As we learned in my Alcohol and Weight Training post earlier this month, there's no getting around the fact that alcohol and bodybuilding do not mix. It retards muscle growth, dehydrates your muscle cells, blocks the absorption of many important nutrients, and actually lowers testosterone.
I love the movie 300. Absolutely love it. It's a brilliantly different kind of movie experience, and intense beyond belief. The workout gets its name from the total number of repetitions. But those 300 reps weren't done daily, as some media accounts report, Twight says. Rather, the 300 workout was the finale of months of training, a kind of graduation test, after actors had weight lifted and trained with tools such as medicine balls and Kettlebells (cast iron weights with handles).
It's daunting, and includes these weight-training moves:
* 25 pull-ups
* 50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
* 50 push-ups
* 50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
* 50 "floor wipers" (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
* 50 "clean and press" at 36 pounds (a weight-lifting exercise)
* 25 more pull-ups -- for a total of 300 reps
There's no rest between movements and the score is based on total time, Twight says.
Behind-the-Scenes Work
But before that graduation test, Twight says, there were months of work, transforming the actors and stuntmen not just physically but mentally, he notes. "Zack [Snyder, the director,] wanted the Spartans to appear as though they had been fighting together since they were children," he says.
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That's motivating.
Late last week I accepted an offer to instruct a fitness boot camp at the local university. The university, a private Christian institution, offers active fitness classes such as pilates, martial arts, dance, etc., free of charge to students (well, nothing is free, I'm sure they're paying for it with tuition dollars).
Is natural better? Apparently, a lot of women think so. A survey released today by the National Institutes of Health found that 42.8 percent of American women use some form of complementary or alternative medicine, compared to 33.5 percent of men. That's similar to the gender difference in use of conventional medicine, says Richard Nahin, of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The most popular alternative remedies were nonvitamin and nonmineral products such as fish oil, omega-3 and glucosamine. Use of mind-body therapies such as deep breathing, meditation and yoga has also climbed since the last such poll in 2002. The report, which uses data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, also provides even more specific clues about the most likely consumers of these treatments: 50-somethings who have graduate degrees, are relatively well off financially, live in the West and have quit smoking.
That's a pretty desirable demographic, and marketing for natural products and supplements often aims squarely at the common ailments and anxieties of women in that target group, especially hot flashes, memory problems and arthritis. But by the time they reach a certain age, women should have learned a few things—like being wary of claims for miracle cures.
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Admittedly, this question is more complex than it may first appear. The answer isn't as simple as morning, noon, or night.
Today I finished the weekday portion of the Daniel Craig Workout.
Yesterday was day four of the Daniel Craig 007 Workout.
Men should smell good. And I don't mean just good. 
I was thumbing through the latest issue of Men's Health Magazine when I came across the advertisment for Gucci by Gucci.Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme combines classic masculine appeal with cool, contemporary elegance, and is inspired by the warmth and sensuality of incense.
As a general rule of thumb, I have a strict rule about offering advice at the gym. Before offering any type of training tips, there are two questions you need to ask the person before imparting your divine wisdom:
Alright. So today was the legs portion of the Daniel Craig 007 Workout.
A Facebook buddy of mine asked me about the negative effects of drinking on working out. So I thought I'd address the issue with a post.
Today was chest and back.
Why? Because I said so. And because pilates kicked my @$$ last night.
As I eluded to in my post outlining The Daniel Craig 007 Workout, I began the routine this afternoon with my office workout buddy.
If you're a regular here at The Men's Health Blog, you might have noticed that I've added a link to Dr. Sheldon Marks' Men's Health Office under my blog roll.I don't know about you but I am fast growing tired of the dozens of spam e-mails I get every day about the magic new penis enlargement pill, cream or device. But it is not limited to these anonymous e-mails. Now I have to watch or listen to these same scams on major prime time TV shows and radio. What amazes me most is that these advertisements must be making money, or they wouldn't still be on the air week after week, month after month.
Here's the kicker - there is no truth or science behind any one of them. They are all pure and simple scams, designed to separate out the foolish from their money. Nothing more than snake oil salesmen, and sadly as educated as we are, we still remain gullible. Hey, if I could find a way to feel comfortable stealing money from people I might too jump in and offer "Sheldon's secret penile enlargement formula- but don't' wait, because organized medicine wants to shut me down, so order before midnight tonight and we'll throw in a free spray-on window tinter". And here is how they promote an age-old gimmick - now they call it male enhancement - kind of like a used car is now called pre-owned so they can charge more. If I sell my own secret formula, then I can lie but it is a new lie so it will take a few years for it to catch up to me and maybe by then I will have my millions hidden away in an off-shore Caribbean island. But my ethics gets in the way.
So many times people ask "why doesn't the government step in an stop these quacks from making outright lies and false claims?" The reason is simple - the supplement industry has worked very hard to keep the FDA out of the supplement market. This way, they can sell anything to anyone and they don't have to prove that it is effective, that it is even helpful or that it is even safe. So anyone with some money can create a fake treatment and sell it, making wild and extreme claims.
And what better way to trick people than playing to the secret wish of many men - to have a bigger penis? Because, after all, we know that men with bigger penises must be happier, more successful and have happier wives. And who will complain that his penis enlargement pill didn't work? I would guess very few men.
A co-worker and I were discussing organic food and the pros and cons -- yes, there are cons -- of buying organic. After our discussion, I hopped on Google and found a terrific article on the subject from WebMD: Is Organic Food Better for You?You're trying to eat healthy, and you know that means choosing plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. But as you wander the aisles of your local market, checking out the fresh produce, meats, and dairy products, you realize there's another choice to make: Should you buy organic?
Advocates say organic food is safer, possibly more nutritious, and often better tasting than non-organic food. They also say organic production is better for the environment and kinder to animals.
And more and more shoppers seem convinced. Even though organic food typically costs more --sometimes a lot more -- sales are steadily increasing.
"We've had a strong 20%-a-year growth rate since 1990," says Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association (OTA). She also says more land is going into organic production all the time -- up to 2.35 million acres in 48 states as of 2001.
But many experts say there's not enough evidence to prove any real advantage to eating organic foods.
"There's really very limited information in people on actual health outcomes with consumption of these products," says David Klurfeld, PhD, chairman of the department of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University in Detroit. "We don't know enough to say that one is better than the other."
So before you decide whether organic food is worth the price of admission, let's take a look at the issues.
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A few weeks ago a Marine buddy of mine (who also abides by ABS DIET POWER) showed me a little trick to stomaching a serving of almonds -- something of which I'm not all too fond in the first place.
Contrary to what the title of my blog may lead you to believe, my intention is not to mirror the information presented in Men's Health Magazine. I don't work for Men's Health Magazine, and I don't have any vested interest in the magazine's success.
I'm off to Vegas this weekend for a cousin's wedding, but luckily my gym membership is good there too.
A few weeks ago I finally caved and purchased a 1.8 lb. tub of N.O. Xplode from my local Vitamin Shoppe. I've heard and read quite a bit about this pre-performance igniter, and decided to check it out for myself.
Last night on my way home from the office, I had an craving for bratwurst.
A few weeks ago a coworker and I began doing a set of push-ups each and every time the office smokers go outside to puff on a cancer stick. Secluding ourselves in a back office, we do a quick stretch and drop simultaneously. We began with sets of 20 and, in a relatively short amount of time, are now currently up to sets of 50 with no end in sight.
In recent years, a substantial amount of buzz has been generated about whey protein -- and might I add, with good reason.
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