Need to drop a few pounds, add some extra energy?

   Here is a great way to drop a few lbs and add energy to your      lifestyle

Start your day with a green smoothie. 

You can flavor it to your taste, here is a quick recipe:

A few kale leaves, romaine, spinach whatever you have. Tear them up a bit and stuff in your blender. I use a Magic Bullet blender. 

Add a scoop of protein powder. I use Pea Protein from VITACOST.COM
Add a small dab of raw honey or 1/2 tsp Stevia. Add a tsp of tumeric powder - great for the joints and blood health.
I flavor it with 100% unsweetened cocoa powder.
Blend it. 

Drink 8 oz or so. 

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Then try the morning routine for warm up here  it's easy and will make you feel great.
                                                  Have a great day!

Simple way to do Hiit

Want a simple way to do Interval or HiiT training? The benefits to this are easy to attain. The work is short and hard. You expend as much energy as you can in a mere 20 seconds, then rest for 30 - 60 and do it again. A total of 3 times. That is about 3-5 minutes work.

SO if you have no stationary bike, no rowing machine, etc. To do this on...merely drop to the floor and do pushups. Do 20 seconds worth as many as you can, then rest and do it again.
No equipment needed.

Can't do pushups? Start with a few only, exerting the strength and energy is what this is about.
If you only get a few in 20 seconds that is ok. You will get up to 20 or more in no time.

Pullups are great also. Deep squats with out weights work too.  

Get the idea?
Now go for it.

Interval Training and Cellular Health

Hiit Training or interval training has been studied by scientists and reported in Journals. It is said to be the best way to improve overall fitness and health, while combating aging.

Amazing that short burst exercise over a minimal time period can do all that. But physiology tells us as is seen here

quoted from Cosmos Magazine

" Exercise, and in particular high-intensity interval training in aerobic exercises such as biking and walking, can effectively stop ageing at a cellular level, a new study suggests.

Research, published in Cell Metabolism, showed that the physical activity caused cells to make more proteins for their energy-producing mitochondria and ribosomes, which are responsible for producing our cells' protein building blocks..

"Based on everything we know, there's no substitute for these exercise programs when it comes to delaying the ageing process," said study senior author Sreekumaran Nair, a medical doctor and diabetes researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "These things we are seeing cannot be done by any medicine."

The study involved 36 men and 36 women from two age groups – "young" volunteers aged 18-30 years and an older group of 65-80 years. It set these two groups to work in into three different exercise programs – high-intensity interval biking; strength training with weights; and a combination of strength training and interval training.

The researchers took biopsies from the volunteers' thigh muscles, compared the molecular makeup of their muscle cells to samples from sedentary volunteers and assessed the volunteers' amount of lean muscle mass and insulin sensitivity.

While strength training built muscle mass, high-intensity interval training yielded the biggest benefits at the cellular level.

The younger volunteers in the interval training group saw a 49% increase in mitochondrial capacity, and the older volunteers saw a 69% increase.

Interval training also improved volunteers' insulin sensitivity, which indicates a lower likelihood of developing diabetes.

Ageing is marked by the steady decrease of the energy-generating capacity of our cells' mitochondria. There is evidence that all exercise encourages cells to make more RNA copies of genes coding for mitochondrial proteins and proteins responsible for muscle growth. Exercise also appears to boost the ribosomes' ability to build mitochondrial proteins.

Muscle cells divide rarely and, like brain and heart cells, wear out and aren't easily replaced. Functions in all three of those tissues are known to decline with age.

"Unlike liver, muscle is not readily regrown. The cells can accumulate a lot of damage," Nair said. He suggested that, if exercise restores or prevents deterioration in muscle cells, there's a good chance it does so in other tissues, too.

Simple fasting and HIIT

Football season- at least  for me means beer and TV. Both are not great for the body. This year no exception, I drank my share of favorite brews and enjoyed a lot of games. I especially like the array of craft beer locally for sale.
The weight gain was minimal but still annoying. In order to trim off the extra poundage I followed a simple fasting plan.

-Eat normal most days, but no food or snacks after 7PM, and then the next day no food until noon.
 I chose black coffee to start my day. Stevia sweetened. Minimal calories.

At noon I returned from a morning work out and had salad, or egg/bacon lunch.

I dropped about 6 pounds pretty quickly and was glad to see it go.
This is the method called EAT STOP EAT, form the book by the same name. Also a web site.
This is a simple to follow method of fasting intermittently which has great results for weight control.

Another method is the 5 and 2.  You eat five of the seven days each week, and fast on two. Pick two you can deal with, like Friday and Monday or whatever, The method is also great for weight control and is easy to follow.
Combine an intermittent fasting program with HIIT Training and see results that will astound you.

Less weight, great blood chemistry and overall well being.

How's that working for you?

I constantly see guys killing themselves at the gym. Too many sets, too much time on the treadmill, or straining themselves to lift way too much weight. That last one will hurt your back and make you miserable.

I use a simple theory- keep the workouts short but steady. One machine to another with little time in between. Do HiiT training to warm up, if you need it, and maybe some moderate stretching for  keeping the back limber.

Train 4-5 times a week so you have enough rest to recover fully.

Thats it - If you want an example here:

Warm up-  Cycle 4 to 5 minutes, 30 seconds moderate, 20 seconds at max pace.

Ab training- alternate Leg raises with machine crunches. Use as much weight in the crunch as you can for 5-8 reps. After a warm up set with moderate weight for 8 reps.

Day one - Legs, Back , Bicep.    Use machines or free weights, and after a moderate set to warm up, use max weight for 6-8 reps or failure. Whatever your choice of exercises are. Change these frequently to keep it interesting and different.

Day 2- Chest ,shoulders, triceps.. Same idea as above. AB work, cycle, then you choice of routine for these muscles.

I take a sauna afterwards for 15-20 minutes, Shower and done.

The whole thing takes 45 minutes .... IT works!
Combined with proper nutrition this can make a big change in your life without killing you, or taking hours and hours to get through.

Remember to max out on the weight after the initial warm up on each machine or movement.

You should only be able to get 6 or so reps before you fail.

3 Moves for a Stronger You

Keep it simple, that is one way to be sure you are progressing in maintaining your body.

Here are 3 moves, basic but beneficial. 

Practice these at your ability and then work up to get more out of them. 

Squat- no weights needed. Just squat as low as you can, trying to keep your feet flat on the floor or ground.
tips-  extend you arms if you have trouble with balance.
Hold on to a chair, table, or whatever for stability to start.
Stand on slightly angled ground to help with balance as well.
You should after a time be able to get lower and more steady.
 This is a simple but effective move for  legs, back and overall tone.

Push up= we all know how to do these correctly, or do we? 

Arms directly under shoulders, elbows back, push down not out. 

Go all the way down flat, not stomach or chest first. Push up slowly. Breathe!

For more challenge, put one leg on the other crossing the ankles. Do one good one if that is all you are able. Aim for 20-25 repetitions.

That's it for now. 

Just these two moves when done correctly and often can be very helpful for overall fitness.

Update on new workout

So how is the 15 to 20 minute workout going for me?

Just great!

In a short time I have put on a few pounds ...4 to be exact...and all muscle. I can tell because my waist size is the same 31 as when I started this routine.
My strength has increased, for example the crunch machine: I used 40 to 50 pounds for a set prior to this, now using 70 and ready to go up to 80. My abs are more defined, and for sure stronger in my mid section. This at age 66 is hard to accomplish for sure.

My only issue is some tweaking in my left elbow, from using cables for curls, and elevating them to above horizontal for the most effect.

To reiterate the workout:
Start with 4 HIIT exercises ... 30 seconds all or effort (after a brief warmup)... Followed by 30 seconds of recovery, then rinse and repeat. All together 4 times each for a total of 4 minutes.
Sounds easy huh? It isn't.

I use the stationary bike for this.
Then choose your weights...machines or free weights are fine.
A warmup on each activity for enough light reps to get the blood going. Then a low rep set of maximum weight. I do 4 to 5 reps with as much weight as I can handle. The last rep is a failed on, where I am unable to complete it. That is the secret to challenging the muscles.
So there it is a total of around 20 minutes.

I do this two days on, splitting back,legs,biceps one day...chest, shoulders, triceps the next.
If I feel,overworked or need extra rest, I take another day or two between workouts. Simply stretching on those days, or walking.It works!