Arm-Bar is back after a break. We are sorry to the readers of the blog. Arm-Bar is a blog run by professionals and we try to give you the best content about health, fitness and boxing – free. All content is backed with sources, links and research bodies. We just want to have a blog where we can post great articles .. some better than others that are all free and provide good relevant content.

1 – Turn off the box

Don’t eat in front of the TV. University of Massachusetts showed that people who watch TV during a meal consume 228 calories on average than those who don’t.

2 – Calorie Control

Limit your fat intake by 50g a day. Matt Roberts – ironically just reading about him today, (Mattroberts.co.uk) one of the personal trainers to the stars simplifies it down. He says to calculate your BMR (the amount of calories your body uses each day), follow Harris Benedict Equation (66+13.7 x weight in kg) + (5x height (cm) – (6.8 x age in years) – keep to this and you should lose 1kg a week! – Arm-Bar hotness!

3 – Cut down on bread

Ban refined carbs and focus elsewhere (ban on the white breads, white pastas and rice and fruit drinks)

4 – Run but still walk

Simple actions help. Take the stairs and not the lift.

5 – Size matters

Nutritionist Angela Dowden says an easy way to measure the amount of food per plate is to use everyday objects. Example, a portion of pasta or rice should be the size of clenched fist.

6 – Don’t skip meals

You will probably end up snacking later by ordering a kebab. And skipping meals slows down your metabolism.

7 – Slow eating

Studies, repeat, many studies highlight slow eating has a number of benefits. You can reduce your intake 60-70 calories. So even if you put this to every meal – your going to loose weight and these extra simple and effortless tips go along hand in hand.

8 – Don’t start what you can’t finish

The first rule of weight loss is to be realistic. Small steady steps that are sustainable and fit in with your lifestyle.

9 – Break the fast

Eat breakfast like a king. Lunch like a prince. Dinner like a pauper. Arm-Bar Hotness.

Eating breakfast not only improves concentration, memory and metabolism, but studies show that people who ate half their daily calories first thing lost more weight than those who skimped on calories.

10 – Go green

– Arm-Bar Hotness.

Green tea or drinking a green vegetable drink first thing in the morning won’t just fill you up. It will balance your pH levels and help towards strength conditioning. Being in an acidic state disrupts the body’s chemistry and the hormones needed to convert fat into fuel. mmmmhmmm

Arm-Bar

1. Breakfast
   • Make a direct difference to your day every morning. According to the American Heart Association, a boiled egg is the best way to go. The AHA has also removed its previous limits on weekly egg consumption – as long as you diet your fine. An average egg only contains 1.5g of fat, and 72.5% of it all protein. Here’s the low down on the perfect Egg. Place the egg in a small pan and cover with at least 3cm (1 inch) of cold water. Add a pinch of salt and set at a high heat. When the water is just shy of boiling stir and set the time at three minutes for soft boiled, five minutes for a firm yolk and seven for a hard boiled egg. Now reduce the heat so the water is bubbling and stir again carefully. Done. Remove with a slot spoon and serve immediately.
   • Kitchen Craft White Porcelain Double Egg Cup – £3.50
2. Work Shade
   
   • Make sure your surrounded by colour/color.The Science Journal published a research article stating that certain colours improve your work productivity in different areas.  Seeing the colour red makes you more accurate and blue increases your creativity. Researchers at Columbia University, New York, tested 600 people and found that office workers shown red shades performed better on spell-check tests whereas the ones who ever given blue shades performed far superior in creativity.
3. Drink Smart
   • Drinking caffeine during the day is not a good idea. Whilst it can work wonders, it begins to be a problem once you start to drink it everyday. Your body becomes more tolerant and the stimulant causes less effect as an aid to concentration. Fill the void in your motivation by a sharp shot of glucose. Lancaster University has researched that a small dose of sugar can boost your memory by 50%. Sugar they say has had significant effects to memory long term boosts. They say it is linked with the spike in arousal and alertness associated with glucose consumption. Just 25g of the amount found in a standard bottle of isotonic drink can provide a positive full psychological effect in under five minutes. So your brain will be able to soak up more facts.
4. Listen Up
   
   • You might think you’ve heard it all before, but there is now a very sound reason for training to your own tunes. You can pump out 10% more weight. The right playlist can reduce anxiety and increase motivation and even make your kids more sharper.
   • Sennheiser OMX 80 Sport II – Sport Line – headphones ( over-the-ear )

Sail through long sessions with tips from treadmill experts. It’s to easy to start your session with a nice 10 min stretch, hit the cross trainer for 15 mins and then jump on the treadmill not even to make it to 20 mins because of those nasty demons.. beat the boredom with these tips and stay focussed and locked in your training mind frame.

1 – Picture your prize

Why are you training?

• Weight loss
• Want to get fit
• Stress
• Stay in shape
• Gain Muscle
• Fun

Whatever your reasons for you being on that treadmill – keep that at the front of your mind at ALL times. So if you want to get married – keep that picture of your partner at the front of your mind ALL through your session.

You should also go over your motivations – say if you were doing it for charity and you were clocking miles – you suddenly get a stomach upset for a few days. Get back to training as your motivation for training was for charity – good motivations and sticking to them get quality results.

2 Be a DJ

Listening to music can help you take your mind off training. So make up detailed play lists on your MP3 player for each training session. If you are planning to run get a running playlist – if your planning to walk – get a walking playlist in. Your mood can pick up with a favourite song and can keep you going way past your struggle points. Personally if I was running at full pace for 5 mins and wanted to stop I would put music on and realise I can go way past my “mind limited zone”. Go over things to do in your training and think about some healthy food – talk to your friends – do anything that will keep your mind off training.

3 Focus on Success

Think about how you made it through other times and you’ll find it’s great way of convincing yourself that you can get through it. I thought regularly about time without a job, hanging with the bad crowd, problems at home and at college.. and only to come out on top of all those.. and when I think about that – it really helps.

Arm Bar

Four easy steps to making yourself younger.

1 SPRAY / AFTERSHAVE

The scent of your youth days may be Lynx Java and Africa and the occasional XL in the P.E locker room, however, your older now so upgrade your aroma. The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that “linalool” a natural scent in fruits lowers the stress hormone level “cortisol”. Get yourself some Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme Sport – the scents of orange, and grapefruit will make you smell and feel more like a modern gentlemen and lower stress levels.

£30-£40 from Amazon – Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme Eau de Toilette Spray 50ml

2 LIFECYCLES

Cycling to and from work a few days a week will make your body nine years younger – wow.
The average pedal to work is 8.7 miles which means that just three days of eco-commuting is enough to keep you upright and roll back the years to keep ageing in the slow lane.

Barracuda Classic bikes, £100 suspension bike – Barracuda Arizona Alloy Full-Suspension Bike

3 HEAD START

Marmite is full of vitamin B. Vitamin B contains B12 folic acid, an effect inhibitor of over production in homocysteine, an amino acid associated with Alzheimers disease. Love it or hate it, get some down you and get a full extra bit of breakfast to to ensure your mind keeps well and young in your twilight years.

Honey, good natural honey is good to, especially because it’s summer honey can reduce your pollen hay fever problems as well increase memory, reduce anxiety, clean your skin, refresh your mind, act as an anti detox and much more. Arm-Bar writers love good honey. New Zealand Natural Food Co Organic NZ Soil Assn Clover Honey 454g

4 HEALING

The Royal Edinburgh Hospital discovered that sex three times a week can make you 10 years younger. A decade long study of 3,500 European and American men found that sexual activity was second only to physical exercise when it came to staying sprightly. Sex releases testosterone which strengthens your bones and muscles. The pleasure releases chemicals in your immune system to ward off the ageing effects of general ill-health. Being in a relationship with a younger woman helped even more. If she is not game either get some new underwear or tell her that it makes women 12 years younger, too. Get some womens underwear and while your there read The Secret Body Language of Girls.

A diet high in iron is vital for men who exercise because of its role in transporting oxygen around the body. But iron deficiency causes other problems, including tiredness and difficulty concentrating. The NHS recommends at least 8.7mg per day for men. Here are the best foods to up your intake.

Bran Flakes 20mg per 100g

Drinking a glass of vitamin C-rich orange juice with these foods will help the body absorb more iron.

Sesame Seeds 10.4mg per 100g

Sardines 4.6mg per 100g

Grilled rump steak 3.4mg per 100g

Crab 28mg per 100g

So why do you need Iron? There are many benefits of having an iron rich diet.

Benefits

1. Iron is anti cancer
2. It boost the body’s energy level and as a result will improve physical performance.
3. Improves the body’s immunity
4. It encourages restful sleep and prevent insomnia
5. It also helps in preventing difficulty in learning among children

Who Would Benefit?
The adult RDA for this mineral is 14 mg daily, equivalent to a handful of dried apricots or a beefsteak. However, in treating certain health problems, the amount can be increased. Certain people may find that iron supplements could help them maintain a healthy body. If you experience the symptoms below, ask your doctor about the possibility of taking iron supplements

Painful Periods
Iron supplements may help to ease the pain associated with monthly menstruation. You may need to take the supplement daily.

Fatigue
If your doctor believes that your weak body or frequent fatigue are associated with poor iron intake in the diet, your condition can be improved by using iron supplements.

Improve Concentration
Young girls who have poor dietary iron intakes would normally have academic problems because they just cannot concentrate in their classes. Iron supplements have been proven to be beneficial in this scenario.

Treat Anaemia
If you have this health problem, your doctor would normally prescribe you with iron supplements.

Sources – http://www.oohoi.com/healthy_living/vitamin-info/benefits-of-iron.htm – Benefits of Iron – 1st June 2006

Many foods that are called “bad” are actually “good” for you.Welcome back these foods but not at once. Just forget the old nutrient taboos that surround them.

Nuts

The Myth “Causes you to gain weight”
The Truth

Nuts contain fat. That is a fact. What most people forget is that they contain the mono-unsaturated fat – the good stuff. Studies suggest that fat delays muscle fatigue. According to the British Journal of Nutrition, almonds keep you slim by controlling appetite. They’re also full of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes.

There are a number of ways to enjoy your serving. Cashews in stir-fries, almond butter on oatmeal and walnuts – just mix and match.

Cheese

The Myth “Diary is high in fat and causes you to gain weight”
The Truth

Cheese is also fatty. However cheese is rich in calcium and magnesium and protein. Cheese is readily absorbed and used to repair muscle. Both Berdan and Clarke say runners can budget in one serving of full-fat cheese a day. Hard, aged cheeses like Parmesan, Swiss and Sharp cheddar are higher in protein and calcium then softer cheeses.

There are a number of ways to enjoy your serving. Cashews in stir-fries, almond butter on oatmeal and walnuts – just mix and match.

Potatoes

The Myth “High-Gl foods are bad for you.”
The Truth

Baking potatoes do have high Gl (as opposed to new sweet potatoes), but they are actually very good for athletes, especially during ultra events. The high GL means that a potato’s carbs will reach the muscles more quickly giving a instant boost for running. Because these are complex carbs it will make you last longer when running.
Check out Nancy Recipe a day to make the potatoes salad in the image..

Red Meat

The Myth “Meets like beef are high in saturated fat.”
The Truth

Some cuts are fat. Others.. well others make my mouth water. Other cuts can be as lean as chicken. Red meats are rich in thiamin, riboflavin and B6. These are needed for energy production and improve endurance.

Run smarter and faster with some of these tips

• HEAD – Your head should always be in a neutral position – eyes on the ground 10 to 30 metres ahead. Don’t let it bob: it’s less efficient and can lead to neck pain.
• TORSO – Run tall. A straight back promotes optimal lung capacity and a powerful stride. Your torso is the centre of gravity.
• SHOULDERS – Keep your shoulders relaxed so that they are low and loose. If they are tensed up and rubbing against your ears you’re off-balance and wasting energy.
• ARMS – Try to keep your arms as relaxed as possible. Make sure your elbows are bent at 90 degrees and swing them with your leg stride to drive you forwards
• FEET – Your feet should hit the ground lightly, landing mid-foot, under your centre of gravity.
• STOMACH – Your breathing should be controlled and relaxed. But if you find yourself panting, concentrate on breathing from the diaphragm.
• KNEES – Don’t lift your knees too high – it’s a waste of effort. The lift is about driving the leg forwards and following a comfortable stride with quick and short light steps.

Runner Susan – http://www.runnersusan.com/
TX Runner Mom – http://txrunnergirl.blogspot.com/

Any more running blogs post them in the comments section below and I will add them to the post with nofollow off

Everyone knows a high access of salt can cause high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Every year in the UK 150,000 people suffer a stroke, according to the Stroke Association, while three in five people don’t know they should limit their daily salt to 6g.

In a review of 13 studies, researchers analyzed data on more than 170,000 people and found a scarily strong link between too much sodium and cardiovascular disease and stroke. As in eating just 5 extra grams of salt (about a teaspoon) daily upped the stroke rate by 23 percent. As in that same 5 grams of salt increased the cardiovascular disease rate by 17 percent.

The researchers say cutting 5 grams of salt daily around the world could prevent more than a million strokes and 3 million cardiovascular disease deaths per year. Yikes.
Tracey
NotSuperHuman.com

1 – Buy Fresh

One of the easiest ways to lower your intake is to buy fresh food instead of prepared and packaged, which is where most of your daily dose comes from.

2 – Check the label

Even seemingly healthy foods such as bread can be high in salt. Foods are said to be high in salt if they contain more than 1.5g salt (or 06 sodium) per 100g. Low-salt foods have less than 0.3g salt (or 0.1g sodium) per 100g.

3 – Break the habit

It’s easy to add salt after cooking, but this is often down to little more than habit. Stop shaking tons of salt on your chips, your rice and food. Leave the cellar in the cupboard and not in the middle of the table. More often than not you’ll forget about it!

4 – Buy Try before you sprinkle

Taste your food to see if it actually needs salt. You can flavour your favourite dishes with lemon juice, garlic or chilli power or from a mixture of herbs.

5 – Pick a substitute

Low-sodium alternatives, such as Lo-Salt, provide the flavour but use potassium instead of sodium, which is the main cause of health problems. However, people with kidney problems shouldn’t use these products.

Credits – Tracey and AuntieP Flickr for the photo.

How often are bloggers tell you ways to loose weight? I wanted a different angle and decided to talk about the most of the common things we do which can have devastating effects on us as to regards with putting on weight. Simple steps can help put a stop to quick and lasting weight loss. Gaining weight, not surprisingly is easy, we are bombarded with food adverts and tempted every single day with food campaigns from marketers and window shop menu signs. Just yesterday, I was watching My Wife and Kids on Sky and it’s the episode where Michael Kyle and his wife get together against each other for a friendly football tournament with their children – it turns nasty in the end with both parents fighting for the girls teams to win the game – the last part of the episode got to me though – Pizza. Pizza is my favourite food and I can tell you Arm-Bar.co.uk will most definitely start talking about it more and more. The quick instant glance at a team eating Pizza and soda was nearly enough for me to go out late and buy a Pizza to myself and park up on my own and – as they say “scran up”.

Let’s follow these simple five steps that put the weight on, learn them, memorise them – and then completely avoid them. If these are some of your bad habits, you may need to look at removing them.

For the record, I am very good at graphics – especially when it comes to vectors, lord knows how many vector stock images I have made. I went for a cow sign – hoping to get some comments and add so randomness to Arm-Bar.co.uk – tell me if it was pathetic or strange.

1 – NOT MOVING ENOUGH

Being stuck in the office all day you become connected with long hours, TV, no work breaks, over time, night working, driving around and everything else that keeps you still as a lemon.

SOLUTION

To do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, you could even exercise at work, you need to anything, run, jog, walk to the bus stop and take the train, don’t take a tram and go for a walk instead, anything that will keep you committed to doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. A small tip, remember it: Even lifting your arm (taking a brake from typing) is exercise. You could argue that shaking someone hand is a form of exercise. So keep it moving.

2 – SLEEPLESS NIGHTS – INSOMNIA

Not sleeping enough not only makes you mentally unwell, it makes you put on weight according to some studies.

SOLUTION

You need around 7-9 hours of sleep a day.

• No coffee or tea after 2pm – some people say after 4pm – its a choice matter but the less you have the more hours you will get. Tip. Not having any fizzing drinks, tea or coffee after 4.30 is a good sign. Water with some lime or lemon – even a drizzle of honey is a the better solution.
• If you do not need to go to an event or place – then do not go to the event or place only go to places you enjoy – you could be sleeping instead – this sounds like the loner poster right? (It could be worded, if you can’t be bothered, you can’t be bothered)
• Every night, do 1 hour of free time. Read, Mediate, Pray, listen to music. Avoid TV as its more of a stimulant.
• Have some mint tea or honey with milk, take a warm shower and enter a cold room – you will feel really tired now. Read a book before bed.

3 – PIGGING OUT REALLY IS PIGGING OUT

If you put lipstick on a Pig, its still a pig – this one all gets me laughing. It is simply a fact like it or not.

SOLUTION

Avoid pigging out – even if you have a crisp packet a day (100 calories of your exercise time you don’t do, that is almost 1 pound in a month) Eat only until you are pretty much satisfied, not stuffed/full up. Eating slowly will help ensure that you can hear your body’s satiation signals and drink water or lemon water instead of juices and fizzy drinks. Benefits of eating slowly.

4 – STRESS

More stress is more weight. Remember that.

SOLUTION

• Focus on breathing – count to 20 slowly, only thinking about the numbers in your head. Try this for 5 whole minutes – every time you get distracted, keep visualising the numbers, picture your hand on parchment like Harry Potter, writing away like a scholar on parchment that he never was. Just keep it going and eventually you can shut off everything – a mini meditation method.
• Make note of your reactions in stress full situations, this will help improve next time when dealing with the devious office workers.
• Pray, listen to music, watch some TV, unwind and try finding time to read a book – EXERCISE.

5 – DO NOT LOOSE MUSCLE

The more we age, the more muscle we lose, its unfortunate!

SOLUTION

Yoga, Isometric weight bearing exercises – weight gain is not inevitable. If you want a healthy body, follow these steps. The best advice I can give you is to go slow, when you have a bad day, don’t beat yourself up. Just start again tomorrow. Make your health your #1 priority.

These days it’s so easy to loose yourself thinking about something. Did you know that eating food that you enjoy and have eaten before brings back those happy memories of that food? How about that sneaky chip muffin when you skipped your school lunch break to avoid school dinners?

Running is a great way to loose weight and amongst other things. We will leave the benefits of running within a different post for a different time. We want to focus on why people jump on a treadmill so eager to start running in a pool of their own sweat – only to stop and give up trying again for a long time. I think the commercials are to blame here, people think it is easy to start running a 45 minute treadmill session on level 9 and a gradient of 5% – well, it’s not. And here are some ways to make it easy for you and to motivate you to continue to run.

1. Play music – listen to sermons, talks life speeches.. keep your mind busy other than thinking about your running (this can apply to all exercise)
2. Keep picturing your prize, your new look – whatever your prize is – what your reasons are and make it a must..
3. Focus on success – think positive, surely you have done mistakes, surely you have had difficult times in the past..

Focus on winning, focus on success.

Thinking about how you made it through all the other difficult times is a fantastic way to convince yourself that you can get through this. There have been people who have mentioned about thinking positive – but they always fail to mention what to think about – some people need that. If you are having a bad time with your Miss/Mrs or are going through a rough patch at work – whatever – knowing that you have emerged out from other times better and stronger will resolve you to keep digging and keep the miles ticking over.

If your not planning for success, your planning for failure. Seriously, do we think that deep? Just repeat that slowly in your mind a few times and think what you define as success. If you are not planning (and working) for this that what are you doing?

Picture your prize

1. Why are you training?
2. What inspires you?
3. What does success me to you and how do you think you can get it?

All the reasons you have about why your training – put them in front of you. Literally try this: With your hands (we have to write pretend here in case someone does this and hurts themselves) take your thoughts all out of your head, just grab them out and them throw them on a table in front of you (imagine the table too), do this when you’re at the gym about to turn the treadmill on, tell the on lookers to go to Arm-Bar.co.uk J – now you can picture them much better. Focus on some of the goals in front of you and your reasons – maybe you want to feel confident and ultimate try to improve your career – focus on that for the first 5 mins and go on to something else.

You may be doing it for a charity – again, going over your motivations get you through the tougher moments.

One word. iTunes

All actions are judged by their intentions. It would be easy for Arm-Bar to give you affiliate link to iTunes. But were nice like that.

We all know that listening to music can take your mind off the training. In fact, I have many play lists on my MP3 player (iPod 5th Generation with video), lasting anywhere between two to six hours. They mostly correspond to my mood, my training routine for the day, things that motivate me, famous talks about inspirational leaders – my list is complex like that and I like it when I train, that I have the comfort of knowing that I can listen to a 45 minute speech – here’s the gold you have been waiting for – listening to a 45 minute talk whilst going on level 6 (medium paced jog) on a 5% incline brought out 400 calories – and brought out a big smile on my face.

Nike+iPod running gear is something that I am considering. There is a power song – it only plays from what I know when you are hitting your reset goals – so if your running well you can get Rocky Eye of the Tiger to come on – anything that keeps you motivated in different ways and keeps your mind away from the training will be a great start.

Lastly. Steadfastness is the foundations to keeping successful. If your not steadfast in anything then your not going to be a good at anything (continuous), and be patient too.

You can muscle up next year after all the holiday food with some of these simple tips. Before I mention them I wanted to let you know about some cardio boosters. Cardio boosters are a way to jump your energy levels and place your brain into thinking you can work out longer. I’ll give you an example: A cup of coffee or anything containing high levels of caffeine can reduce your brains perception on how hard you think you have trained. The high levels of caffeine (Note I have not mentioned Lucozade Sport with Caffeine Boost – I find it the worst taste and I can never finish it, the Lemon Plus one) act as stimulant that interferes with the part of your brain that is responsible for dealing with pain – The University of Illinois in the US say’s that the caffeine can give you this energy boost resulting in you training for longer without mentally and physically taking note. Another cardio booster is having a warm shower before your morning training sessions – not only because it’s like -100c outside (Manchester) – but having a hot shower gets your blood pumping to your muscles and priming them for action and doubling as an effective warm-up ahead of early-morning sessions, helping you avoid strains and tweaks. Take a read of our “4 steps to go from skinny to biggy”..

#1 Go easy on the cardio

I can tell you know that your six-pack will only come out of hiding when you have reduced your body fat down to around ten per cent, but this doesn’t mean you should spend hours pounding the pavement. In order to put muscle on you need to consume more calories than you burn, so that means keep your cardio sessions brief. Having short breaks between your weight sets will work your cardiovascular system and your muscles.

#2 Stick to complex moves

You need to keep to Isolation movement, such as biceps curls and calf raises. They are great for building up your muscular endurance. The fact is however is that these exercises won’t build mass in the same was as squats, deadlifts and bench presses do. These compound moves involve more than one muscle group which means they’ll shock shock your body, flooding it with good ol’ testosterone and leading to greater sizes gains – everywhere.

#3 Keeping sets short

Cranking out hundreds of reps will fatigue your muscles but it won’t make them grow back bigger. Stick to low-rep sets with heavy weights to overload the muscles, fatigue them faster and force them to grow stronger.

Someone told me (at the gym where I go) that they heard the more hardcore lifters mention that you should stick to low rep building – start on the shoulder press at 10kg and do 15 reps. Then go up the next weight, 15kg and do 15 reps, then go up to 20kg and do 15 reps – just keeping adding the weight on as you go on each rep and at each session.

#4 Eat up

The average man needs around 2,500 calories a day just to maintain his weight, so you should take on 500 more calories to put on muscle – naturally speaking this doesn’t mean eating more calorie-dense foods (junk food). You can get high quality protein from eggs, fish, nuts and lean meat, all of which make these the best source for muscle-building grub. You should aim for 1.6g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight every day – you should also take it an hour before you workout and 20 minutes after your workout.

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