Friday, August 13, 2010

Strength Training Benefits More than Muscles





Regular weight training does more than just build better muscles, it builds a better, healthier body.

Several new studies confirm the benefits of mild-to-moderate resistance training, which includes reduced blood pressure, lower LDL (''bad'') cholesterol levels and higher HDL (''good'') cholesterol levels, all of which improve cardiovascular health overall.

Weight training is also believed to improve the way the body processes sugar, which could reduce the risk of developing diabetes.

Another study examined the effect of weight training on osteoarthritis, a common condition among older adults that affects balance and increases the risk of falling.

This study and others confirm that exercise of any kind improves strength, gait and ability to perform activities of daily living among older adults with osteoarthritis, and, in many cases, reduces the pain associated with the disease.


Get in The Best Shape Of Your Life!!

P.S. Don’t let the next 12 months be the same as the last 12 months. Do something about it by Calling Right Now!

You CAN do this! Call me!.

To Your Continued Success,

Jeff Rutstein

617-232-1107

info@customfitness.com

http://www.customfitness.com/

Friday, August 6, 2010

Don't Skip Breakfast to Cut Calories




When it comes to cutting calories, breakfast is often the first thing to go.

But new research suggests that people who are successful at losing weight – and, more importantly, keeping it off – eat breakfast every day.

Researchers from the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver analyzed data on nearly 3,000 people who had lost, on average, 70 pounds and kept it off for a year or more.

Study subjects were enrolled in the National Weight Control Registry, which is an ongoing study of adults who have successfully lost 30 pounds or more. Only four percent said they never eat breakfast every day.

It is not known what subjects ate for breakfast (although the study was funded by cereal giant General Mills), but most followed a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet.

Researchers speculate that eating breakfast helps people manage both their hunger and food intake throughout the day.

Get in The Best Shape Of Your Life!!

P.S. Don’t let the next 12 months be the same as the last 12 months. Do something about it by Calling Right Now!

You CAN do this! Call me!.

To Your Continued Success,

Jeff Rutstein

617-232-110

info@customfitness.com

http://www.customfitness.com/

Friday, July 30, 2010

Exercise is Good for Men






Men who exercise have a reduced risk of dying from both cardiovascular disease and cancer.

And, according to a new report from researchers in Finland, being out of shape increases the risk of premature death as much as commonly known risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking.

These findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on a 10-year study of nearly 1,300 men.

At the start of the study, none of the participants, whose average age was 52, had cardiovascular disease, lung disease or cancer.

Researchers found that those who performed well on a maximum oxygen uptake test and could exercise longer were more likely to be alive at the end of the study.

Conversely, men who performed poorly were three times more likely to die from any cause.


Get in The Best Shape Of Your Life!!

P.S. Don’t let the next 12 months be the same as the last 12 months. Do something about it by Calling Right Now!

You CAN do this! Call me!.

To Your Continued Success,

Jeff Rutstein

617-232-1107

mailto:info@customfitness.com

http://www.customfitness.com/

Friday, July 23, 2010

Feeling Stressed? Work It Out



A new study confirms what many of already know: Regular exercise is one of the best ways to combat daily stress.

Researchers at the University of Texas, Houston, asked 135 college students to fill out questionnaires to assess their daily stress loads as well as their moods, physical activity patterns and overall health.

Those who reported exercising less often experienced 37 percent more physical symptoms and 21 percent more anxiety during periods of high stress than those who exercised more frequently.

Exercise, it seems, offered students a temporary respite from their problems, a period of rejuvenation before returning to the pressure of daily stress.

According to lead researcher Dr. Cindy L. Carmack, ''Minor, everyday stress contributes to the development and exacerbation of physical and mental health problems. However, people experiencing minor stress develop different degrees of symptoms, depending on their level of physical activity.''



Get in The Best Shape Of Your Life!!

P.S. Don’t let the next 12 months be the same as the last 12 months. Do something about it by Calling Right Now!

You CAN do this! Call me!.

To Your Continued Success,

Jeff Rutstein

617-232-1107

info@customfitness.com

http://www.customfitness.com/

Friday, July 16, 2010

Want 2 Lose LBS?? the enemy is ...


The Sweetest Scam of All Time??

The correct answer to the following question will shock you.

Would you survive longer on a diet of just water OR on a diet of water and refined sugar?

The answer: You would survive longer on just water.

Sound impossible? Just ask the five sailors who were ship wrecked in 1793.

The ship was filled with sugar, thus giving the marooned five a diet of sugar and water. When they were finally picked up, nine days later, they were in a wasted condition due to starvation.

The story of the five sailors intrigued French physiologist Francois Magendie to conduct a series of experiments in which he fed dogs a diet of sugar. All of the dogs died.

Magendie proved that as a steady diet, refined sugar is worse than nothing.

How can sugar be worse than nothing? Plainly put, refined sugar is an anti-nutrient.

It starts out as sugar cane, and then goes through an extensive refining process that destroys all of the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals. What you're left with are empty, naked calories.

The problem is that your body needs the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals that were taken out in the refining process in order to metabolize sugar and use it as energy. So it takes those nutrients from your own body.

So while you are enjoying that chocolate bar, sugar is draining vital nutrients from your body. Like a sweet parasite.

And it doesn't end there…
•Sugar creates false hunger (as a result of the insulin rush and then ensuing plummet in your blood sugar levels), which makes you overeat. This means a constant struggle with your weight in which you never seem to achieve your ideal size.
•Sugar promotes aging (due to the advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, that occur when insulin levels are consistently elevated as a result of eating too much sugar). Sugar has even been dubbed the negative fountain of youth.
•Sugar weakens your bones - making you vulnerable for osteoporosis, and weakens your teeth - making you vulnerable for cavities (both due to the calcium being pulled from your bones and teeth in order for your body to process sugar).
•Sugar in excess is stored as fat (after your liver has no more room to store it, sugar is converted to fat and deposited on your belly, thighs, hips and the backs of your arms).
•Sugar can impair brain functioning (as a result of depleted B-vitamin production).
If you're still not convinced of the danger of sugar here are more ailments linked to its overconsumption: varicose veins, constipation, hormonal imbalances, ADD and ADHD, increased emotional instability, depressed immune system, increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases.

The average modern person consumes 46 teaspoons of sugar every day. That comes out to roughly 175 pounds of sugar each year.

And it's no wonder, since sugar industry is big business. They sneak sugar into any product that they can.

Go through the foods in your home and you'll see that sugar has been added to everything from ketchup and spaghetti sauce to crackers, oatmeal, peanut butter and even ‘healthy' items like weight loss bars.

Where does this leave you?

You are in a unique position. Your personal judgment determines the foods that you eat and the foods that you avoid. It is my hope that you approach sugar with new eyes.

While all other foods offer you caloric energy PLUS some nutritional benefit, sugar doesn't. Sugar is simply caloric energy with a sweet habit forming taste, and a hoard of health risks.

Use your judgment wisely and limit your sugar consumption - you'll love the benefits of low sugar living.

And while you're at it contact me to start a training program that will turbo-charge your results.

(Oh and if you're ever in a ship wreck with only sugar and water at your disposal - just drink the water!)
The Many Names of Sugar
While you're checking out nutrition labels for sugar content be on the lookout for the following names that all describe refined sugar:
•Sucrose
•High fructose corn syrup
•Fructose
•Lactose
•Organic sugar
•Maltose
•Dextrose
•Glucose

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

What About the Kids? (condensed) By Gregg Mott of The Washington Post





It was always supposed to be about protecting the kids.

The case of Jeff Rutstein, a personal trainer, author and a self-described recovering steroid addict, illustrates them. He gained 20 pounds in the first six weeks after starting anabolic steroids as a teenager in the 1980s. Before steroids, he was able to bench press 175 pounds; after six weeks he was able to bench press 225 - for 25 repetitions. He was also able to work out for long periods without stopping.

"When I was about 18 I started going to a bodybuilding gym, and I kind admired all the big bodybuilders. I felt like their bodies commanded respect," said Rutstein, who is now 40. "Once I got to know some of them, they let me in on their little secret, which turned out to be steroids." Rutstein said he first acquired the drugs through fellow steroid abusers at his gym and later found an unscrupulous physician in the town where he attended college to write prescriptions. To finance his increasingly expensive habit -- which grew to cost "hundreds of dollars" a month -- he eventually took to dealing steroids to his friends and stealing money from his parents.

He spent more than three years cycling steroids -- both pills and injectables -- buoyed on the one hand by the attention his body was attracting and nagged on the other by fact that when he went off the drugs -- which he'd intended to use for only short time -- the muscles quickly disappeared.

His body and his workouts became the center of his life. Schoolwork, friends put off by his newfound aggressiveness and even side effects like the gushing nosebleeds he occasionally experienced were things to be ignored.

When he finally quit, "cold turkey, as a sort of New Year's resolution," he spiraled into a deep depression that left him wishing every day that he wouldn't wake up. With the help of his parents, he got treatment and recovered.

Rutstein thinks too much focus has been placed on the sports stars who have benefited from steroid abuse and not enough attention has been paid to the premature deaths of elite bodybuilders and athletes in their thirties and forties.

"I don't think people really realize how many people it's killed. They aren't saying it's from steroids, but why would a guy who exercises all the time and eats healthy be dying?" said Rutstein, citing the deaths of four leading bodybuilders within a month earlier this year.

"Lot of kids read this 'Underground Steroid Handbook,' " whose author, Dan Duchaine, won a lot of converts by promoting "safe" ways to take anabolic steroids, Rutstein said. "Duchaine died [in 2000] at age 47.
"Of 'natural causes.' " •

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Exercise Ups Brain Power



The next time you go for a run or take an indoor cycling class, think about this: You may be getting smarter. Or at the very least, stimulating the development of new cells in the learning centers of your brain.

Researchers at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., examined the newly formed brain cells in mice.

They discovered that ''voluntary exercise in a running wheel increased cell proliferation.''

It is important to note that these mice were fully developed and yet still experienced brain cell regeneration, a function once believed to be limited to developing mammals.

But it wasn't just the exercise that helped increase cell development. A second, related study published in the same journal reports that cell development in this part of the brain also increased when the mice were placed in interesting, varied environments with plenty of stimuli.

Get in The Best Shape Of Your Life!!

P.S. Don’t let the next 12 months be the same as the last 12 months. Do something about it by Calling Right Now!

You CAN do this! Call me!.

To Your Continued Success,

Jeff Rutstein

617-232-1107

info@customfitness.com

http://www.customfitness.com/