I review two important books on the subject of what we eat, why and to what effect, for RealJock.com. The books are (former FDA chief) Dr. David Kessler’s The End of Overeating (Rodale Press) and In Defense of Food (Penguin), by Michael Pollan. Both lead to two conclusions: The agricultural and food manufacturing industries exist not for human health but are instead driven by the imperatives of free enterprise, and that human health suffers when foods are processed. As tough as it is to reconcile ourselves with these facts, it is just as easy to make changes on a personal level (assuming reasonable access to fresh foods).
The editors at RealJock.com – where I am a writer on health, fitness and related social topics – picked my article, Build a Budget Home Gym, to be among the site’s ten favorite fitness and health articles of 2009.
A particularly important bit of advice from a therapist interviewed for this article on handling stress-filled holidays is how we need to unhook family relationships from holidays. The other thing is how we don’t have to love everything about people (which has a corollary, that we don’t have to hate everything about them as well). Per the website’s fitness emphasis, I also touch on the relationship between interrupted exercise routines and stress.
Time is always of the essence, especially where it comes to fitness. Most often the problem is there just isn’t enough of it to get in a workout. Instead, “exercise snacking” might be the solution. This article explores times when you might have five minutes to kill, so a glute isometric or bodyweight squats might be just the answer. Words to live and get fit by: “Something is better than nothing” (Greg Whyte, author of “Fit in 5″).
The facts and fiction about the effects of soy on men, their testosterone levels and hair loss are explored in this article written for HairLoss.com, where I am the fitness and nutrition section editor. Because there is a lot of unsubstantiated chatter on the Internet – in particularly, on bodybuilding blogs and e-commerce sites – about the pros and cons of soy for men, I sought expert (read: scientifically supported) findings and positions from WebMD, MayoClinic.com, and Dr.Andrew Weil. Conclusions: soy can be a good source of protein and unsaturated fat and it might have a slight benefit (not yet proven) in blocking DHT, a contributing factor in hair loss.
From a personal health and physical function standpoint, it will always make sense to adopt an exercise program that tries to utilize all 600-plus muscles in the body. But the push for aesthetics – the social pressure to achieve an appealing musculature – often leads to the phenomenon known as “mirror muscles.” This is when the exerciser works only the body parts he sees in the mirror, ignoring his backside and legs. This is folly on many levels, not the least of which is how large muscles in the back and legs generate natural testosterone production, which contributes to results everywhere. My blog entry, “Getting Buff: If You Want Bigger Arms, Work Your Legs” on UrbanStag.com discusses ways to do it right (I am the site’s fitness blog writer).
“Dude, how much do you bench?”
This is the most amateurish question asked most frequently, guy to guy, in a gym. It’s not the pounds you lift, however, it’s how you lift them. For more on the whys and hows, see “Getting Buff: It’s Not The Weight, It’s Your Form” on UrbanStag.com where I am the fitness blog writer. This is an e-commerce site where I write about smart weight lifting philosophies in support of a business.
More people used bicycles to commute to work in 2008 and 2009 than ever before. Yet some people cling to the idea that bicyclists exist in some netherworld, living off the grid and not deserving of the roads and streets that have designated bike lanes (as we do here in Chicago). Or so was the opinion of a Chicago Tribune letter writer about a week ago. I responded with a letter that illustrates how bikers are an asset to the city, national security and the climate. You don’t always make friends with an opinion, but bicycle commuting is a lifelong gift and commitment that I am compelled to share with others.
It’s an irony of our employer-based, for-profit healthcare system that some of the people least likely to incur costs are the ones who have the hardest time finding affordable, comprehensive health insurance coverage. This is the first of a two-part series on how 2009 healthcare reform efforts in Washington might affect the LGBT community (more specifically, gay men who are members of a fitness-oriented social network).
As part of a series on weight management for men – a different animal than the fairer sex, by far – I talk about the food vices many men have in an UrbanStag.com blog posting titled “Food Vices: The Short Cut to Weight Management.” Maybe it’s a couple beers every night, or sweet drinks or donuts every morning, or pizza three times a week. If a guy wants to drop a few pounds, quite often he can get a good start by cutting out that one thing. The article provides a formula on how many calories it would take to lose 10 pounds in three months and 20 pounds in six months. UrbanStag is an e-commerce site for marketing men’s grooming products, and this fitness blog helps build a community around the enterprise.