the point of breaking or spraining heavily.

   You shoulders are more fragile, strong of course, but still incredibly fragile compared your knees or ankles. And your elbows are also in there too with weakness comparison. Your upper joints are almost as important as your lower joints.

   I will grant, not completely, but very close. Take care of your joints.

Balance

Balance would be a popular topic in fitness. Chances are, if you're fat, you fall over more than your skinny or fit friends. When you're in good shape, your chances of losing balance are very low.

It's been years since I've fallen over or tripped, literally! The only time I fall over is when I'm tricking or break dancing, and most of the time when that happens, I so happen to be on my hands. Truth be told, most people usually fall over on their hands more than they would on their feet.

   And you fall off of a lot of things if you do parkour as well. But this isn't a post about hip and knee damage, that's for next time.

   With fitness comes balance, if you run, you will have more balance, if you do calisthenics, you will have more balance, if you dance, you will have more balance, if you trick, you will have more balance, if you do parkour, you will go to school with hip and knee injuries, if you tumble, you will have more balance, if you lift weights, you will have more balance, if you cycle, you will have more balance. Any kind of exercise, will make you stronger, and when you are stronger and you're working your stabilizer muscles unless you're on a universal machine.

   Exercise machines don't really help with balance since they specifically target the muscle group you're supposed to use. That's why things like calisthenics and weightlifting are recommended by a lot more than machines. Look it up.

   If you want balance, learn how to ride a unicycle. I really should post about learning how to ride one of those because they really are a lot of fun. Since I started riding one, my balance on my feet is even better.

   Balance is heavily located in the core. If you have a strong core, your balance is going to be very high. In things like gymnastics and break dancing, the main thing they talk about, is the core. Core balance, if you're tight in your core, you're tight everywhere else because the strength and balance spreads throughout your  entire body.
   Your core consisting of your abdominals, obliques, lower and mid back. They all are extremely important in balance. It's quite obvious if you think about it, if you're on your feet running, or doing something like a handstand, the part of your body that's higher up is what makes we humans top heavy, so your core is going to keep that steady. That's why your core is surrounded entirely in muscle. For ease in balance and protection of vital organs.
   If you can keep perfect control of your legs when your upside down, you're doing pretty good. Handstands, planches, doing stuff in headstands, elbow stands, things of the like, will give you considerable core balance.
   If you can handle your body weight excellently on a pull up bar, your core will become immensely powerful. I've done a good number of pull ups in my day, and succeeded in back levers and front levers, toe to bar leg raises, muscle ups, human flag, and a few other things, I'll say that my core has become extremely powerful from constant bar workouts. It really helps, and my balance is excellent.
   To have good balance, you need to have a strong core.

Strong Sore and Weak Sore

When you're strong and your sore, it's probably from a workout, when you're weak and your sore, it's probably from your body being lazy. I'll explain it to you.

You see, when you're strong, and your sore, chances are it's because your muscles have been broken down from lifting weights and they're going through the healing process. That rebuild process takes a little time, your muscles are packing on density and retaining more water and things of the like to become even stronger than they last were so that shock won't be so bad. You're body is telling you take a day or two off, to heal and get better. Now there's a difference between sore and hurt, usually hurt means injury and not two days to get better from lifting, it usually means a few weeks so you won't cause serious damage to your body in the process of another workout.

   Being sore from exercise is a good kind of sore, it means your body is making itself stronger. Being sore from being lazy is a bad kind of sore, if I'm correct, that means something is wrong with you and you need to do something about it.
   Doctors can't really find out what makes your back just hurt in general if you don't do anything. But I make few remarks and say that when you do nothing, like sit in a chair all day at work and eat potato chips and watch soap operas when you get home, the chances of a sore back are quite high because you do little, and it's easy for it get out of place, and it has to keep itself in place, so when you pick something up with a weak back, it's going to hurt because it's slightly being tugged at and it's not used to that happening. So after a while daily tasks become a slight problem because they're causing that back pain you get once in a while.
   Also, there's the cause of your back becoming sore because you've slipped a disk in one way or another. Your back is usually weak when you slip a disk, because you've picked up something too heavy and you don't have much muscle to hold those disks in place and you've probably picked up the box in the wrong way.
   If you back is strong, with muscle to spare when you pick something heavy up, it usually holds the spinal disks in place, and keeps them from slipping out. Your vertebrate is designed to be surrounded by strong muscle, that muscle helps you lift things and pick them up. I'm not talking just about boxes and weights, I'm talking about your upper body as well. If you're one of those people who bends over and your back goes out, you're a perfect example of poor back strength. You're top heavy without any muscle to hold it up, and your body can't handle things like that.
   Having a strong back prevents injuries in so many ways. You can ear it from body weight exercises or weightlifting. It really don't matter much how you do it, if you just have a strong back, it'll keep you out of trouble.

Fibrous Cuisine

I'm a real lover of fibrous foods. They're really good for replacing the muscular fibers in your body as you exercise. Your recovery time decreases the more fiber you eat and the bigger and stronger your muscles get.

I honestly started seeing better gains when I got into more fibrous foods. I'm not talking just things like raisin bran and kale, yes, kale is excellent, but! There are other things! Pulpy orange juice, even I'm still getting used to it, Ezekiel bread, I love it, fruit in general, poultry, fish, grains, all of those things replace those muscles. And things with fiber are very important to eat when you're breaking down harder muscles to make them stronger. 

   For example, your calves. Probably the hardest muscles in your body, when you break those down with weight lifting or running or calisthenics, you're going to need some serious replacement supplements. And no, not from a packet or jar of artificial supplements, I'm talking from your food too.

   Your food should be able to replace just about everything in your body after you've made yourself sore from certain strenuous activities in just a matter of needed time. It's rather irksome when people complain about how they've been sore for a while, it's usually because they have a diet that has very low fiber. And when you eat a lot of that stuff, the sore you get from working out usually isn't as bad if you eat the right fibrous foods.

   And another thing is, fiber keeps your insides clean. It's a double benefit.

Chewy Smoothies Vs Tasty Smoothies

I tell you people, if you're drinking or eating something good for you, you should at least be able to enjoy it.

Now, I've seen people go after the smoothies and chew them like beef jerky there's so much kale in there! That's okay if you like it, but I'm telling you, it's better to be able to enjoy something that's good for you than try to crunch through it like a block of oak wood. Oak wood doesn't taste so great for future reference unless you happen to be a beaver who can read.

   Fruit smoothies? Yes, I think they're quite good, with kale? NO! If I'm handed a green smoothie it's all I can do to drink it than scream and pour it into the toilet where it belongs.

   If you like green smoothies, no problem, they're great for you and help with cleaning the system! You can do other clean out and detox programs, but those happen to be a little brutal whereas straight up smoothies on a regular occasion help out with just being clean on the inside. It's natures steel wool.

   Scrub a dub dub.

   So if you think your smoothies or juices should taste like gym sock juice with Castile soap, that's your own way of doing things, I'll just say, it's easier to stay healthy if what you're eating or drinking tastes good. I always enjoy putting in some cranberry pomegranate juice with frozen strawberries and watermelon and kiwi.

   Adding thing like butane and gravel to your smoothies isn't okay though, if your smoothie is to the point where you're starting to think it's hazardous to your health, you should probably have stopped around the depleted uranium. That doesn't make you lose weight or get stronger, it makes you very very sick.

   Being healthy is a good thing, and shakes can help out with that. Chewy or not, whichever way you enjoy it, they're good to have and are usually best fresh. Keep strong.

Stronger Bones

Now this is a widely popular topic. Making your bones stronger is a good concern, some way some how without making the hurt.

Now if your trying to make your bones stronger to the point of them hurting, you're doing something wrong. Shin splints are entirely normal if you have just started running or tricking or dancing. I started running and doing front flips at the same time and had shin splints for two and a half weeks. That would just be the process of your legs getting used to having shock go into them. It goes away after a bit.
   So with things like complicated body weight exercises, like chest tap push ups and things of the like, your forearm bones, like your ulna, will hurt for a bit. It's a lot like shin splints because they're getting stronger and used to that motion. Although with sore arm bones since those tend to be a lot more fragile than leg bones, you should give them a rest until they stop being sensitive and then get back to the vigorous activities.
   A lot of things in weightlifting will help with stronger bones. Overhead presses are some of the best exercises for that very purpose because they apply force to all of the bones in your body making them denser and stronger, including the ones that are harder to target.
   Obviously with exercise comes stronger bones just like stronger muscles. Exercise also helps prevent osteoporosis and other bone weakening disorders from happening because your bones will be stronger for longer.
   If you can keep strong bones until your old feeble and can't see down the highway, but you still have no problem walking around the house and doing things like jumping jacks, your good.

Exercise No. 17 Hollow Back

The hollow back is a challenging variation of the handstand and can be taken to many levels. It takes time to learn, and looks pretty cool. You have to build up through variations of handstands and then variations of hollow backs to build the proper strength, coordination, shoulder mobility, and so forth. As great difficulty, this freeze as called must look good in every variation until you have it down to the full hollow back.

There really is no way of teaching this move properly without knowing how to do it. You must master it before you teach it to anybody else. So, I'm here, to teach you to spread the love of the hollow back.

   First off, you need to know how to do a handstand. No handstand, no hollow back. I have seen tutorials teach hollow backs through constant training of muscle memory to master it quickly, but they honestly never look that good, what I want to do is teach you the right way so your hollow backs can look good, and possibly be some of the best seen.

   Take into consideration that the hollow back takes a little time to learn, and get down. But it takes a very long time to look good and perform the difficult variations that are out there.

   About that handstand, learn it. Get it good, and hold it for about thirty seconds, at least. Now something about your handstand, it has to be stationary, and you can't move around in it.

   Next, learn to do a handstand with a bent back. Also known as a hollow back handstand. It's an easy, somewhat cool version of the hollow back, but isn't a real hollow back due to the lack of your head being behind your shoulders.

   So once you get this handstand and it's variations down, learn how to do some push ups and press into it as well, that helps with the strength, we will start working on your shoulder mobility. I wish I had taken the time for shoulder mobility practice, because my hollow backs didn't look that good in the beginning because I lacked in it. But! Once accomplished, they looked good.

   Also, you must learn the bridge. This helps with back flexibility, done by having your feet on the ground and pulling inwards. It stretches your abdominal muscles and causes more spinal and abdominal flexibility which you need.

   So study this move before you learn it, it's very important you do.

   Shoulder mobility comes from pectoral flexibility. It's best if you have very strong, but very flexible pectorals. This can be achieved by putting your hands against the wall, wide spread, and push down with your head behind your arms. Do this about, ten times a day, two weeks, and hold it for thirty seconds each time. Your pectorals should become flexible within that time period.

   The second step, is the head hollow to get used to the motion, and over the fear of leaning into a hollow back. Remember to keep up your handstand.

   The head hollow is easy if you're mastered these moves and sustained shoulder mobility. Stand no your head, place your hands behind your head, and lean backwards, by using your hands. Not to far out, apart, or in. Just right, so that way you can get that center of gravity, and that low hollow.

   Once you've mastered the full head hollow, it shouldn't take very long, we will now start working our way into hollow backs.

   The first would be a tucked invert. This is done, by tucking your legs in with your knees towards your chest and your feet at your bottom. Place your arms apart, fingertips facing forward, not inward or outward, and you lean backwards on your arms, as your body leans in and inverts. Get comfortable with this.

   Next would be the one tucked hollow back. One leg in, and one leg out. This makes the weight that you have to balance lighter than if you did it with both legs out, so less difficulty and more foundation since this is what you have to build to perfect the hollow back.

   This is done, by arching your back in a handstand. When you arch your back, keep the leg that is not tucked in, straight. Lean backwards with your head going behind your arms, holding tightly, until your leg is horizontal.

   Now, the full hollow back! We're here! How?

   Much like the one tuck hollow, but with both legs. So, arch your back, you can do this with bent elbows, get a wide stance on your hands, slowly lean backwards into it until your head rests behind your arms, now you must use your shoulder mobility, but lean backwards on your hands as far as possible to keep your feet off of the ground, the closer the better.

   Continuing, abdominal control is something you will be mastering in this, and you can variate further on the hollow back such as doing the reverse planche, which is much more difficult, it is done by leaning as far back as possible and managing your weight until your body is somewhat perpendicular to the ground. You'll still have the arch in your back because of where your shoulders sit, but you can work your abdominal muscles a little harder and hold your legs and stomach flat.

   

So to get this down, just make up a list or something, keep track of repetitions and such and you'll eventually get it. This is also hard on the body to begin with, but every exercise is and that's why it's good for you. Avoid bending intensely at your lower back, that's bad for your spinal health, and stretch. This move really should not be done without a good, full body stretch.

   First, stretch your shoulders. Second, stretch your wrists. Third, stretch your back by doing the bridge or yoga pose variations. You ought to be good then. So I wish you luck on this! Enjoy.

-The Fitness Cookie

How Much Do You Consume?

A big thing a lot of people succeed in neglecting during a workout program is how much you should actually eat. When you're exercising your body is going to be using a lot of energy, so you need to replace what you've used. If you don't replace that, you've got a bit of a problem. Like I've said in past posts, your body will start burning muscle instead of fat, or calories that you take in.

You need calories to burn when you exercise, take that picture of apple blueberry pie for example. It tastes really good and is a nice treat once in a while, and provides a butt load of energy and tastes really good at the same time. I verify this information from personal experience.

   Now if you're going to work out, you should also enjoy your food. Like those nasty juices and smoothies that people choke down for more, "performance energy" and more, "muscle power", yeah, I don't like that. It's my personal opinion though. If you don't see anything wrong with trying to hold your lunch down while your over at the squat rack, that's your business, not mine.

   There are foods that a lot of us don't like but we have to eat if we want those essential vitamins. I have my certain foods that make me want to beat my uncles '51 GMC pick up with bat just like any other person. I could go on about foods I hate, but I'm talking about how much you should.

   People are always talking about how they need to get those, "six pack abs!" (Yeah? Well I have an eight pack! :)~) Anyways, if you want your stomach to get flatter, you need to eat breakfast, and a lot of it. A cup of yogurt, and a little granola or toast, no, that won't do it. You need food that is going to sustain you in your morning activities with good energy to last all day long, not right until you can't bear being hungry any more right around lunch.

   I come in contact with a fair deal of people who talk about how, they can't get strong! Or, they can't get skinny! And when they tell me they don't eat breakfast, or they don't eat much, the entire problem can be solved by simply, eating breakfast. I emphasize on this a lot, because every bit of it is true! If you disagree with me, I recommend you read up on it because every professional who studies these kind of things for a living is going to say, "BREAKFAST IS GOOD FOR YOU!!!" 

   A good breakfast will also speed up your metabolism. Making you burn your food better and get more energy out of it.

   Breakfast should be a large meal as I have just stated. It should consist of foods that are rich in good carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and a fair source of salts.

   Lunch should be a medium sized meal, consisting of nutritious foods as well, and if your starving from strenuous work, don't be afraid to have the occasional large lunch.

   Dinner, shouldn't be all too much food, because apparently for some people too much food can make sleeping a butt for them. It's also healthier since a lot of people form the habit of a large dinner and a small or no breakfast and talk about how losing weight or keeping off the extra inches is so hard.

   Read up on this, it's important you know your dieting and meal facts, the right diet can make you strong healthy and full of energy, the wrong diet will leave you not as strong and not as energetic. Stay healthy in the right way and you'll be good for a long time.

Power Transfer

When becoming fit, you're learning and teaching yourself how to transfer the power from your muscles into force to move your or hold you in a position or to move something else as well as ongoing movement for long periods of time. Let's talk about that.

Power transfer can be handled delicately, but if you desire to do so, it may not end up in the area you'd like it. So take it where you want to go, work yourself up to those good movements and into things like one hundred push ups all at once and a nicely weighted press.
   Power transfer has to be properly done and come from all of the places you need it to come from in your body. It's important to understand just how much energy you need to generate, because if you have that energy but generate it in the wrong way, whatever you're doing won't end up coming out like you know it can.
   There are so many ways the human body can generate power, so why not learn how to use it in all of those ways? You can learn from one category or another. I would like to say for power transfer that there are different genres. I'll give you some examples.
   You have weightlifting, when you lift weights, your power transfer is the force you are applying against an object to make it move. Barbels, dumbbells, cable machines, ect... Therefore you work hard in power transfer against objects to make them move and make you stronger.
   Then you have body weight. Some people really go to town on this one. I've seen people get pretty big off of body weight exercises because they do them right. The idea of body weight training is that you work to move your body weight against the force of gravity making you stronger and lighter against the resistance of your body, and since you have strength to move your body weight in such way, you'll have little problems with the weight of other objects.
   And then you have endurance. Runners and people who do things like ride their bikes for miles and miles. I really don't like running long distances, I do on the other hand have a love for cycling, all kinds. Your body is trained to transfer a certain amount of power for a long period of time to make it move a good distance in a good time.
   So there you go, ways of power transfer, go figure out what yours is.

The Power of The Mind

Sometimes it's hard to make yourself do something like pull off a very challenging exercise that takes a lot of time to accomplish. That's okay though, a lot of us who exercise and set goals to get somewhere usually have a hard time getting to them if we have just begun.

   So if you will, start out with smaller goals, ones that you know you will be able to reach within one or two, maybe three months. Once those are reached, you can start working on your long term goals as your body continues to grow stronger.

Now yes I do understand, it's hard to get somewhere that you're trying so hard to get to and you're nowhere near there at the same time. You will be somewhere, and people will see what you're doing and say, that you are far better off in your position of fitness than they are.

   If you're one of those people who are sitting over there saying, "Oh, no! I'm too weak to exercise!" Go find another corner, and start looking though a workout program. It's really not a matter of the fact that you're too weak, it's a matter of the fact that you need the motivation to get into something like a work out program.

   Now for those of you who are naturally strong, starting a workout is no problem. If you're one of those people who doesn't really have strength to spare, then a rough workout might be an issue. So like I tell a lot of people, you need to start off easy if you're just getting into it.
   Now if you've been into it for a while, and are having trouble with certain movements or lifts or something, the thing is, those will come with practice and hard work. It took me a while to get to the point of dead lifting over three hundred pounds at least once. Same thing went for hand balancing, it was a while before I could even press from a head stand to my feet. The thing is, I put my mind to it and I'm standing one hand and doing push ups and planches, and trust me, I wasn't talented in the beginning. The only thing I had was some power from push ups and balance on my head.
   You have to put your mind to something if you want to be able to do it. That's how you get somewhere, the more mental power you have, you are going to be rewarded with more physical power.
   It's important to realize as well, you've got a lot of muscles when you become strong, (no duhr) if you don't know how to use them, then you've got a bunch of muscles at your disposal and you're not seeing what they can do. If you know how to use them with the power of your mind, you know what you're doing and you will see what those muscles can do.

Supplementing vs Good Eating

I get a lot of talk on how people drink protein supplementing drinks and shakes and talk about how it gives them so much energy and how it makes them feel better. There's an issue I have with people who heavily use protein supplements, because I would say about ninety nine percent of the time, they're eating beefy meals that are rich in protein but lack in vitamins and minerals that you just can't get from meat eggs and potatoes.

Do eat your meat and potatoes on the occasion. Chicken, fish, baked potatoes, eggs, they're all excellent work out foods that keep you powered and working, but you can't get the full benefits if you don't eat those crunchy veggies. And besides, your potatoes don't have to be deep fried, bake them and mash them use gravy, and make a side dish of your pee scented asparagus and those fantastic red peppers.

   Juicing is good too, but you must eat those heavy solids with that extra valuable fiber that will scrub you clean and make your muscles like steel cables.

   Besides, protein shakes are proven to not be the best for you. If you feel like putting them in to a veggie mix of sorts, go ahead, it's not going to kill you, it's just bad for your insides, I think it's amusing to see somebodies inner workings turn blue and pink. But I'm not saying that you should do it.

   So it's important to know about your protein supplements if you're taking them. I go by what the food and health scientists say, and it turns out, synthetic protein supplements, are bad for you. Very bad. So when you look at something, and its meant to go into your body and it's not medication, and it says, ahem, "Latest in Technology!" Let me just single out that one word you should never see on the label of something you're eating, "Technology". I mean, really people! Why would do that to yourself? Technology? That's like eating a bunch of acids and engine oil!

   So your supplements should be plant based if you like to put them in your smoothies and juices, or just take them straight up. Since they're plant based, you shouldn't be seeing the word, "Technology". That naughty horrible disgusting good tasting aromatic- you get the idea.

   So no to synthetic protein supplements, yes to good eating, because if you eat right, you won't need protein supplements, and everybody will still be saying you look great! So eat your greens and oranges and yellows and reds and all of that other good stuff, that mixed together with a heavy diet of other foods will be great for getting in shape and also for better strength and power in body movements and weight lifting.

Exercise No. 16 One Handed Handstand

This is one of my favorite things to do, hand balancing is like pie. I can't get enough of it, but the difference is that it keeps me skinny and doesn't make me fat... Moving on!

To begin with, you should know how to do a handstand, a few handstand push ups, Y plank, and it helps if you can straddle press into a handstand.

   Now, to get into a one handed handstand, your balancing arm should be strengthened prior to your attempts by doing air freezes, and jumping onto your hand. Now also, a Y plank is a handstand with a triangular placement of your hands and you lean to the side. It's like the picture I have up above but with both hands. Or you could arch your back instead and lean everything sideways. All that matters, is you developing substantial core stability before moving on.

   To start, go onto your hands, finger tips on the other hand or a full palm to the ground is your decision, I find using my finger tips offers more of a lean and makes it easier to enter so I don't have to push off with my palm instead which throws you off a bit when you're learning, but is good for forcing your body to respond with stability. So do that how you feel necessary, there's no "right way" into the one handed handstand. In fact, you could just step into it on one hand, but practice pike steps which are something I'll give you later on for getting this down. That should be in the October 2014 posts.

   So once you're on your hands, and you're lifting the one up, push your chest out. Not like you're sucking a bunch of air in, but like you're standing up as straight as possible, with a slight arch in your back. The pushing your chest out is a large factor in this, because it's very awkward to hold your body as straight as possible.

   Now we're going to have what I call an aim leg. The one that points up and is your center of gravity. That leg should be the opposite of your standing hand. Right or left, whichever is the opposite, straighten it and align it best as you can with your standing arm.

   Your leg that hangs down will be the weight that counterbalances your other side equalizing your weight distribution.

   Now your head placement, hand placement, whichever is more comfortable for you. Although I discourage learning this with a bent elbow because in the beginning, your tricep is nowhere near strong enough to support your entire body weight alone. But, after time, you can learn variations such as I have such as the pike stall, jumping into the handstand, flag freeze, pike freeze, if you're a nut go ahead and learn the one handed planche, as well as you have the real flag freeze where every part of your body is facing the ground sideways. That's very challenging and awkward to learn from experience. One handed handstand push ups are a beginning to all of this as well.

   There's a lot you can do with all of this. Hand balancing is a world of opportunity and there are so many ways you can do it. I may very create a hand balancing list, I find it quite fascinating and I love talking about it on here because there's so much to share, and it promotes healthy living because to hand balance, the toxins and such you take into your body must be minimal to remain light to your arms, and be strong enough to hold the positions and such as taught

   Good luck!

-The Fitness Cookie

   

The Handstand Challenge

I set up this challenge for my self a while back and thought I would share with all of you. Since I love handstands so much, and I want more people to do them and understand them, this will cause you to want to challenge your balancing skills and do even more.

Challenge one, walking on your hands for ten steps with legs straight. Challenging, fun, strength requiring. Next, handstand push ups. Requires more balance, a lot more strength, and is quite impressive. Three, handstand lean to both sides. Can you lean your legs to one side? Now lean to the other side. Four, hop. You gotta hop off your hands and it has to legit. Five, clap push up. Push up once and clap, you have to land on your hands. Six, one handed handstand, stand on one hand, for more than five seconds. Seven, hollow back. Lean backwards, stick your head behind your arms, and go back. Hard I know, but hey, I can do it, so why can't you?

Strength Training Times

Yeah yeah, "I don't have time to do any kind of strength training." I hear that a lot, and it's a bunch of crap! If you can't thirty minutes out of your evening away from the doughnut box and the Desperate Housewives marathon, you have no understanding on how to spend your free time.

There's a lot of time you can spend getting in shape. Office's have orders for their employees that they have to get up and walk around, do a few squats or something every few hours after sitting in their chairs. That's good, you could be the one employee that everybody sticks around your office because you're the one person there that likes to do backwards handstands instead of fat person push ups against a wall.

   This blog can be a little offensive, can it not? Well I'm not sorry, you'll just have to deal with it.

   We all have time on our hands. And we can take just a little bit of that time to stay in shape instead of being all jiggly. You can set up specific times to get your exercise, or you can just go about your day and at random intervals take some time to do something that makes you sweat.

   You don't have to have completely specific times, it's ok to actually be unspecific, you can do a workout any time of day as long as you do it. It really doesn't matter whether or not your late to a workout, if you do it that day, you're good.

Stretching Tips

For any of you who like to have stretching routines, I've got some good tips for you I've gathered over experience and talking to other people as well as watching tutorials and conversing with more fitness professionals.

So seriously, don't stretch before you work out when you're cold because your muscles won't stretch as well and you also are putting yourself up to risk of injury. So, go for a run, lift weights, do some body weight exercises for a few minutes, top rock, ride your bike, do something, so that way everything will be warm and ready.

   Once all of those flexibility juices are flowing, stretch! But yeah, definitely stretch after a workout and not before. From personal experience, I've done the splits after a work out and had no issue, but before I felt like I was going to split in half myself. Those wonderful muscles you have, warm them up, and they serve you well once stretching.

   It's also better for your tendons and ligaments. Because when you stretch cold, everything is contracted, and when you're contracted on the inside, it's going to hurt and cause issues if you stretch when everything is tight and not ready for strenuous movement of the like.      

   Your muscles are like a water balloon, you stretch a water balloon before you fill it with water, so that way it holds it a little better and there's less chance of popping it. I really don't think you want your muscles to pop, I've seen it happen and I'm sure you have, so stretch when your warm, it's less painful and if you're aiming for flexibility you'll reach your goals a little faster.

Cardiovascular Power

There's a big deal on this kind of thing. Cardiovascular work outs are what keep us thin and full of endurance as well as strong hearts. We all have our ways of getting in the cardio work out. Running, dancing, cycling, swimming, cheer leading, walking, hiking, I could go make a big list of things people do to keep their heart rate up.

I'll be honest with you and tell that I far prefer cycling and dancing from running. I could make a big list of things I hate about running even though I do it four times a week. I would say the only things I'm liking about running, is that my resting heart rate is now fifty one beats per minute, and my calves a little bigger than they last were.

   Cardio workouts in large amounts help get rid of the middle that a good deal of the american society has. I'll just say it right now, it's your fault if you are fat. So, you have cardio work outs! A lot of people who do sports complain to me after summer time about how they're out of shape and need to get back to working out so they can make the team. Both adults and teenagers. I always ask the same question, why not exercise during the summer?

   Since that question usually leads to a long awkward silence, I'll go back to the topic of how much cardio you should get.

   You need at least an a hour a week to stay somewhat healthy. If you want to be healthy, or very healthy, get anywhere from two to six hours a week.

   I personally get about eight hours of cardio a week. Between the unicycle, the bike, running, dancing, doing flips, it all cracks down to a super low heart rate and a lot of exercise endurance in a lot of different places.

   Your diet also depends on your heart health. So avoid salt and grease and cholesterol in overly large amounts. If you do far too much of those things, your heart is going to not do so well in a lot of places. So, don't take up one of those meaty fast foods diets if you're going to get fit. Ever.

   Heart health is the best thing in the line of fitness you can do. A powerful healthy heart is what keeps you strong and living a long time. So don't underestimate a cardio work out, those help a lot.

Skin Health

So to have a strong body, you need to have strong skin. Weak skin will not be able to hold up to barbells, pull ups bars, a lot of push ups, handstands, and running distances. So when you exercise, as a natural result of becoming stronger, your skin strengthens along with you.

You should maintain healthy skin in the case of working out. Don't do things to dry it out and make it weak, don't let it be overly soft and vulnerable. If your skin is smooth and strong, you're doing something right. Sure it's good to have calluses, those help your skin to not split in the case of a strenuous exercise and keep your live layers of skin safe from damaging things.

   So if you have naturally dry skin, moisturize once a day. If you work out with the barbell, nobody will be able to tell. 

   Also, smoking, drinking, drugs, those things, they make your skin get all nasty and wrinkly. If you want to keep your skin nice looking for all of your life, don't do those things for the sake of your heart health, and your beloved skin health. Chances are, if you're skin is healthy, your insides are healthy. Healthy on the outside, and healthy on the inside. 

Neck Health

Your neck it pretty important, it carries all signals from your brain to everywhere in your body so you can make controlled movement and be able to discern certain things like pain and feeling good. Without your neck, you wouldn't be able to do anything but think. So that's why it's important that you keep your neck strong and safe and free of injury.

You don't need a muscle bound neck to keep it strong and safe, but you do need some strength to keep it from being push out easily or twisted the wrong way. There are many neck exercises that you can do to keep it strong.

   Behind the head military press is one way to make your neck stronger, handstand push ups, and whatever those weird floor exercises in yoga are called where you hold your body up with your neck facing upwards or towards the floor. Those help a lot and keep your neck powerful and more resistant to quick forced movements and other dangers. You really will be thankful if your neck is strong and resistant to things that would normally inure it.

   First off, keep your neck healthy by not doing things that will cause it injury. For example, unless you've been working your way slowly into things, head spins are a perfect example of what not to do for your neck health. Headstands when not having a properly strong neck and arms are not advised as well. 

   If you are strong and have trained for those kinds of things to do them properly, go right on ahead because that is great strength practice as well as balance.

   Keeping your neck strong is far more important than making sure that your biceps or calves are sizing up to your desired proportions. People do neglect neck strength, now I will say that with upper body strength comes strength in the neck.

   

Neck Cracking:

You have no idea how irritating it is to me when I see people cracking their necks in a rough forceful way. Yeah sure, a little turn every now and then to see if it goes back in is fine, you're turning your head with the muscles in your neck instead of the muscles in your arms which are a whole lot stronger!

   You have a limitation with your neck muscles as to how far you turn your head and far you go back as well as forward and how hard you can turn it. Your arms however do not. So when you twist your head to the side, you are over stretching the muscles, over stretching the ligaments, anything that is vital in there, is being over stretched. And it causes more pain to go with the pain you are currently experiencing.

   Now if it's a bad habit, stop it right now, unless you want to be some cranky old person because you're neck hurts. The issue with a messed up neck is, is that it usually goes on to other places like your back, and if your neck hurts, it's also a signal from your body that you should take a rest to let it heal.

I'll tell you about how recently I did an exercise challenge and did too much of one exercise that required the trapezius. When I had done too much of it by the end of the day, I noticed that from my trapezius flexing so much,  it happened to have pushed the vertebrae had been pushed out of place and resulted in neck irritation. I felt oddly like a shirt tag was beneath my skin, and every time I did some kind of upper body exercise, handstands, handstand push ups, break dancing, handsprings, round offs, pull ups, weight lifting, it hurt. So I stopped for six days and didn't do anything until it didn't hurt any more.

   Now if it hurts really bad, your injury that is, you might very well need to see a chiropractor. If you are one of those idiots lost in your ignorance for concern of your health and say you don't have time for a chiropractic visit and you're going around in pain, well you're still an idiot and you need to see a doctor about that injury. If you don't I'll come over there and kick your butt into doing it! Well said? I think so.

   So to all who enjoy life and are in need of keeping a healthy neck, study neck exercises, learn about them, keep that neck healthy and it will serve you well and you'll be happy and feeling good.

Exercise No. 15 Elbow Stand

I would consider elbow stands a lot of fun. Easy to learn if you already know how to handstand, and somewhat impressive. So, to learn, you must know what to do.

I'll quickly note that I intend no copyright to How Cast for the picture.

   You can either stand with one elbow on the ground, or both in the elbow stand. Your basic handstand balance is technically just at a lower center of gravity, and if you just get into these, I recommend being a little careful so you won't hyper extend your triceps.

   

Elbow Stand:

   The first variation is to put one elbow on the ground, and your hand on the other side. hang your legs as needed, or split them, and find your center of gravity. It's a lot like a handstand, so the center of gravity in your elbow will be further back, in your lower forearm and actual elbow.

   The second variation which is both elbows, a little more challenging, for those of you who have your elbows bending backwards in handstands, be a little careful in this. Your center of gravity once both elbows are placed on the ground in your lower forearm and elbow. Not to mention when you start out, I strongly suggest you first try it with your legs hung over because when they're straight up you don't know exactly how to balance them out fully yet and lean them at the right angle. Full  elbow stands require a bit of arch in the back. So enjoy and good luck!

- The Fitness Cookie

Lung Strength

Your lung strength plays a big roll in fitness. Keeping your lungs strong is really important if you like running or riding your bike or anything to do with that. Stamina in cardiovascular has a lot to do with breath as well. You're lungs have to be strong enough to push enough air in your body so your muscles and your bloodstream will be rich with oxygen to supply your system to work properly.

Lacking in lung strength is usually a sign that you lack seriously in fitness. To have strong lungs, you have a strong body because they're used to being used quite often. If they run out of the ability to supply themselves with a lot of oxygen for long periods of time during exercise, you really should start to do something like run or ride your bike. 

    The stronger your lungs are, the stronger you are.

Continuing to Eat Right

I'm going to ask you right now, have you been eating good lately? Check yes, or check no. If you've checked no, we've got a problem that has need to be dealt with.

I like that picture there because it has lots of colors...

   Working out requires food that gives you energy, and when you work out, the food you're eating should not only give you energy, but it should feel like a charge from the very circuits of a nuclear power plant. I'm being dramatic here, but white pancakes or captain crunch is suicide for weightlifting and running.
   If you don't give your body something to burn as well, it starts to burn muscle. I'm not sure if burning muscle for energy causes pain, but it definitely causes physical difficulty. Severe, physical difficulty. If you're burning muscle, you get weaker, and instead of muscular progression, you will see muscular digression.
   Also, in working out and eating healthy, if you're doing things like pull ups, eating healthy gives you stronger skin so things like blisters don't happen so much. Also, eating healthy gives you the ability to have quicker muscle repair time and less adjustment time. You see, with certain exercises, you get sore for a bit, and then you stop being sore and just get stronger the more you push yourself with those exercises. For me personally, the only thing that can really cause me to get sore is weightlifting, really really hard weight lifting. Like a crap load of reps with hundreds of pounds and then hitting up the dumbbells rather violently after the barbell and more crap loads of reps with lots of pounds on each side.
   Now for you, the person reading this blog, you might very well have a serious problem with getting really sore. Eating healthy can help with that. When you don't eat fat cakes and preserved foods and stuff all day long, and your diet is hearty grains, fish, not stake and potatoes all day, and fruits and veggies and all that good for you stuff, you won't have a need for that whey sharze that makes your muscles grow back together because your body is lacking those things that put it back together.
   You shouldn't have to take some kind of protein supplement to make your muscles grow back together and get stronger than last time, your food that you're eating should be doing that for you.
   So healthy eating adds to stronger better muscles, quicker repair time, stronger skin, stronger teeth, a definite better complexion and just feeling good in general.

Progression.

I'll talk to you about this as of being a pretty important topic. Your progression depends on how much you work at what your doing and how hard you work at it. Me for instance, I'll give you a quick example. I've been break dancing for almost two years as I write this post. Practice? Six days a week. I don't work out on Sundays as of being my day of rest, so I just work out six days a week instead of seven. You're probably thinking at the moment, "This guy is not mentally sound."

You can make slow steady progress, fast messy progress, slow messy progress, and fast steady progress. The latter I would say is my favorite. 

   To make progress, you need to motivate yourself. If you see something that you want to do, you need to motivate and inspire yourself into doing it. To make progress, you can also make yourself a routine, a chart to mark off, something.

   I find what works best for me, is making it a habit to practice doing things that are new that I want to learn. If you make your exercising a habit, and a big one at that. You will really start to see progress. An every day exercise habit is something that will make you live a very long time. 

   Now don't kill yourself trying to get some fast progression. That would be bad. If you're trying to progress, and you want to do it every single day, you should be in good enough shape to get in that kind of good shape. 

   Before I started working out anywhere from three to four hours a day every day, I had been doing things previously like riding my bike four to five times a week and I did about five or six miles each time, and I also did a lot of pull ups and push ups.

   So, close to two years ago, I started break dancing, and I started lifting weights, and I started to do other things like ride my bike further, ride a unicycle every day, and just do all of these crazy things. I've only been doing handstands for eight months, but because of that progression from my every day habit and practicing planches and everything, I'm leaning backwards, and I'm doing other things as well with my dancing, learning power moves, and everything else.

   Because I was in pretty good shape before I started, I wanted to progress further, get stronger, and become faster and more powerful, not bigger, just better. So I started going onto more exercises keeping those same old exercises that keep me in super great shape.

   If you're looking to progress further, don't just drop all of the easy exercises, those are the basics and the base of how you do things, and how you keep in good shape to do those other things.

   Said well? Leave a comment about your progress, I would go further, but I'd like to hear what everybody else has to say about it.

Leg and Back Strength

A lot of people talk about how their back is bad as well as their knees are bad. I've heard excuses such as, "I have inherently bad knees." Crap! It's your choice to have bad knees! Unless you were born with some serious lack of cartilage in your knees, it's your choice to have bad knees. And for some of us, that choice can be made so far back that it's an irreversible problem.

   Your back too, it's your choice to have a bad back and cause yourself to slip a few disks. I'm just going to say it, if you're stupid enough to lift that box or that log the wrong way or if you know it's too heavy or it is too heavy and you won't put it down until you're done, you're going to responsible for your own problems. And if you're so out of shape that if you bend over and it hurts your back, well you have a lot to rethink, such as all of that deep frying and those three thousand seven hundred eighty five visits to McDonald's in the past ten years. 

Strong legs provide a strong back and good knees and a good back. Look at Arnold here in that picture, that guy will probably never have any knee or back problems for the rest of his life if you think about it. Don't worry though, to keep a good back you don't have to have a regular deadlift of over eight hundred pounds.

   You're good if you just stick to things like regular squats, regular deadlifting, regular rows, and things that require your back will keep you in better shape than most people. Unless some epidemic started and America somehow miraculously lost most of it's obesity. Wouldn't that be a sign of the second coming.

   I love back exercises and leg exercises. In fact, to maintain a strong back and legs, you don't even need a barbell. Go ahead, a lot of people use dumbbells and just straight up body weight. Now if you want to have the strength and results weightlifting provides, lift weights. If you do this body weight, your have to work out each group of muscles in a different way. But the thing is with deadlifting and squats, is that two exercises work out your legs and back at the same time. Squats you are required to hold the barbell on your shoulders, requiring back and core strength. I covered the core topic, so no worries on that. In squats with a barbell, you back has to hold that up as well as your legs have to push it up. 

   So next up in the deadlift, your really working out your legs and your back all in all. Because the bar goes on the ground instead of on your shoulders, you can usually up the weight but about twenty to thirty five percent. That's just my estimate.

   Because the deadlift requires you to straighten at the waist and knees, you are working out everything down low, and everything up top in the back. This is a pulling exercise and not a pushing, so it's the back, and it's the legs.

   The deadlift saves so many people from bad backs and knees because of how it works you out. You can also do this exercise with dumbbells as well. Just presume the same position required, you just hold the dumbbells in a hammer position and stand up. I like the barbell personally a whole lot more since I'm pretty young and I can still lift over three hundred pounds without an issue. When I'm not using the dinky back porch bar that is, when I pay a visit to the gym.

   Also, don't overwork yourself on these exercises when you start out, because you're going to hurt yourself. You really need to edge your way into it. No more than progression by five pounds a week until you're at a comfortable weight, and when that weight gets easy, you move to a heavier set.

   The legs themselves are among that of the strongest muscles in the human body. I've seen people do hip lifts where they put a super strong belt around their hips, chain a barbell to themselves and pick twenty four hundred pounds up an off the ground without an issue. But those guys still work out their back, just saying.

   Your back and your legs are the strongest areas on the human body, if they're weak, they'll serve you poorly, if they're strong, they'll serve you very well, if you're Arnold, well I don't know. Just work out your muscles because it really helps in health and avoiding injury and being strong. 

The Power of The Core

The core is a problem that a lot of people deal with. Anybody can sit up, and anybody can twist to the side, but most have problems having complete control of their core. My idea of somebody who has good core control and power, is somebody who can lift any part of their body with their core.

We have a number of muscles in the core that are required for sitting up, lifting our legs, and twisting. They need to be worked out in different ways. If all you do for your stomach is sit ups, you're probably going to lack in all of the other magnificent core muscles. So no to sit ups and crunches, if you're going to do those, twist a little.

   You're lower back, your abdominals, and your obliques are super important. If we didn't have those muscles, we would not be able to perform any kind of regular task that we carry through. When you're pulling something or pushing something, you're core holds your upper body erect and stable. So that means no opening the fridge, and as far as America is concerned, that's something that can't happen, if we didn't open the fridge, how else would we be happy?

   Things like leg raises offer a powerful core, because you're working out every core muscle up front and a little bit of your lats. Back levers, and supermans, as well as planks, handstands, planches, tuck planches, and anything requiring hold your feet up in a non sitting position, will work you back muscles. 

   It's important you balance out the way your muscles are worked. I'll tell you right now, core hyper extension is among the worst things you can do to yourself because it hurts so bad.

   So work out your core, get those abs, don't just work out your core though, nothing looks weirder than a person who works out their core but no other part of their body.

   The balance core strength offers is very important to have, if you don't have much core strength, you will probably have very poor balance. 

   To everybody out there who likes to ride their bike, your core is what keeps you balanced, to everybody who runs, your core is what keeps you balance, to all of you people who love to do handstands, your core keeps you balance, to all of you people who love to sit in your office chair without falling out of it, your core keeps your balanced, to all of you people who love to do pull ups, your core keeps you balance, to all of your people who like to lift weights, your core keeps you balanced, to all of you people who love life in general, your core keeps you balanced.

   Your core is the center of your balance. Without your core, your body wouldn't work. It protects vital organs and keeps you from hurting your spine. Work out that core, the stronger it is, the more balance and protection you have.

Exercise No. 14 L Sit

L sit is an abdominal plus tricep and shoulder work out. This is a somewhat core hardening exercise and it tones your abdominal groups quite well if done right.

So pretty much just plant your butt on the ground, straighten your elbows, and pick yourself up with your traps until your butt comes off of the ground. If you're flexible enough in your hamstrings, you can pull your legs back into a V sit which is also a variation of it. Further more you can also take this movement to the next level by doing it on your finger tips. But if you haven't done this yet or you are not very good at it, don't try it on your fingertips. Good luck!

   -The Fitness Cookie

Stretching It

Stretching is another thing people are really big into when it comes to working out and getting fit. It's definitely good for your muscles and keeps you considerably limber as well. So let's talk about stretching.

People have told me in the past, "When you lift weights, stretch!" Actually, we weightlifters thrive off of joint stiffness when we're going for a max lift or something. So a tip on weightlifting if you like to stretch, stretch some other time after you lift, because if you stretch before you lift, everything will pretty much be all stretchy and easy to mess over. A lot of lifting coaches will probably tell you, your best days are when you haven't stretched but you are warmed up properly.

   I usually do my break dancing and crazy body weight things after I lift weights. I can usually tell if I've been practicing before I pop the squat or pump the press.

   Now running, go ahead and stretch afterwards, or before if you like. I find stretching afterwards to be how I get the best of results, if I do it. That's me personally. But the thing is, is you should only do what's best for you. Things I do are death for other people, and things other people do are death for me.

   If you're looking for a burst of strength that requires substantial stiffness in the joints, you need to warm up, but stretching is not the way to go. If you're going to do other stuff that calls for flexibility though, you need to warm up or else you're going to hurt yourself. Starting out a dance routine cold and you're going to be doing things like sticking one leg over your arm while the other is behind your head, I'll see you in the hospital the next time I break my wrist.

   I have seen people damage themselves due to lack of stretching when doing things requiring a lot of flexibility. So for dancers, warm up a little, stretch those tendons and muscles. For runners, before or after, after is usually best to avoid shin splints, I've had those and I know. Weight lifters, no need to stretch, only warm up with a light press or something and then lift.

   If you're going to do body weight exercises, your stretching and your warm ups are your work out unless you're one of the few of us who can do exercises that require clapping your hands and supporting your body weight with one arm. In that case you really should warm up prior to your muscle requiring affairs.

   Sure some of you reading this are probably thinking that what I'm saying is entirely wrong in certain areas, like the weight lifting. I'm going to guess and probably be right when I say that you don't lift weights if you think I'm wrong about that.

   Do stretch every now and then, it's good for the muscles, makes you feel good, and keeps you limber, to some degree depending on how you stretch. If you stretch like I do, you're probably going to be good for the rest of your days on this planet. I'll hand out a stretching routine to you guys who are curious about that and want to know. So just leave some comments and tell me to give you a stretching routine, because unless you don't, I probably will do it anyways. I'm just trying to get some comments here.

   Flexibility helps with being in good shape, but just being flexible won't get you in good shape, you have to work out to be in good shape, not stretch. But if you want to make things easier on yourself in things like dancing and other things, do stretch, it makes life better.

Energy Sources

Energy is a big part of being fit, and is something that comes with it. All people who are constantly tired and sluggish, do not exercise. If you're one of those people and you want more energy, start exercising. That two O clock feeling isn't a need for more caffeine, it's a need for being in good shape.

When you exercise three times a week, you're going to have more energy, when you exercise every day, you're going to have a lot of energy. Having natural energy makes your job less stressful, makes strenuous work less of a hassle, and you a better person because you're less cranky and because you feel good.

   Don't wave off the opportunity to have natural energy, because it's a lot better than artificial energy which makes you feel like crap. Natural energy will bring you out of the woods and into the daylight where you can run and frolic because the scary tired monsters are keeping you from being energetic.

Keeping A Clean System

If you're going to have a clean body and mind so exercise will be easier, you really shouldn't be having to do things like food and juice detoxes. Now sure, go ahead and take your time with those green drinks if you're really bad off and can't even bring yourself to having a bowl movement you feel so bad. Actually, that's what God gave us prunes, bran muffins, and raisin bran for. Scrub a dub dub!!! Anyways, I'm going to talk to you about keeping your system clean.

Here are a few inspiring words I've come up with. If you feel like crap, you're probably eating like crap. If you feel like crap because you're eating like crap, it's your fault you feel like crap. If you feel like crap because your eating like crap and it's your fault you feel like crap, you need to make some major adjustments because you feel like crap because your eating like and it's your fault that you feel like crap because of your crappy diet.

   Whew, now that's out of my system, let's move on to the fact that you should probably be eating healthy food so you can be clean!

   I can usually tell if I've eaten like crud before I work out because an exercise after I've had cake or an incredibly greasy bratwurst with mayonnaise usually ends up with me going back inside and saying something like, "Mom! I feel like I've had compost for lunch!" Compost isn't exactly great either because it's all fermented and filled with bacteria that your body really doesn't want to be friends with. 

   When you're eaten something with a lot of grease, salt, fat, sugar, and you feel kind of sick afterwards, is because your body has taken in something that's easily upset when you move into vigorous activities and might very well cause you urk your lunch all over your exercise ball. So a big tip, don't work out right after you've eaten, go swimming, I don't care, but if you're going to do something where you're putting your hands above your head or in front of you and they're lifting something heavy or you, which could be heavy, it depends on what your body fat percentage is, it can cause your stomach to get upset because it's being sloshed around in the middle of digestion and you end up not feeling so great.

   If you're going to exercise ten minutes or so after you've eaten because you don't have much time, I recommend you eat something that won't gunk up your system but is pretty solid. Like chicken, or some kind of vegetable. Grains can help but right before a workout if you can't wait, you should avoid something like bread or muffins, or any kind of cake because it mixes with your stomach acids and becomes as if it were in water and doesn't go over so well. Now if you're thinking Ezekiel bread or something really heavy, go ahead, if you can stomach the stuff, you'll probably be able to stomach it during a workout. I'm joking, Ezekiel bread's actually pretty good sometimes.

   Things that are heavy and work like scrub brushes such as bran, prunes if you want, whole wheat, and other kinds of things to eat are quite excellent for keeping your insides clean and feeling good for workouts. If you eat stuff that gunks you up on the inside, be prepared to not feel good.

   Here's something that should probably scare you into eating foods that keep you clean. We all take showers, right? At least here in America if you're not homeless or not hygienically conscious. 

   Your body needs to be clean on the outside if you want to feel good about your self and not feel nasty and conscious about the concern of if people can smell you or not. Now the inside of your body needs to be cleaned once a day, sure it sounds a little informative, but I'm being honest with you! The inside needs to be cleaned just as much as the outside, so if your foods that you eat that clean your system are a lot like soap for your insides. They keep your insides clean and free of stuff that makes you feel bad. I'm sure feeling dirt on the inside is worse than feeling dirty on the outside. So why not keep both inside and outside clean? It's not all that bad of an idea.