Lance Armstrong: Love or loath him, it's hard to look past this feisty Texan's exploits on two wheels

By RUPERT GUINNESS___Originally Published in the December 2009 issue of SPORT&STYLE

Lance Armstrong is slouched in the beige leather seats of a private jet on a flight back to Texas. “Sometimes I am sick and f…ing tired of hearing cancer stories. But that is just because I am sick and f…ing tired of cancer. We ought to all be sick and tired of it. I would love to say I don’t have to go to any more hospitals any more.”As Armstrong talks, his assistant, Mark Higgins, sits behind him, updating a schedule that mounts by the day. His girlfriend, Anna Hansen, is feeding their seven-month-old son, Max, with the help of a nanny. Armstrong keeps one eye on Max while chatting to me. Also on board is Dennis Cavner, a former chairman and current board member of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the non-profit Livestrong organisation that has raised more than $US350 million since its inception in 1997. Sport&Style was invited to join this round trip from the Texan capital, Austin, to the Colorado town of Durango to see how the seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor manages his life.While clearly exhausted, he says this trip “was a simple one. We went out and back to one place. If you go to a hospital or a situation where you have cancer survivors, that weighs on your mind. It pulls it out of you. I have had situations where for no reason – it’s not like you stood up for 20 hours or rode your bike for seven – you stood for an hour and are devastated because it has taken an emotional toll. This wasn’t like that.”
The journey began at 1pm the day before, when I met Armstrong at Austin airport’s terminal where he’d just finished a three hour training ride. After take-off, Armstrong was buoyant and relaxed, but hungry. As we chatted he ate lunch: two servings of soup, two chicken salads and biscuits.Once we landed in Durango, however, it was business. Within an hour, Armstrong was at Fort Lewis College meeting cancer patients backstage at the world premiere of Race Across the Sky – a documentary of this year’s Leadville Trail 100 mountain-bike race; a race he won.Before and after the film, he answered questions as part of a panel that included race founder Ken Chlouber, and mountain bikers David Wiens, Matt Shriver and Olympian Travis Brown. Armstrong then spoke and answered questions at a $US500-a-head dinner at the college where Shriver is head cycling coach. The aim of Armstrong’s visit was not to raise money for the Livestrong foundation, though. It was to support Trails 2000 – a local trails work and advocacy group – and the college cycling team Shriver coaches. Armstrong’s appearance was also a way of saying thanks to Shriver for his pace-setting work in the Leadville Trail 100.It was from that 2008 race that Armstrong drew inspiration to come out of a three-and-a- half-year retirement and race the Tour once more, finishing third to Spanish teammate, and now arch rival, Alberto Contador.No matter the cause or reason, Armstrong’s visit hit Durango like a typhoon: in 12 minutes all 500 seats for the film preview and 100 for the dinner were sold. During the flight back to Austin, I can’t help but reflect on the first time I met Armstrong, a confident young Texan who had just turned professional. It was at the 1992 Tour of Lombardy, where he was meeting teammates from the now-defunct American Motorola team. I had heard of his last place in that year’s Clásica San Sebastián one-day race in Spain and how he finished more than 30 minutes behind the winner, alone and at dusk, but driven on by the words of his sports director, Hennie Kuiper. “Push yourself, Lance,” Kuiper told Armstrong when it was clear that he would have to ride on to the finish alone. “What you do now will only benefit you later.” In his next race, the Championship of Zürich, Armstrong finished second.As a long-time cycling journalist, I have plenty of other memories that flood back. There was the Armstrong who was dropped from the 1993 Tour of Flanders classic. After starting with a vanilla-f lavoured explanation, he halted and said: “Ah, excuses – they’re like assholes. Everybody has ’em and they all stink.”Then came the Armstrong who, later in 1993 and in rain at Oslo, Norway, became the youngest rider since Eddy Merckx to win the world road race title – then picked me up the next week from the train station in Como, Italy, in a modest second-hand car for an interview at his apartment. Then there was the Armstrong who on October 2, 1996, aged 25, was diagnosed with testicular cancer that spread to his lung and brain, then beat it to produce one of the greatest comebacks of all time – including winning the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005.This year’s return was not only aimed at reaping further sporting success, and fulfilling personal ambitions, but to also generate millions of dollars for, and spread awareness of, the fight against cancer.Sure, there has been controversy in the years that preceded his comeback – plenty of it. He has long been the target of doping accusations and, despite never failing a test and constantly denying the use of performance-enhancing drugs, his detractors have continued to attack him. As his domination in the sport mounted and popularity in the US soared, relations between him and many riders, officials and cycling fans in Europe became strained.If anything in Armstrong’s life is going to create more interest than his foundation work, it will be his duel with Contador in next year’s Tour. There will be nothing charitable in this combat. Theirs is a clash of Ali-Frazier proportions. It will be the highlight not only of next year’s cycling season, but the 2010 sporting calendar. Some doubted the seriousness of the divide that developed during this year’s Tour. Armstrong set the record straight – and bluntly – when Sport&Style raised the heated verbal exchanges that followed the Tour finale in which Armstrong did not attend Contador’s celebration dinner in Paris, but instead met up with representatives of RadioShack, the sponsor of his new ProTour team. At a press conference in Madrid after the Tour, Contador said: “My relationship with Lance is non-existent. Even if he is a great champion, I have never had admiration for him and I never will.” Armstrong’s terse reply on Twitter read: “Seeing these comments from AC. If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win.”Five months on, the ice has not thawed. Armstrong grabs a handful of almonds from a bowl and throws several in his mouth before saying: “It’s no secret we are not friends. It was just typical. Young guy, tons of success, never faltered. I called his PR guy and said I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I don’t think that’s such a good thing to say. That’s stupid.” He says attention on their personality clash will be “a distraction for he and I, and perhaps a distraction for our teams”. But then he adds: “It will be good for cycling. It will make for an epic build-up, an epic Tour. Those key stages will be epic.”Listening to Armstrong, you suspect he is relishing the scenario. He admits his best Tour victories came when he engaged in bitter conflicts, whether they were with a rider, official or those in the media who challenged the legitimacy of his successes. “We would create those things [to sharpen his competitive edge]. But I am a different person than I was 10 years ago,” he says. In regards to his rivalry with Contador, he adds: “We are not making it up. It’s there.”While Armstrong was satisfied with third place in this year’s Tour, he believes he can do better. “I had mixed emotions. I was glad to make the podium,” he says. “There was a point there where I could have easily been fourth or fifth. So I was happy to make that step, but I have been so many times on another step. I wasn’t bitter. I know cycling pretty well. I know he [Contador] was by far the strongest guy in the race. I am cool with that. In 2010 I will be better.”No one should doubt Armstrong’s desire to win, but these days even he admits to being a more mellow soul. “I am not going to get worked up about something I can’t control,” he says. “It could be a traffic jam. It could be a media frenzy, bad luck in a bike race. If you can’t control it …”He is also more at ease talking with his peers in the peloton. “I think people, the boys in the bunch, view me as a different person now,” he says. He cites “as the perfect example” German rider Andreas Klöden, who has signed on to Armstrong’s RadioShack team (which is racing in next year’s Tour Down Under in Adelaide) after spending years with rival squad T-Mobile and a stint this year with Astana (Armstrong and Contador’s team). “I never would have talked [to Klöden before],” Armstrong says. “In fact, I never would have talked to anybody.”Does Armstrong regret that? “Yes and no. It was a lot more tense back then. There was a lot more pressure,” he says, referring to the time between 2001 and 2004 when he was also riding for a $US10 million pay-out broken into three instalments for wins in the 2002, ’03 and ’04 Tours. The full payment would become his if he became the first to win six successive Tours. “When I crashed at Luz Ardiden in ’03, I had $3 million on the line … $3 million on the way to $10 million [in 2004]. There is a lot of pressure with that,” he says.Does Armstrong believe his detractors will ever get off his back? “Well, they probably won’t, but it’s harder now for them. They are in a very tough position. I answered a lot of those questions [with my comeback] and I have been a different rider. I think there is greater support from the people. So they are up against not just me, they are up against public opinion.”At the Durango film premiere, there was no sign of those detractors. There was hooting at every sight and sound from him. Unsurprisingly, there was only optimism and energy at the Livestrong headquarters in East Austin – the poor end of town – that is adorned with Armstrong memorabilia (next to his seven Tour yellow jerseys there’s a place for an eighth). Business never stops. When Sport&Style visited, preparations were in full swing for that weekend’s final Livestrong Challenge – a series of fundraising rides – in Austin, and a Livestrong auction at Sotheby’s in New York. Going under the hammer were his race bikes, custom-painted by artists Shephard Fairey, Kenny Scharf, Yoshitomo Nara, Damien Hirst and KAWS.But Livestrong initiatives are not solely aimed at raising money to fight cancer. They seek to prevent the disease with health programs, while Livestrong hopes to open a facility designed to help underprivileged cancer sufferers without access to rehabilitation and care programs. But for all his energy and commitment, Armstrong is human. And while he defied cancer and returned to win the Tour, there are moments when dedicating your life to eradicating the disease and educating people about it can become daunting. “There is every chance I will go to my grave when people are still dying of cancer. There is a chance I will go to my grave dying of cancer,” he says. “My chances of dying of cancer are greater than yours just because I have some genetic predisposition.” But give up? That is not in his make-up, whether against cancer or his rivals on the bike.Armstrong turns 39 next year and he understands the time will come when he’ll have to lay his Tour dreams to rest – next year could be his last. He’s then expected to focus even more on his work for Livestrong and competing in other high-profile sporting events that will aid the foundation. They include the 2011 Ironman Triathlon and, maybe even next year, the 800-kilometre Cape Epic mountain-bike race in South Africa. Off his bike, there are suggestions Armstrong may pursue a political career, but if he does, insiders says he is keeping his political allegiances close to his chest.There is also his unbridled devotion towards his role as a father of four: baby Max, as well as Luke, 10, and twin daughters, Isabelle and Grace, 8, from his marriage to Kristin Richard. Armstrong doesn’t take fatherhood lightly, overwhelmingly because he survived testicular cancer and fathered his first three children from sperm banked before chemotherapy (Max was conceived naturally with Anna Hansen).Armstrong is also firm about not allowing the time he sets aside for his children to slip into time that requires him to be the sports star. “I try to keep my feet on the ground, their feet on the ground,” he says. “When I am with them I only sign something if I have to. If I am at a restaurant, the football or at the park – no pictures, no autographs. All I am then is their father. That is their time.” It is only natural that being raised by a single mother, Linda, who was 17 when he was born, had an influence on Armstrong; especially in light of the poor relationships he had with his father, Eddie Gunderson, and stepfather, Terry Armstrong, who also divorced his mother. Armstrong doesn’t speak in detail about either man, and when asked if the fallout affected his view of fatherhood, he says: “I don’t pull any lessons out of that other than trying to be involved. I think it’s safe to say I have a better relationship with Kristin than what my [birth] dad’s relationship was with my mother, or my stepfather’s relationship was with my mother.”When Armstrong speaks of family discipline, the man who used to be known as “The Boss” for his hard rule of the peloton reveals a softer side. “I try to be their friend. You have to be an asshole sometimes, to be tough. It’s not being a disciplinarian [and] yelling. I don’t believe it. Spanking, I don’t do that. I was spanked as a kid and I was like, ‘This is bullshit.’ … If anyone spanks my kids, they better be ready.”It’s obvious from the protective look I receive from Armstrong as I disembark the plane in Austin cradling Max in my arms that nothing is more important to him than his family. But having spent two days with the cyclist, it’s also obvious he believes nothing is impossible – whether it be yellow jersey number eight or curing cancer.

Stone Mtn. Climbs

If you are interested in a climb, walk or run, or a bike ride around stone mtn. call 6784624168!!

Mass Gains Simplified!!!

MASS TRAINING
Mass building is accomplished with brief, heavy, high intensity training with long rest periods between sets and workouts.Mass Training RoutineMuscle building requires multiple set, high intensity (HIT), split training to positive failure, or until another rep cannot be performed. Train each body part once per week. You may utilize a three-day, or a four-day split. Here is a powerful three-day split system for muscle building clients.

LEGS Quadriceps: leg press, squats, hack squats, leg extensions. Choose one exercise and do 5- 8 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Hamstrings: seated, standing or lying curl. Choose one exercise and do 5 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Calf: standing, seated, donkey calf raise, toe presses. Choose one exercise and do 5-8 sets of 12-6 reps.

BACK & CHESTChest: bench press, incline bench press, flat fly, incline fly, pec dec, machine press. Choose one exercise and do 5-8 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Back: bar, dumbbell or cable or machine rows, pull downs, chins. Choose one exercise and do 5-8 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Trapezius: bar or dumbbell or machine shrugs. Choose one exercise and do 3 sets of 12 to 6 reps.

DELTOIDS & ARMSDeltoids: bar, dumbbell or machine overhead press, or dumbbell side raises. Choose one exercise and do 5 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Triceps: pushdowns, lying or overhead extensions, dips, close grip bench press. Choose one exercise and do 5 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Biceps: bar, dumbbell, cable, machine or preacher curls. Choose one exercise and do 5 sets of 12 to 6 reps.An effective four-day split grouping is thighs & hamstrings; back & abdominals; chest & calf; deltoids & arms.Rest 1 minute between sets. This is an every other day routine, but may be modified to suit your schedule. Sleep 8 hours a night for recovery and follow a high protein diet by consuming five small meals a day. Take every set to failure and try some partial reps after completing all you can in the full range. Flex the muscles after training them for a minute or two. Muscles adapt quickly to a common stress, so increase the weight or reps every session and vary the exercises constantly, especially if you’ve been training for several years. This creates an unusual demand on the muscular and nervous systems and keeps you from hitting a plateau, which means stymied progress. Do not exceed the recommended the recommended number of sets because it will lead to overtraining.

ARM MASS BUILDING ROUTINE HANDOUT
The most common mistake bodybuilders make in attempting to build bigger arms is over training them. They do to many sets and train them too often. The arms are used in every upper body exercise, and therefore receive tremendous stimulation, which makes them prone to over training. Over training makes the arms shrink, not grow. Do only 5 to 8 sets each for biceps and triceps, and only three for forearms. There are literally hundreds of arm exercises, so use them all, but not in the same workout. Choose only one exercise and do 5-8 sets, which is enough to stimulate growth without overtraining. Work the arms only once every 2-3 days. Remember that you train them on every time you grab a weight. Record in your notebook the time you start and end, the exercise, weight, and the number of sets and reps performed. Since you may not do the same exercise again for several weeks, you will need a reference guide.Best exercises:Triceps: pushdowns, lying or overhead extensions, dips, close grip bench press. Choose one and do 5-8 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Biceps: bar, cable, dumbbell or preacher curls. Choose one and do 5-8 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Biceps and triceps exercises are good super set combinations (one exercise combined with another with no rest in between).Forearms: reverse curls and wrist curls with a bar, dumbbells or machines. Choose one and do 3 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Rest 2 - 3 minutes between sets or super sets. Sleep 8 hours a night For recovery, and follow a high protein diet. Intensity techniques: add partial (strongest range) reps after completing as many traditional full range reps as possible, then try a controlled holding and lowering set, without resting, in between each series.

LEG MASS ROUTINE HANDOUTChoose one exercise from the list and do the recommended sets for that day. Train legs once every 5 to 8 days. Rest 3 to 5 minutes between sets for mass.Quadriceps: leg press (use one or two legs), squats, hacks squats, lunges, and leg extensions. Pick one exercise and do 7-10 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Hamstrings: any kind of leg curl, or stiff leg dead lift, or top end dead lift. Do 5-7 sets of 12 to 6 reps.Calf: standing, seated, donkey calf raise, toe press, one leg calf raise. Choose one and do 5-8 sets of 12 to 30 reps.Hang from a chinning bar and stretch after you have completed your training. Remember to stretch the low back, too. Intensity techniques: add partial (strongest range) reps after completing as many traditional full range reps as possible, then try a controlled holding and lowering set without resting in between each series.

MASS DIET HANDOUT *To build mass you need to eat at least 1 gram of protein per - pound of desired body weight, per - day. If you want to weigh 200, then you have to eat 200 grams of protein each day. Let's see what kind of menu would deliver the 200 figure. First, some rules. Eat once every three to three-and-a-half hours. It takes that long for the last meal to move out of the stomach. If you eat too soon, the food that you've already eaten will stop digesting, and the whole thing starts all over again. Protein can actually remain in the intestines undigested for as long as two days. THIS IS AN OUTLINE!!
7:00 AM: 12 egg whites (50 g. prot.), 4 slices of toast, large orange juice, multivitamin/ mineral tab, 3 liver tabs, 3 amino tabs, digestive enzyme.
10:00 AM: Snack: 8-10 oz. cottage cheese or a protein drink. 3 liver and 3 amino's. If this meal is eaten before training, add a banana. Provides about 30-g. protein.
1:00 PM: 8 oz. chicken or steak, 2 baked potatoes or 1 cup pasta, salad or steamed vegetables, 3 liver, 3 amino's, enzymes. Provides about 50-g. protein.
4:00 PM: Snack: same as AM snack.
7:00 PM: Supper: Same meal as lunch.
10:00 PM: 5 egg whites.
This menu allows about 200 grams of protein, about 40 grams of fat, and about 350 grams of carbohydrate. Total calories are roughly 3000. If you can be this meticulous about eating, then you will reap the rewards of increased muscle mass. Use creatine and DHEA every day after each meal, but cycle them on a two-week on, two week off schedule for greatest benefit, and so you don’t develop a tolerance to them. Don't let yourself get hungry during the day, and modify the schedule based on your daily routine. Eat every three hours, except when sleeping. MASS

SUPPLEMENT STACK HANDOUT
1. Creatine, load 5 grams 2 times per day for 5 days, then drop to twice a day. This can produce gains of 5 pounds of muscle in 3 days!
2. DHEA, 100 mg. 3 times per day, including one tab 1/2 hour before training, one before breakfast, and one at night. Elevates testosterone levels in the body.
3. Flaxseed & Fish Oil, are both good fats, or lipids, which are testosterone precursors, the building blocks of testosterone in the body.
4. Tribulus, try 100 mg. twice daily to boost testosterone levels.
5. Digestive Enzymes, one or two tablets with each meal for maximum utilization.
6. Whey or Egg Protein Powder, use one or two scoops 3 times per day between meals for best results.
7. Multivitamin/Mineral Pack, take one packet daily for good health. Everyone should be taking a multi-vitamin/mineral anti-oxidant supplement, especially hard training athletes.
8. Desiccated Liver Tablets; take 5-10 tabs 1 hour before training for endurance. Before steroids, athletes used liver tabs to get big. They still work. Follow a high protein diet of about 1-gram of protein per pound of desired body weight to gain muscle. Anyone who follows this program should be able to pack on 10 pounds of muscle in 2 to 4 weeks, while losing five pounds of fat at the same time.

NUTRITIONAL GUIDE FOR INCREASING MASS
Protein and supplement intake is of paramount importance for building increased muscle size. Timing is as crucial as what is consumed. Here are some supplements that can accelerate the muscle building process. Ten-50 grain desiccated liver tablets and three- 1000 mg amino acid tabs three times daily will increase protein levels in the body. Consuming a high protein, high calorie meal or protein/sugar drink prior to, and immediately after a workout will elevate protein and insulin levels during training. Protein and glucose uptake by the muscles is elevated during and after workouts. Additionally, testosterone and growth hormone levels increase during intense exercise, creating an even more anabolic (muscle building) state. Adding 2-4 tablespoons of creatine and 100 mg. of DHEA or one of the testosterone boosters before exercising will create even more rapid muscle growth. Always consume 2000 mg of flaxseed oil and 2000 mg of fish oil one hour before training sessions because muscle-building hormones are assembled from the good fatty acids that they contain.

Bootcamp workout in 20 min!!

This explosive bootcamp type workout that can be done in 20 min uses multi-movement exercises to burn fat and tone faster! I have pictured emails I can send out to those who would like diagrams of this workout!
-This workout targets the legs, upper body, and core with challenging compound moves that burn lots of fat and calories.
-Perform the first three exercises for 30 seconds each going from one to the next without rest then repeat one more time.
-Continue with the next 3 exercises for 30 seconds each going from one to the next without rest then repeat two more times.
-Continue with the last 3 exercises for 30 seconds each going from one to the next without rest then repeat two more times.
-Try to always move from one exercise to the next as quickly as possible. Between each exercise, concentrate on three deep breaths and then try to move to the next exercise.

Exercises:

Lunge Crossover with DB: 1) Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Take one and step back approximately 3 feet standing on the ball of the foot. 2) Start Position: feet should be positioned at a staggered stance with the head and back kept straight and in a fixed position. Start position for the dumbbell will be raised above the head with arms extended. 3) Lower body by bending at the waist and knee until the thigh of the lead leg is parallel to the floor. The body should follow a straight line down towards the floor. As you are lunging, lower the dumbbell to the waistline and reach to one side of the leg with the weight. 4) Return to the start position and repeat by reaching to the opposite side with the weight. Switch to the other leg after completing required reps. 5) Keep the back straight and don't lean over as you go down.
Training Tip: Try a closer stance and don't go down as far if you have knee injuries or problems with balance.

Butt Kick: Start with a light jog and continue trying to get the feet as close to kicking the butt as possible. Try to get the feet and knee as high as you can.
Training Tip: Stay light on your feet and take deep breaths. This exercise is good to get the heart rate up, combining aerobic and anaerobic exercises together to keep the body guessing, burning fat in more places and more rapidly.

Mountain Climbers: 1) Start by getting on your hands and feet in the prone position. 2) Keeping your body raised off the ground, alternate bringing the knees up to the chest, as if pedaling a bicycle or running while bringing your knees up high. 3) Continue this movement until required amount of time or reps are reached.
Training Tip: Use the the core (abs and hips) to execute this movement while letting the legs float back and forth. This is very important in pacing yourself, and enabling yourself to continue to perform the required exercises and reps.

Modified Explosive Push-up: 1) Start by getting into the push-up position with your knees on the ground. 2) Do a regular push-up, but when pushing up try to explode with enough power to throw yourself off the ground where the hands no longer touch the ground. 3) Catch yourself when you come down, and then lower yourself into another push-up repeating the movements. 4) Repeat for recommended amount or repititions.
Training Tips: It takes time to get this exercise perfected. This can be hard on the tendons and shoulders if not executed properly, so we'll take it one step at a time. It is important to remember to keep the entire body contracted on the descent to cushion and protect the tendons on impact. Do regular pushups on knees until strength is built up to move on to pushups without using your knees. When enough strength is built up, move on to modified explosive pushup.


Single Leg DB Row: 1) Start by holding dumbbells in each hand and balance on one leg. 2) Bend forward slightly at about a 45 degree angle. 3) Pull the dumbbells up towards the top of the abdomen or bottom of the chestplate and then lower back down to starting position.
Training Tips: Take standing on one leg slowly until balance and coordination are mastered. Try stairing at one spot on the floor right in front of you to help you concentrate on balance. It is very important to keep the back straight on this exercise, too much leaning can cause lower back strain. Be sure to target the mid back; shoulder blade area.

DB Pushup and Row: 1) Start by being in pushup position with your hands on the dumbbells. 2) After completing one pushup and coming back to the top, proceed with raising one dumbbell into the air to chest level and then return to the ground. 3) Continue with another pushup using the opposite arm to row the other DB.
Training Tips: Same as with other pushups, start this exercise from the knees until strength is built up.

Jumping Jacks: 1) Start with your arms by your side and your feet about shoulder width apart. 2) Jump up and in one fluid motion, raise the arms to the side and above the head. At the same time, spread the legs out to the side laterally. 3) When you come down from jumping, land in the position you completed when jumping up, and then jump again to return to the start position.
Training Tips: When jumping, jump as high as you can. Don't try to jump to a certain height or more than you can comfortably. Always do what you can safely without injuring yourself (or others).

DB Squat and Press: 1) Start by holding the DB at shoulder level while standing with the feet at shoulder width. 2) Proceed into a squat, lowering the butt as if you will sit in a chair. Try to get the legs to a 90 degree angle at the knees. 2) Finish the exercise by standing and raising the dumbbells over the head into a press and back to the starting position to complete one repitition.
Training Tips: Keep the back straight and try not to lean over at all.

High Knee Drill: 1) Stand with your feet at shoulder width and your arms extended straight out in front. 2) Pick one knee up at a time and try to come as close as possible to touching the extended arms as possible. 3) Alternate knees trying to move as quickly as possible from one to the next and raising as high as you can trying to touch the extended arms.
Training Tips: Trying to move as quickly as possible will be key in raising the heart to move back and forth between the two types of exercises.

10 Reasons Why Men should sit when they pee at home

Really?! You’re really going to ask me why you should sit when you pee in your own bathroom at home? Where your wife, girlfriend, or sometimes sisters and moms have to sit and use the bathroom. I don’t guess they have to sit; they could hover. Their choice too right? I guess I really started to pay more attention to things like this when I had my daughter. I have always been kind of germ weary, but especially after living with my little lady and realizing how healthy I wanted her to be. I almost lost her before I ever knew her so I became determined to help in any way to keep her healthy.
First obvious reason for this kind gesture to all you dwell around: There’s no pee all around the seat. Really!? You have to sit there to Bro, so pee all over it if you want to.
Second: You don’t have to clean the toilet as often. Who wants to put a picture of themselves spending more time with their toilet on their vision-board?
Third: You don’t have to explain to the insurance company why you slipped in your own pee and hit your head on the tub.
4. Pee is gross. Who cares if it is sterile and you can drink it!! Right?
5. You can sit down, relax, and catch like a 10 min power nap as long as someone doesn’t start missing you. Make use of your time, Bro. Who says men can’t multitask?
6. You can pretend you are tied up in the restroom more often and maybe get more time to play your kids’ Nintendo DS. Transformers is Cool!!
7. So your dog doesn’t start using that as a marking battle between you and him. Believe me when I tell you, male dogs mark their territory when you aren’t looking.
8. It’s gross.
9. No more pee splattering on the feet. No brainer!
10. If you’ve had a couple cold drinks you don’t have to worry bout anything, like falling over. Do you realize how much stress this can eliminate.
Well I hope we have come to an understanding. Also, I hope you realize if you are a guy friend of mine and stop by to chill a minute, this means you are to stay away from my toilet. I obviously have some issues with it. It’s really a lot cleaner and fresher to do this. Its surprising to see my bathroom compared to some of my buddies. It does make a huge difference!

GetReady Challenge!!

The GetReady Challenge can become a way for us active and semi-active people to stay motivated and help keep each other motivated to keep moving and pushing to become healthier and feel better about ourselves. This is not a competition, or anything related to competing with the others that chose to participate. I want to use this as a tool to pat each other on the back and just keep our friends active and healthy.

Rules are simple: post anything that you accomplish; physical, mental, or emotional that inspires or lifts you up to feel good about yourself. Simply post whatever tasks you accomplish on the board, and state to the next participant, "What did you do?" to keep someone else motivated to GetReady and push to the next level. It's always nice to have teammates and see what our friends are doing to stay in shape and most of all, stay healthy. This can also be used to get new ideas from each other to prevent boredom in our routines. So get posting and GetReady!!

Drink Water!!

It's summer; it's hot. Make sure we are drinking plenty of water. It is so important. A couple of glasses a day will not cut it. Drink water!!! All day; Everyday!!

*Everyone knows that our bodies are made mostly of water. If you want to be healthy and at peak performance, then we have to replenish our bodies. The human body is around 65% water. The human brain is 80% water if you can believe that. The lungs are nearly 90%. The percentage of our blood that consist of water; get ready for this; 83%. If you don't think you should have a bottle with you at all times, think again. Your health depends on it. Many things like having enough energy to get through a workout to keeping the body's system flushed out all depends on how much water we comsume daily. Cells of the body are made mostly of water. How can we expect our system to be healthy without drinking plenty of agua. The cells' healing and replenishing depends on water for transporting vitamins and minerals and other valuable nutrients.

*Some signs and symptoms of dehydration are:
Increased heart rate
Increased respiration
Decreased sweating
Decreased urination
Increased body temperature
Extreme fatigue
Muscle cramps
Headaches
Nausea
Tingling of the limbs

*Unfortunately the list of symptoms gets nastier the more dehydrated you become. Let's stay healthy and feeling good this summer by doing simple things to care more about ourselves like taking a sip of water every now and then. Is it really that hard?

--When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot, and hold on!!

Your time is valuable, and for each precious moment you put into your workouts, you want to ensure you get the best possible return on your investment. So, are you getting the results you want? If your body isn't as lean or toned as you'd like, it may be that you're committing some key training mistakes, which can sabotage the efforts of even veteran exercisers.
1.Getting married to your strength routine
>If you do the same routine over and over, your muscles will simply adapt
>For each muscle group, learn an additional 2 or 3 exercises, trying new angles and equipment.
2.Performing your reps too quickly
>If you zoom through your repetitions when strength training, you'll be using momentum instead of muscle power.
> Take 6 seconds to perform each repetition: 2 seconds to lift the weight and 4 seconds to lower it.
3.Exercising too hard, too often
>If you don't rest enough between hard cardio or strength workouts, you'll stop making progress and may even lose some of the fitness you've gained.
> To keep your muscles fresh and your motivation high, alternate shorter, tougher cardio workouts with longer, easier days.