In no particular order, below are some exercises which are some of the most useful and beneficial exercises you can perform.

Push-ups

Begin by placing your palms on the floor and step out with both legs. Keep your back flat and palms below your shoulders. Bend your arms and lower your chest just above the ground, push back up into the starting position. Push-ups are great and are a more balanced exercise than many pressing exercises with weights. If you find them easy, incorporate different variations, including; : Claps, diamonds, dive bombers, wide stance, one foot, one hand, HSPU’s (hand-stand pushups), medicine ball pushups and elevated feet pushups, to name only a few.

Pull-ups

A chin-up and a pull-up are different, but for the purpose of this description they are the same. They involve grabbing onto a pull-up bar, ledge, ring, rope, or other random apparatus and putting yourself up until the bar comes to the top of your chest. To develop strength to achieve a body-weight pull-up, use a Gravitron (most gyms have these) or assisted rubber bands (proper bands for pull-ups)

Squat

Squats are one of the most important exercises to perform. When performed with weight, a squat forces you to use a host of stabilizing muscles, as well as involving some of the bigger muscles in your body, including your legs and back.

To perform a squat, place your feet shoulder width apart, sit back and down, keeping your shoulders back and your head up. Your thighs should go slightly below parallel with the floor, or lower. Make sure your knees track over the line of the foot while ensuring that you maintain a neutral spine; the natural curve in your back.

Deadlifts

Although probably performed incorrectly, you would have dead lifted hundreds of times in your life. The deadlift is simply picking something up off the ground, using correct form to avoid injury. When performing the deadlift, make sure that you maintain a natural curve in your spine, look forward and keep your shoulders back and abs tight. You can do deadlifts with a wide grip, close grip, wide stance, narrow stance, straight legs or bent legs.

Dips

Performing the dip involves placing yourself between two objects such as bars, tables or chairs. Place yours hands by your side holding onto the objects; support yourself on your hands alone, lower yourself by bending your elbows, then push back up. Dips will work your chest muscles and triceps, as well as a number of supporting muscles. To progress to being able to do a bodyweight dip, use a Gravitron, or assisted rubber bands.

Cleans

Cleans are a fairly technical exercise to perform, so it’s important to practice until your technique has been perfected before performing a clean with lots of weight. First begin by setting yourself up into a squat position, hold onto the bar, medicine ball, dumbbells, or other piece of equipment you are using. As your rise from the squat position extend your hips and shoulders rapidly as the weight passes. Explode the weight up while quickly lowering back down into a squat position holding the weight steady on your chest.

Box Jumps

Position your feet in front of a box, ledge, bench or other solid foundation. Explode up and land on the box, ensuring that your legs are fully extended before jumping back down. Rebound immediately back onto the box, rather than pausing between jumps.

As you progress, increase the size of your box, or create a series of boxes to jump onto, or over.

Kettlebell Swings

Squat down and grab the handle of the Kettlebell so your palms are facing your body. Keep your back flat while you position up and out of the squat position exploding your hips forward to create the momentum of the arms. Raise the Kettlebell to chest height and let it swing back between your legs as you lower back into the squat position. Continue the next repetition using the momentum of the Kettlebell and the explosion of the hips.

Sprints

Sprints don’t require much of a description. You basically run as fast as you can for a certain distance or time. If you are new to sprints, start off with 30-40mtr sprints with 10seconds rest, repeating through sets. Build up to 100mtr sprints with 30 seconds rest and then 400mtr sprints.

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On the Australian Cancer Council website, they provide a fact sheet with information on the cervical cancer vaccination.

“Since the vaccine is new, more studies need to be done.”

More studies need to be done?? Shouldn’t every single study imaginable, on women with different lifestyle choices, illnesses and health concerns be conducted to prove the safety and effectiveness of the vaccination prior to mass vaccinating women all over the world?

Maybe they presume that because there is a current broad range use of vaccinations, there is no reason to undertake studies to prove the effectiveness of new vaccinations, or maybe they are too afraid to have results show otherwise. Considering the fact that the company that created the cervical cancer vaccination conducted the studies, this later thought is most likely the correct one. The cervical cancer vaccination research involved testing on women with a healthy immune system, this excluded all women who had been found to be infected with HPV-16 (believed to be found in 50% of cervical cancer victims), who had a history of cervical lesions and who had vary few sexual partners. In other words, the test subjects for this vaccination where women who where at the lowest risk of developing cervical cancer.

In addition, it’s important to find out how long the studies where conducted for. One would hope that studies on a vaccination would be over a lifetime for that person, considering the ingredients making up the vaccine will be in the person’s blood stream for their entire life. However the longest study conducted on the cervical cancer vaccination was four years.

When looking back on past vaccinations, the Polio vaccination is one most people will refer to when referencing the benefits of vaccinations, for its roll in the decline and eradication of the Polio virus.

Facts however, do not support the link between the decline of the Polio virus with the Polio vaccination, as the decline was already taking place before the vaccination had been introduced.

Jonas Salk, the man who created the Polio vaccination, in 1977 stated that the only cases of Polio now seen is the result of the Polio vaccination, and not from the disease itself. Of every person who could possibly come out and state that the Polio vaccination is now the only cause of Polio seen today, the creator himself would be the last person you would think to ever admit it, however, he did.

So what could this mean for the cervical cancer vaccination? Research conducted on the cervical cancer vaccination only lasted a maximum of four years, but where is the research showing that in 20, 30 or 40yrs time the vaccination won’t be the cause of some form of cervical cancer, like the Polio vaccination 20yrs later began to cause cases of Polio? There is none.

“Clinical trials across Australia and in the US have shown the vaccine to be close to 100% effective against HPV types 16 and 18.” – Australian Cancer Council Website

Close to 100% effective… that is, close to 100% effective in women who are at the lowest risk of forming cervical cancer, and over a four year period. In-fact, wouldn’t you think if the creator of the cervical cancer vaccination had solid 100% evidence that the vaccination was effective, that women would never have to worry about getting a pap smear again? Apparently not, also from the Australian Cancer Council website:

“Since no vaccine is 100% effective and this vaccine won’t provide protection against the HPV types not in the vaccine, or against existing HPV infections, regular Pap tests remain critically important to detect abnormal cell changes in the cervix.”

If a vaccination isn’t 100% effective, why bother having one in the first place? If it’s not 100% effective in eliminating every chance possible of ever developing cervical cancer wouldn’t you be at the same level of risk if you didn’t get the vaccination? Think about it. The sole reason anyone would consider being vaccinated for cervical cancer is the belief that they will never be at risk of developing cervical cancer, yet, there is no evidence showing that this is what it will do.

Another cause for concern is the components within the vaccination; aluminium, sodium chloride, polysorbate 80 and borax are all well known toxins, but are included within the cervical cancer vaccination that will be injected direct into the blood stream.

Polysorbate 80 is one component of the vaccination that has already been talked about, as rumors that the amount of the chemical included within the vaccination could lead to infertility. To claim this rumor as true or false, let’s refer to some research conducted on this particular topic. One study injected female rats with polysorbate 80 at days 4 and 7 after birth. The results showed changes to the womb lining and the vagina, as well as hormonal changes, ovary deformities and degenerative follicles. Can these side-effects be the cause of infertility? Scientists seem to believe so; a new form of contraception currently being developed aims at damaging fertility and has the suggested ingredient of polysorbate 80.

As with the cervical cancer vaccination research, in a study of 20,541 women, there were five reported cases of babies with congenital birth defects being born to women who had been given the vaccination 30days prior to becoming pregnant. Long term study on this? None. But for ease of mind, doctors will conclude that receiving the cervical cancer vaccination will protect fertility, as it will prevent the need for treatment of cervical cancer, which can lead to infertility. But as I covered earlier, there is no research in proving any protection against cervical cancer when receiving the cervical cancer vaccination, in-fact doctors will even say there isn’t a 100% guarantee on the effectiveness of the vaccination.

In conclusion, there is a lot of information available on vaccinations, both for and against. This short article I have written doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of information available on the cervical cancer vaccination and other vaccinations, but I do hope it has shed some light on the other-side of vaccinations (the negative side) and make you want to research the topic more.

A good book I would recommend reading which covers the story of vaccinations from their beginning to the current day, is ‘The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is Not Immunization” by Tim O’Shea, and The Blood Poisoners by Lionel Dole (free).

There are also some good articles and references on Tim O’Shea’s website.

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Interval training is one of the best conditioning routines you can undertake. Tabata Intervals are one form of interval training which involves performing 20seconds of exercise, followed by 10seconds of rest, then repeated for 8 intervals, or more.

Sound easy? Think again. Tabata Intervals are tough, both physically and mentally. For 20seconds you are working at your maximum speed and energy expenditure to perform as many repetitions, or as far a distance as possible within that time, and once you’re finished, the 10seconds rest you have will feel like 3seconds.

The benefits of Tabata Intervals, or any form of interval training is the dramatic increase in anaerobic and aerobic conditioning, as well as a mental adaptation to overcome fatigue. The first study performed on the potential benefits of Tabata Intervals was conducted at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Japan. After 6 weeks of athletes undertaking 8rounds of Tabata intervals (a total of 4min), it was noted that the athletes had a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity and a 14% increase in V02Max. With these results, Tabata Intervals started to become well known around the world.

Tabata Intervals are also an effective training routine to perform for fat loss. While undertaking Tabata Intervals, your body’s metabolic rate will raise, resulting in your body burning fat for a longer period of time throughout the day. In-fact, studies have shown that intense interval training, such as Tabata Intervals can increase the amount of calories your body burns by up to 142% more than that of lower intensity exercise.

Interval training performed at high intensity is defiantly something you will want to ease your way into, it is not a routine that should be performed when fitness levels are low. Below are a few pointers when adding interval training into your exercise program:

• Don’t start performing high intensity intervals with a low fitness level. Begin by developing a strong fitness base.
• Always warm up effectively before starting every workout.
• Don’t complete the same interval routine on consecutive days. This will not only prevent boredom from completing the same routines, but will also allow the body to recover from the previous session.
• Vary up the exercises involved in the intervals.

If you don’t have a watch you can set for Tabata Intervals, which will beep when 20seconds is up and when your 10seconds rest is finished. Below is a link to a Microsoft Word version of this article along with a 21 round interval sound recording which you can download. You can place this track onto your MP3 player or iPod and you are all set to start performing some Tabata Intervals!

tabata-intervals

Check out these two YouTube videos for some good ideas on how you can vary up your Tabata Interval routines.

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An acidic imbalance can cause many health problems, and although most conventional doctors don’t believe that an acid-producing diet can be the leading foundation for chronic illnesses, conventional medicine has evidence supporting the link between an alkaline diet preventing many illnesses, such as osteoporosis, age-related muscle wasting, heartburn, insomnia and nasal congestion.

The human blood pH should be at a slightly alkaline level of 7.35 – 7.45. A pH scale will show 7.0 as neutral, below 7.0 as acidic and above 7.0 as alkaline; below or above this range can lead to the onset of disease.

Healthy cells must have the correct pH balance in order to keep the body functioning optimally. Some functions such as the body’s production of energy and transportation of substances, will only optimally take place when the cells are within a specific pH range.

Un-fortunately acidosis is very common and eating a modern diet is often the cause. Lifestyle and environmental conditions such as emotional stress, sleep deprivation, smoking, drinking coffee, toxic inhalation (petrol fumes) and medication which many people live with, also assists in the increase of acidity within the body.

Diets rich in highly acidic forming foods such as bread, pasta and sugar based products will most likely cause the cellular pH to drop into the acidic range; below 7.0. If the body becomes too acidic, cells begin to malfunction or die.

An acidic producing diet can cause many health related conditions, such as;

- Lack of energy
- Cancer and tumor growth
- Decreased cell repair
- Increased susceptibility to illness
- Heartburn
- Osteoporosis
- Bloated feeling
- Belching
- Insomnia
- Constipation with diarrhea
- Excessive mucous production
- Age related muscle wasting
- Chronic headaches
- Calcium kidney stones
- Frequent cold and flu attacks

One of the best ways to correct an acid imbalance is through nutrition and lifestyle. In order to achieve and maintain the optimal pH level within the body, a diet should consist of 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acid forming foods.

The main foods which are alkaline forming are fresh fruits, vegetables, plant based foods (i.e. herbs) and fresh clean water. Whole food supplements such as JuicePlus+, and/or super foods spirulina, barley grass and kelp can assist a diet high in fresh plant based foods, nutritionally and in keeping acidic/alkaline cell balance.

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Not too long ago, a few things changed in my life that completely turned my days upside down. I found myself going through days only completing tasks of personal interest and not doing anything which impacted my life positively. It was then that I sat down to re-write my goals and when I picked up my goal book and turned to a blank page, I just sat there and stared at the piece of paper, not knowing what to write down.

For a good 12months my goals have been very similar, in regards to work and financial goals they where always top priority on my list. However, when I sat down to re-write my goals what I had written for the previous 12months was not applicable anymore. I had stopped working in my business, I went back to school to study full time and I had no idea what I was going to do or what I really wanted to do.

Sitting down and having no idea what to write as my goals, really brought home to me that for the last week and half after closing my business, I had been living my days with absolutely no direction of where I wanted to be and who I wanted to become. It made me realise that the reason I was feeling like nothing was happening in my life, why I was feeling confused and somewhat depressed, was because for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve.

After thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in my life, I was able to write down my goals and I have been productive ever since. Everyday I will complete one more step towards achieving each goal I have until I have successfully achieved them.

It’s unfortunate that many people don’t ever write down their goals, they will just live day by day and live everyday as it comes. Studies have shown that only around 3% of people have written goals, with those who have clear and concise written goals being more likely to achieve them than those who just say they want these things to happen, or wish they would happen.

When I look through my goal book, I can see where I have successfully achieve a goal, in all honesty I don’t believe I would have achieved them when I did if I didn’t continue to write them down and act towards them.

A goal I had around 12months ago was to purchase a new car, not only because I was paying a lot of money continually taking my car in for a service and replacing parts, but also because people could hear me coming a mile away! The car I wanted to own was a Subaru hatchback, because this car was a recent release I endeavored to find the car at the price I could afford. For a good 4months I spent time at least once every 3days looking online to see if my dream car was placed for sale at the price I was able to pay. After 4months my dream car was put online and I purchased it. The question is could I have successfully purchased this same car if I didn’t have it as a goal?  Maybe… but I doubt it, because:

1. I wouldn’t have financially prepared myself for purchasing the car

2. I wouldn’t have spent time looking for that particular car within the right price to suit my budget

3. I wouldn’t have worked toward finding this particular car every week, if I hadn’t written it down in my goal book once a week next to a picture of the car, and imagined how happy I would be once I had it.

In fact, if I hadn’t written the goal I probably would have settled for driving my own car for an even longer period of time.

Although this may seem like something that everybody does; everyone buys a car, everyone ends up buying a house, everyone ends up going on holiday at some point in their lives. There is a difference between purchasing your dream car, and just a random car, there is a difference between finding and buying your dream house, than just buying any house.

For this reason I find it essential that everybody sets goals to achieve whatever it may be in their lives, big or small, short term or long term and not just settle for living everyday as another day. Clear and concise written goals will help you to understand what you actually need to do in order to achieve them.

The problem with not writing goals is how will you ever really know what you want to achieve in your life if you don’t have clarity of where you want to be and who you want to become?
Some of the best words I heard which really made me take control of my life a few years ago, where these words from Brian Tracey;

“Accept responsibility for your life”

You are responsible for your life; nobody else is responsible for your actions and your choices. If you want to lose weight, you are responsible for what you put in your mouth and how often you move, nobody around you is accountable for those actions. If you want to earn a good annual income, you are the one who is going to need to find out what areas of knowledge you will need to obtain in order to get the job you want with the income you want, no body else can read the books you need to read, or practice the things you need to practice in order to be successful in this area.

If you haven’t written down goals, make sure you sit down at some point today and write down all the things you want to achieve in your life, even if they seem impossible at the time. Write down what you need to do in order to achieve your goals, and in what time frame you will endeavor to have them accomplished. Continue to revise your goals and work towards them every single day and enjoy experiencing how the power of goal setting changes your life!

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Article written for FeedtheFitness.com

Some oils are better than others when applying heat to them when cooking. Those that don’t do well in a hot environment quickly turn rancid and turn into free-radicals, which damage our cells.

Keep these tips in mind when next cooking with oils:

High Heat/Frying/Browning

• Coconut oil
• Palm Oil
• Ghee (clarified butter)
• Lard

Medium Heat/Light Sauteing

• Olive Oil
• Sesame Seed Oil
• Hazelnut Nut Oil
• Pistachio Nut Oil

Low Heat/Baking

• Pumpkin Oil
• Sunflower Oil

No Heat

• Fish Oil
• Flax Seed Oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• Hemp Seed Oil
• Oils Mentioned Above

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The Ultimate Ab Training Manual is now complete! Containing 68 abdominal exercises with picture demonstrations PLUS 68 abdominal workout routines you can follow.

I helped put this manual together and have had lots of positive feedback about it already. I didn’t want to put together a bunch of basic information and exercises everyone already knows about, the abdominal exercises within this manual range from beginner to advanced, in addition, the workout routines included in the manual cater for all levels and abilities and can be altered; meaning there is way more than 68 abdominal workouts you can do if you just change them around a bit.

This manual is packed with information, and I also included two bonuses of a Short Workouts eBook containing 20 high intensity short workouts which will help burn the fat so you can see the hard abs you’ll develop following the Ultimate Ab Training Manual! And 35 post workout and meal replacement shake recipes which are tasty and healthy for you too!

Check out the Ultimate Ab Training Manual for more information including testimonials at www.ultimateabworkouts.com .

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When most people think about what they need to do in order to prevent osteoporosis, they will think of what they know keeps bones strong and healthy. The dairy industry has made us believe that the main thing you need to keep bones healthy is a good intake of calcium; however this can’t be more far from the truth.

There are many areas of nutrition and lifestyle that come into play when looking after the health of your bones; however two of the main causes of bone degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis include a high acidic diet and a lack of exercise/body movement.

It’s unfortunate that we don’t hear much about these two factors as much as we hear about how we should be consuming calcium for bone health through dairy products, or supplements on a daily basis.

A diet that is high in alkaline based foods and low in acidic foods is extremely important for maintaining good bone health. Practically everything we eat, apart from fruits and vegetables are acidic to the body.

When a high acidic meal is consumed the body is forced to leach calcium bicarbonate from the bones in order to neutralise the acidity for the body to stay in balance/homeostasis. The body strives to maintain an optimal balance of homeostasis, a good example of this is when you are cold, the hairs on your arms will stand up and you will get goose bumps; this is your body’s natural way of trying to stay at its desired temperature. The body is happy and healthy when in homeostasis.

Exercise is also an extremely important factor in keeping bones healthy. As there are no blood vessels that go to your bones in order to transport nutrients, the only signal the body has which tells it to provide nutrients to the bones is through movement. It’s the movement of ligaments and muscles surrounding the bones that tell the body that they are being active, when there are demands being placed on the bones they are in need of nutrients in order to stay strong and healthy. Bones are just like the muscles in our body, there is no point the body providing nutrients to them if they aren’t being activated, especially when those nutrients could be used to keep the heart, kidney, or other important organ healthy.

In a previous article titled ‘The Evils of Dairy’, I talked about the many negative health problems dairy products now have on our health due to processing factors. I talked about how modern day processing methods dairy products now go through have significantly altered their nutrient quality, resulting in the end product being more harmful towards our health than beneficial.

Our bodies weren’t designed to consume a large daily intake of calcium; in fact mother’s milk has less calcium per gram than walnuts! And if babies need huge amounts of calcium to grow up strong and healthy, then you would think Mother Nature would have made mothers milk one of the richest sources of calcium.

Mother Nature provides us with what we need to stay healthy; there is a reason why mother’s milk isn’t significantly rich in calcium. As research is showing, too much calcium can actually be detrimental towards the health of our bones, I’m sure the dairy industry won’t be informing you of this information any time soon! However, as with any vitamin, mineral or nutrient, the body only needs so much and any excess will be eliminated from the body; 2ltrs of water cannot fit in a 1ltr bucket. More is not always better.

So how much calcium do we really need to keep our bones healthy? Considering that breast milk should be the only milk we consume as humans, a diet which follows a paleolithic style, rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and a variety or protein sources (specifically sardines, salmon and egg yolks) will not only provide the body with a significant amount of calcium, but will also help keep the body in homeostasis; which will ultimately reduce the amount of calcium bicarbonate removed from the bones causing them to weaken.

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Click the image to download full size versions.

Anderson Silva wallpaper

Urijah Faber wallpaper

George Saint Pierre wallpaper

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I’m a firm believer that nutrition has the ability to take charge of our health, wellness and longevity. Whether the nutrition is good or bad, the foods we put into our mouth can dramatically alter our hormones, our energy levels and of course, our wellbeing.

We are living in a society where the rate of illness and disease is on a continuous rise, in America alone there are 23million people diagnosed with cancer every year, 41million people diagnosed with heart disease, 50million people with high blood pressure, 80million people with diabetes (and that’s expected to double in 2 generations) and 64% of adults in America are either overweight or obese.

Studies have shown that 70% of all deaths in America are diet related, I wouldn’t be surprised however if that statistic was more like 90%.

The more I learn about nutrition, the more I see a common link towards nutrition and health, and nutrition for treating illness; I’m definitely not the only one. As Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food“.

So where did society go wrong? Why do the majority of doctors prescribe medications and not a healthy diet? Why is our food so nutritionally deficient now? Why are so many people clueless as to what nutritionally deficient food is!?

Around 40thousand years ago, we humans lived as hunter gatherers; we lived off the land and what the land provided for us to eat and drink. As hunter gatherers, we fed off fresh fruits and vegetables in season, nuts, seeds and animals. There are many people who still live off the land, many villages in Africa and China will grow their own crops and eat what is available to them, and I bet most, if not all of them will not even know what cancer or diabetes is.

No more than 100-200yrs ago the industrial revolution began to refine and process foods until hardly any nutrition was left within those food products. Bread became whiter and whiter, dairy went from raw to pasteurised and sugar began to make its way into almost every modernised food product.

The paleolithic hunter gatherer diet is the oldest and most basic diet which humans have evolved with; it is basic to our biology, our digestive system and is what provides us with good health. Un-fortunately though many people are clueless as to how modern food techniques have damaged the quality of healthy food, of how chemicals and cacogenics enter our body almost every second of the day, how important sleep is to our health and how a good diet based off the foods we where created to eat can dramatically alter the quality of our health.

Not only is the paleolithic hunter gatherer diet good because it focuses on consuming those foods we as humans evolved to eat, but it simultaneously eliminates the over processed sugar laden foods now linked to causing the many, many diseases we are faced with in society today.

I’ve written a short article on how I believe heart burn/acid reflux can be treated and cured through focusing on nutrition, and as a result medication does not need to be used.

Good nutrition has and continues to treat and cure many conditions which go un-treated (and sometimes looked at as un-treatable) every day. Illnesses such as epilepsy, a condition many children and adults continue to face on a daily basis has been cured many times in both children and adults. Unfortunately in most cases medication will be prescribed and will continue to be for a lifetime.

If you haven’t seen the movie “First do no harm” which is based of a true story, I highly recommend watching it, at the very least watch these two short snippets of the film posted on YouTube, it will open your eyes to the roll nutrition really plays in our health.

Epilepsy isn’t the only illness which has been cured many times through a diet focusing on that of the paleolithic one. Autism, heart disease and diabetes, to name only a few have all been cured through the consumption of a strict paleolithic diet. This can only show that this diet alone can provide our bodies with all it needs to achieve and maintain good health.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food“

Like some Paleo recipe ideas?

Paleo breakfast recipes
Paleo Foccacia, sandwiches and cake recipes
Quinoa recipes
Paleo friendly chocolate recipes

Paleo Cookbook

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