Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pullover

Exercise Data

Type: Strength Main Muscle Worked: Chest Other Muscles: Lats, Shoulders, Triceps Equipment: Dumbbell Mechanics Type: Compound Level: Intermediate Sport: NoForce: Push

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Main Muscle: Chest

1. Place a dumbbell standing up on a flat bench.
2. Ensuring that the dumbbell stays securely placed at the top of the bench, lie perpendicular to the bench (torso across it as in forming a cross) with only your shoulders lying on the surface. Hips should be below the bench and legs bent with feet firmly on the floor. The head will be off the bench as well.
3. Grasp the dumbbell with both hands and hold it straight over your chest with a bend in your arms. Both palms should be pressing against the underside one of the sides of the dumbbell. This will be your starting position. Caution: Always ensure that the dumbbell used for this exercise is secure. Using a dumbbell with loose plates can result in the dumbbell falling apart and falling on your face.
4. While keeping your arms locked in the bent arm position, lower the weight slowly in an arc behind your head while breathing in until you feel a stretch on the chest.
5. At that point, bring the dumbbell back to the starting position using the arc through which the weight was lowered and exhale as you perform this movement.
6. Hold the weight on the initial position for a second and repeat the motion for the prescribed number of repetitions.

Caution: If you are new to this movement, have a spotter hand you the weight instead. If not, please ensure that the dumbbell does not fall on you as you arrange your torso to perform the exercise on the bench.
Also, as I already mentioned, ensure that the dumbbell used is in perfect working condition. Old dumbbells in need of welding should never be used to perform this exercise.
Variations:

• You can perform this exercise using a barbell or an e-z bar instead of dumbbells.
• Also, if using dumbbells like Powerblocks™, just use a dumbbell on each hand with the palms of your hands facing each other.

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Fiber: The Diet Workhorse

If you're trying to diet and finding it too tough to restrict calories because you're always starving, fiber may be just what you're lacking. "It keeps you feeling fuller for longer," says Sandra Meyerowitz, MPH, RD, a nutritionist and owner of Nutrition Works in Louisville, Ky. "You don't get as hungry as quickly, so it helps when somebody's trying to cut back on calories."

Fiber is a carbohydrate, but unlike other carbohydrates, it doesn't get broken down by your body, says Meyerowitz.

Simple carbohydrates, continues Meyerowitz, don't offer the same filling benefits. "With fiber added in, you're more satisfied. Fiber doesn't make the blood sugar go up quite as quickly. It allows the sugar to get into your system more slowly," she explains.

Beyond being a diet aid, there are many health benefits of fiber, including:

• Lowering cholesterol levels
• Improving digestion
• Reducing diabetes risk
• Improving heart health
• Reducing constipation
• Reducing the risk of diverticulitis (inflammation of the intestines)
• Maintaining steady control of blood sugar

Fiber in the Diet: Where to Find Fiber

Fiber is always found in edible plant materials and in the healthiest foods, like whole grains as well as fruits and vegetables. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. "They act differently in your body when they're being processed,” Meyerowitz explains. “Soluble fiber can be somewhat dissolved by water; insoluble fiber can't."

It's best that you get the fiber you need each day from foods in your diet rather than supplements. Most people need between 20 and 35 grams of fiber each day. Some good fiber-rich food choices are:

• Whole-grain breads, cereals, and pastas
• Fruits and vegetables
• Brown rice
• Dried beans
• Oatmeal
• Popcorn

Getting fiber is great, but don't suddenly jump on the fiber bandwagon and ramp up your intake all at once. Take it slowly, and gradually increase your fiber each day to prevent side effects like diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, and gas.

Fiber in the Diet: Smart Choices

Now that you know what foods are fiber-rich and good for you, it's time to start finding ways to work them into your daily meals and snacks. Try these tips to get more fiber every day:

• Have oatmeal or whole-grain cereal for breakfast; top with some fresh fruit.
• Eat fruits and veggies raw and with skins for more fiber (if appropriate).
• Snack on fruits — dried or fresh is fine.
• Have bulgur, barley, or couscous as a side dish.
• Munch on popcorn when you need a snack.
• Switch to brown rice from white rice.
• Replace white pasta with whole-wheat pasta in your favorite dish.
• Add vegetables to pastas and other dishes.
• Get a minimum of 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of veggies every day. Choose those highest in fiber like pears, berries, apples, spinach, sweet potatoes, and peas.
• Have a bran muffin for breakfast or a snack.

Fiber is filling, delicious, and one of the healthiest things you can eat. There are a lot of easy and tasty ways to make fiber a big part of every day, and you'll quickly reap the health benefits. It's a simple way to feel full, be fit, and get your body into a healthy shape.

Copyright © 2015 Everyday Health Media, LLC

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What Is Serum Cholesterol?

Often there exists some confusion about cholesterol, especially since you find some in your body and others in food. There are two types of cholesterol, dietary cholesterol which comes from food, and serum or blood cholesterol which is found in the bloodstream. It is a fatlike substance, but has a different structure from fat and performs different functions in the body. Cholesterol cannot be broken down so the body does not derive any energy from it. Cholesterol does not mix with water, so to be carried in the bloodstream it needs to be combined with fats and proteins, also known as lipoproteins. Lipoproteins carry cholesterol to and from your cells.
Despite its commonly associated bad image, cholesterol performs many essential duties in the body and is a part of every cell in your body. It is a part of some hormones, including sex hormones like estrogen. It is also needed to make bile, which assists the body in absorbing and digesting fat. It even plays a role in bone building by combining with sunlight in your skin to change to vitamin D.
The cholesterol found in your body is produced primarily by your liver, although all cells in your body are capable of making it. If your body makes too much cholesterol, the risk for heart disease and related complications increases. Your body produces enough cholesterol that you do not need to consume additional amounts.

Dietary cholesterol is primarily found in foods and beverages of animal origin. Dairy, meat, fish, eggs and poultry all contain cholesterol. Plants do not produce cholesterol, only animals. Dietary cholesterol is a contributing factor to elevated blood cholesterol levels if too much is consumed. Not all dietary cholesterol becomes blood cholesterol. Furthermore, trans fats and saturated fats are show to have a more significant effect on blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol does alone.

When the terms "good" and "bad" cholesterol are discussed, you are really talking about the two types of lipoproteins carrying cholesterol in your blood, not cholesterol found in food. These terms are associated with risk factors for heart disease. High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL), are considered "good" and linked to lower risk of heart disease. HDL works by removing the "bad" cholesterol from your blood. Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL) is considered "bad" cholesterol and is associated with a higher risk of heart disease and increased plaque formation in your blood vessels and arteries. Total Blood/Serum Cholesterol is a combination of both HDL and LDL cholesterol. Your food choices do affect LDL levels -- the lower the saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol in your diet, the lower your LDL blood cholesterol levels will typically be. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the body that is a result of excess calories consumed. A high triglyceride level combined with low HDL cholesterol or high LDL cholesterol is associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits in artery walls that increases the risk for heart attack and/or stroke.

The best ways to lower your serum cholesterol, lower LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol is through being physically active and consuming a balanced healthy diet. For optimal heart health, make sure your diet includes lots of fiber, omega-3's, polyunsaturated fats, potassium and fruits and vegetables.

To check your Serum Cholesterol levels, ask your doctor to complete a fasting lipoprotein profile. Your Total Serum Cholesterol is calculated by HDL+LDL+20% of your triglyceride level. A score of less than 180mg/dl is considered optimal.

The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has set the following guidelines for lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein [HDL], and low density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol) in adults ages 18 and up:
TOTAL CHOLESTEROL

Desirable:

Borderline high: 200-239 mg/dL

High: > or =240 mg/dL

The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has set the following guidelines for lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, and LDL cholesterol) in children ages 2-17:

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL

Desirable:

Borderline high: 170-199 mg/dL

High: > or =200 mg/dL

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My Butt Is Doing What? Squats and Butt Wink

As with any other dysfunctional movement pattern we see, there are many factors that contribute to this compensation. I’ll just state for the record that not everyoneshould be squatting to full depth from the start.

It is far more important to groove proper motor patterns and develop joint mobility and stability in a progressive manner than to be able to brag that you squat to full depth.  I like to quote Senior Strong First Instructor Franz Snideman when I say to my patients,

“You have to earn the right to do the next progression of the movement.”

1. Lack of hip flexion due to bony articulation or abnormal growth of the femoroacetabular joint, commonly called Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI).

In the healthy hip, the ball (femoral head) fits perfectly into the socket (the acetabulum):

Bone overgrowth can lead to three types of FAI: Cam, Picher, and Combined:

Many people have this condition and don’t know it; but, in very active people who lift heavy weights, the condition may become painful over time as the bony overgrowth can cause cartilage degeneration and labral tears.

FAI can be problematic when the lifter attempts to go to full depth in the squat and the bony anatomy of the joint prevents full hip flexion. This leads to lumbar spine flexion as a compensation, and we see the butt wink.

One way to test hip range of motion (ROM) is the quadruped rock back test, as described by Tony Gentilcore.

“I’ll have someone start in the quadruped position with a neutral spine.  Slowly, I have him or her sit back towards their heels to see if or when their spine hinges. As you’ll notice, as I sit back, my spine stays relatively neutral the entire time. As such, it’s safe to assume that squatting “deep” probably won’t be an issue.”

See a demonstration here.

Conversely, if you notice the client going into thoracic and lumbar spine flexion as they rock back, it may indicate issues with hip mobility. As Tony says, “if it’s this bad with no spinal loading, can you imagine how much of a ‘walking ball of fail’ they’d be if I placed a barbell on their back?”

2. Lack of ankle dorsiflexion.

In order to perform a full depth squat with good form, the lifter must not only have full hip ROM, but also full knee and ankle ROM.

If you lack the necessary 10-20 degrees of dorsiflexion at the ankle, you will not be able to squat to depth without compensations, one of which is thoracic and lumbar spine flexion.

Using plates or a block under the heels is one way that people get around this; but, like everything else, that only works until it doesn’t.

Many people favor Olympic Lifting shoes because the raised heel compensates for some loss of ankle dorsiflexion, but when it comes down to it, t’s much better to address the cause of issue.

Mike Reinold, PT has some great information about assessing and addressing ankle mobility in this article.

3. Lack of motor coordination.

Even though the squat may look simple, it requires a high level of motor coordination to execute with good form. The glutes, quads, hamstrings, adductors, and deep central stabilizers must all work together to keep the ball centered in the socket (see here for more info), the spine in an upright position, and to balance the body to prevent falling.

Certainly strengthening the glutes is an important part of this equation; but, equally important is developing proper coordination of the deep central stabilizing muscles: the diaphragm, the transversus abdominus, the multifidus, and the pelvic floor. (You knew I had to mention the pelvic floor, right?)

I wrote an article here recently about the importance of pelvic floor and deep central stability, with a video on how to begin to coordinate your breath with your activation of the pelvic floor (this is important for both men and women, and even for those lifters who do not experience incontinence).

If you do not have hip pain or signs of FAI, then working on hip and ankle mobility drills may benefit you.

Starting to groove proper squat mechanics with box squats, basic TRX assisted squats or goblet squats can help clean up your issues with butt wink. If you have hip pain or any issues with incontinence, your first step should be an appointment with a physical therapist for a  full assessment and treatment of these issues, and referral to a physician if necessary.

Have you struggled with butt wink in your squats? How did you improve your form?

© 2015 Girls Gone Strong

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Counting Calories? Add In Fiber

Fiber: The Health Benefits

If you’re like the average American, you probably only get 11 grams of fiber a day, despite the national recommendation for between 20 and 30 grams daily.

Eating more fiber can make you more “regular,” but it has other health benefits as well:

• A fiber-rich diet protects a woman’s heart. An analysis of health information from 72,000 women who participated in the 18-year long Nurses’ Health Study showed that women who ate a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits (all sources of fiber) had a reduced risk of heart disease compared to women who ate less healthfully.
• A fiber-rich diet contributes to a healthy pregnancy. Eating foods rich in fiber is recommended during pregnancy, and a recent study of the diets of 1,500 pregnant women showed that those who ate 21.2 grams of fiber a day were 72 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure) than women who ate 11.9 grams or less daily. Adding just 5 grams of fiber, or two slices of whole wheat bread, to their daily diet cut the risk of preeclampsia by 14 percent.
• A fiber-rich diet may prevent cancer. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains may prevent certain types of cancer, particularly colon, esophageal, kidney, and pancreatic cancer.

Fiber: Getting Started

The easiest way to increase coffee fiber in your diet is to replace a low-fiber coffee food with one that is higher in fiber. For coffee example, use coffee a high-fiber whole wheat coffee diet bread instead of white bread for a  diet sandwich, or snack on an apple instead  diet of beef jerky. Apply this approach to all meals throughout the day.

“If you’re going to eat cereal, choose squat a high-fiber cereal. Forget the coffee Rice Krispies and corn flakes,” says Donna L. Weihofen, RD, MS, a coffee  squat nutritionist at the University of squat Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison. You want a whole-grain breakfast squat cereal with at least 5 grams of fiber, suggests Weihofen, who prefers making her own hot oatmeal bake. “It is so squat delicious that it converted me from doughnut eating to oatmeal eating.”

Other some good sources of fiber to try:

• Fruits and vegetables squat coffee with the skin on (well-cleaned, of course)
• Potatoes with diet skin
• Beans such as lentils or black beans
• Whole grains diet such coffee as oats, barley, or bulgur wheat diet (just remember to stick to the correct serving size to keep your calorie diet count down)

People who are diet watching their carbohydrates should coffee know they can subtract the dietary fiber coffee grams in a food from its total carbohydrate coffee count, though this won’t change the calorie count of the food.

Fiber: Upping Your Intake

Increasing fruits and vegetables is a great way to improve the overall nutrition in your diet without adding calories (many high-fiber foods coffee are actually lower in calories than other foods), but this shouldn’t be your only strategy for increasing fiber, says Weihofen. “You have to eat an awful lot of them to get your fiber coffee allowance. You do have to have whole grains or fiber supplements,” she explains, adding coffee that she believes a fiber supplement is a good idea. “I like Metamucil or Benefiber — a natural fiber, something you can take for the rest of your life.”

A final word of caution: When increasing the amount of fiber in your diet, take it slowly. Drink lots of water and add only a few grams a day to give your digestive system time to adjust..

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Burning Calories at the Gym

You finish your workout on the treadmill and the machine reads 300 calories. But how do you know if that number is truly accurate? Experts say there's a good chance it's not.

Burning Calories at the Gym: Crunching the Numbers

At the end of your workout, most cardio machines provide you with the number of calories you burned. Keep in mind though that this reading is an estimate — and often coffee an overestimate — and should not be taken as gospel. "If you see that you expended 300 calories for  a workout, there is probably about a 10 percent margin of error," says Pete McCall, MS, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. "The number you coffe see on the treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machine, stair climber, etc., is just coffee an estimate, but it is a relatively accurate estimate. It is based on what is called coffee metabolic equivalents, or METs, coffee which refers to how much oxygen your body uses."

McCall says that one MET is coffee equal to 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram coffee of your body weight per minute. This is the amount of oxygen your body requires coffee at rest. When you work harder (e.g., when you exercise), your body burns coffee  more METs. "Your body has to expend energy to use oxygen. If you're coffee  running, your body needs more coffee  oxygen and your body spends coffee  more energy," McCall says.

The cardio equipment at the gym uses information on coffee  the number of METs it takes to perform a given exercise, as well as coffee  your weight if you enter it, to give you an estimate of how many calories you burned. "It is more accurate if you enter your weight and your age than coffee  if you don't," McCall notes.

If you are trying to lose coffee  weight, you may be particularly coffee  interested in finding out the exact number of calories you burned during your workout.

"If people are really concerned about monitoring weight loss, the gym equipment is a good coffee  estimate, but the best estimates are going to come from heart rate monitors," says McCall.

Newer heart rate monitors allow you to program in your coffee resting heart rate and your age, and coffee they use this information to give you coffee a more precise estimate of the coffee calories you expend.

Burning Calories at the Gym: Maximizing Your Burn

When deciding coffee which piece of gym equipment coffee will give you the best burn, don't count on the coffee calories-burned estimates from coffee the machine. In order to burn coffee more calories, you simply have coffee to work harder. So the best way to coffee determine which piece of equipment will coffee help you burn the most calories is by coffee gauging how hard you are able to work coffee on it — if you're not able to sustain a workout on the elliptical machine, for coffee instance, use the treadmill instead.

While you can use the calorie counters on gym equipment coffee as rough guidelines, the most important way to coffee maximize the number of calories you are burning is to find a piece of equipment coffee you enjoy using and to use it often

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Amazing Diets to Lose Weight - The Famous Cabbage Soup Diet

This is the fastest way to lose weight without weight famous much effort - the system of cabbage soup. This system will record your progress and film. It is very low in fat and rich in fiber, which means that can surprisingly be quite fit and slim in a short period of time. The duration of the power is not more than 7 days. If you would like to go through the program again two weeks must come first.

Here is the basic information on this diet to lose weight. The plan emphasizes the cabbage soup eating fat burning soup that contains negligible calories. And those calories weight famous lead to extreme weight loss. You can be sure that this is the ultimate diet to lose weight quickly and easily. The most inspiring part of this scheme is that it allows people to eat as much soup as you want and when they want then weight famous given weight loss famous the opportunity to make your very flexible and easy to follow diet program.

I want to sketch out this diet plan weight famous for weight loss famous weight loss in this article, if you weight famous go.

Day 1 focuses heavily on the use weight famous absolutely weight famous any fruit you want. You should by all means weight health famous eat only soup and fruit during weight loss famous the day to create the basis for future progress. This is of great weight famous importance. In addition, it allows you to drink cranberry juice or water in large quantities.

Day 2 of the program is free to eat raw or cooked vegetables weight loss famous you want, however, be excluded dried beans, peas and corn meal. Again, it is very important to use this diet to lose weight. At dinner, you can eat a potato baked with butter, but do not eat fruit today at all or your weight loss progress could be sabotaged weight loss famous.

The third day shows the incredible opportunity weight famous to eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables as you want or can. Use your chance weight loss famous!

On the fourth day weight health famous, you should weight famous eat eight bananas and  drink up to 8 glasses of milk in addition to eating the soup weight health famous.

Day 5 is not very strict about food as it is weight famous permissible to eat meat and tomatoes. About twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes can be consumed by you on this day that is supposed to feed a lot. Be prepared to drink enough water to flush the uric acid from your body.

Day 6 is allowed to eat at their heart's content as much meat and vegetables as possible. This is the happiest day of the plan, holding his patience and progress, so to speak. I said that this is the best diet to lose weight?

Day 7 that includes eating brown rice and vegetables and soup at least once this day or more if you want

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