Today, drugs in some professional sports have become mainstream. The hypocrisy of Major League Baseball serves as a wake up call for an American culture that indulges in careless living by risking its health through poor nutrition, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, etc. Before we can hope to see bodybuilding return to its roots in physical culture, we will first have to witness a ‘new way of life’ throughout our society.

Since the early days of physical culture, modern man has been searching for the elusive “Fountain of Youth”. The promise of radiant health, enduring strength and a Herculean physique has drawn millions on this quest for physical perfection.

Through the early decades of bodybuilding, the forefathers of physical culture established basic guidelines for the muscle enthusiast to follow. Natural foods, resistance training, plenty of rest, and a positive outlook in life were the primary ingredients for achieving ones goals. The demand for knowledge on ‘how to’ reach the stars would result in millions of booklets being sold by mail order, while magazine stands and bookshelves were continually restocked with the latest ‘muscle building secrets’. Tons of steel and exercise equipment would find its way into the homes of thousands of Americans all across our nation. Health clubs and iron gyms would sprout up in local neighborhoods and towns, while physique competitions were held to determine who the best in the land was. The strong roots of physical culture were taking grip in our society, and the mighty oak of bodybuilding would soon branch out through every city in America.

A new ‘way of life’ became a reality for many as the ‘body beautiful’ movement swung into high gear. For decades the much traveled road to muscledom kept its promise, then by the mid-60′s what seemed pure and natural took a wrong turn setting the course of modern bodybuilding down a dead end. The introduction of anabolic steroids into the sport of bodybuilding would usher in a new era of super sized and equally strong muscular physiques that would attract millions of young men with a desire to achieve the same naturally unattainable goals.

Along with the growth of the sport, the physiques continued to become bigger and more vascular as bodybuilders experimented with ‘stacking’ the latest in designer muscle enhancing pharmaceuticals. Magazine and ticket sales were at a peak and bodybuilding competitions were seen regularly on network TV. The popularity of the sport was soaring high. Then, what could have been mostly prevented by not promoting and rewarding individuals whose physiques were chemically altered became a reality as the widespread use of drugs in the sport became relevant.

Words such as steroids, cycling, and growth hormones became common place in our gyms, and juicing no longer meant enjoying your favorite health drink. Reports of bodybuilders on dialysis and with heart ailments became a frequent occurrence while the eventual death of several competitive pros hit home hard. What had been a dark cloud in a sport with such great potential turned into a storm that spread its vast shadow on a culture that once shined.

Organizations dedicated to natural bodybuilding and a healthy lifestyle would soon respond to the call for a return to the ideals set forth by the forefathers of physical culture. Physique promoters throughout the land created natural bodybuilding competitions so athletes could compete on a level playing field without running the risk of ruining their health. Publications featuring natural bodybuilders began to spread the gospel of healthy living through proper nutrition and exercise. The televised media developed new bodybuilding and fitness programs to inspire future generations of natural iron pumpers. And as the age of cyber space came upon us, the Internet became a resource of concepts and opinions for bodybuilders to learn and express their views with other physique artist throughout the World. The new millennium is here and those dedicated to physical culture have begun to prevail as the radiant beacon of light from the torch of natural living begins to shine through the storm.

The common practice of requiring physicians-in-training to work many double, and even triple, shifts results in performance reductions equivalent to the effects of drinking several ounces of alcohol, according to a new study led by a University of Michigan sleep researcher published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Depending on the type of medical or surgical care they decide to specialize in, young doctors can spend anywhere from three to 12 years in training. The first year – the internship – is considered the most intense.

Thirty-four Brown University Medical School pediatric residents completed standardized tests following two different schedules: a month of 44-hour work weeks in office-based clinics with no overnight duties; and a month of 90-hour work weeks, including day shifts in the hospital’s wards or intensive care units, plus overnight shifts once every four or five nights.

Vigilance, Attention
Following the month of longer hours, the doctors’ vigilance, attention and driving skills were found to be impaired. Their test responses were equivalent to their performance after consuming three to four alcoholic drinks following a month of lighter duties.

“This adds to the growing evidence that sleep deprivation among medical residents significantly impairs their ability to perform, although it is important to note that we did not assess performance on specific medical tasks,” says J. Todd Arnedt, PhD, a sleep psychologist who is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at the U-M Medical School. Arnedt works in the the U-M Sleep Disorders Center and the U-M Depression Center Sleep & Chronophysiology Laboratory.

Three Hours Sleep
Sleep diaries and an automatic wrist-watch activity monitor verified that the residents on heavy work shifts got significantly less sleep per night on average than those with lighter schedules during the study period.

In the 24 hours leading up to the test days, residents on a light schedule slept an average of 6 hours and 37 minutes, compared with about 3 hours for the residents on a heavy schedule.

The residents were tested four times, in two separate sessions. Two of the tests were completed after they had worked a month of light duty without overnight shifts; the tests were given before and after they consumed three to four alcoholic drinks.

In the second session, they were tested on the day after an overnight shift that came at the end of a month of 90-hour work weeks. During this session, they were tested before and after drinking a non-alcoholic placebo beverage. Of primary interest were the tests conducted after they had drunk either the alcohol or the placebo.

Performance, Effort
The researchers asked the residents to rate their performance and effort on the tests. Ratings of impaired performance were higher following the month of heavy work shifts compared to the light schedules.

Residents also rated their effort as higher after heavy work shifts compared to the lighter shifts with alcohol.

In addition, the residents rated their levels of sleepiness. During the heavy call month, they felt more tired than during the light-call month, even after they had consumed alcohol on the light-call rotation.

They were not allowed to nap on the test day or to use caffeine after noon. All of the tests were conducted at 3 pm.

Reducing Fatigue-Related Impairment
Most of the tests took place before new work-hour restrictions were imposed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2003.

Residents now are subject to the following rules: an 80-hour weekly work-hour limit; a 24-hour limit on continuous duty time; in-house call duty no more than once every three nights; and one day in seven free from all patient care and educational obligations. All requirements are averaged over four weeks.

The new regulations are “a good initial step,” Arnedt noted, “but the solution to the problem is not likely as simple as well-intentioned policies aimed at reducing work hours, which can themselves have negative ramifications,” he pointed out.

“Our study, like others before it, does raise concerns about the performance of sleep deprived physicians-in-training and suggests that strategies aimed at reducing fatigue-related impairments are likely necessary,” Arnedt said.

Alcohol Comparison
Arnedt and his colleagues are the first to study medical residents using the sleep deprivation and alcohol comparison model, which has been used in other p! opulations, including truck drivers. Both sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption impair a person’s reaction time, attention, judgment, control and driving ability.

In a Harvard University study published earlier this year, the authors found that interns were more likely to have an automobile crash or near-miss while driving after an extended work shift.

Arnedt’s team found that skills on a driving simulator deteriorated in residents who were tested after an overnight shift in the hospital at the end of a month of heavy night work. The findings from these studies suggest that the personal safety of residents who drive home after working all night may be at risk.

“We need to continue to find simple, practical and effective strategies that hospitals and senior doctors can take to reduce sleep deprivation among residents,” says Arnedt.

You buy them and they don’t get the job done. Anti cellulite pills, lotions, gadgets, rubber tights and other silly money wasters that sell you hope and nothing else. The truth is, your best weapons in your battle against unwelcome cellulite are a smart nutritional routine and a consistent, properly structured workout program.

I’ll assume you have a pretty good handle on the nutritional component.

As for the properly structured workout program, which you may indeed have, I’ve put together a butt, hip and thigh routine which you can incorporate into your current workouts. This routine specifically targets the areas where the appearance of cellulite tends to show up.

Keep in mind, I’ve been training people since the late eighties. Speaking strictly from experience, I can tell you that the following routine is responsible for helping many women dramatically change the appearance of their cellulite areas.

Lying on your side, do 10 reps of each exercise:

1) Bring both knees forward so your hips are at a 90 degree angle. Then straighten your top leg out in front of you, still keeping 90 degrees at the hip. Lift the top leg slowly about three feet off the ground & down.
2) Straighten both legs so your body is in a straight line. Tilt the hips forward slightly. Lift the top leg about three feet off the ground & down.

3) Put your top leg out in front of you, on the ground. Move your bottom leg forward slightly. Lift the bottom leg about 8 – 12 inches off the ground & down.

4) Repeat all 3 on the other side.

On the elbows and knees, do 10 reps of each exercise:
1) Extend one leg straight back with your toe on the ground. Lift that leg up toward the ceiling & down. Then switch legs.
2) Lift your knee off the floor. Extend that same heel back and up so your leg is pointing toward the ceiling & then bring the knee back into you. Then switch legs.

Standing up, do 10 reps of each exercise:

1) Start with your feet together. Step out in front in to a lunge position. Touch the ground with opposite hand. Come back up & step back to the starting position. Then switch legs.
2) Put one foot up on a step (12 – 18 inches high). Slowly step up and down with the other foot. Then switch legs.

If this routine is easy try going through it twice. If you still need more of a challenge, increase the reps to 15 or 20 per set.

The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow journey. It’s not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those “ab zappers” had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged three companies – Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer – with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for these “ABSurd” gimmcks.

But I digress. back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body…

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed – amazed even – at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn’t seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it’s easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila – overnight abs). What you don’t see or appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.

Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn’t seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and “suddenly,” your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness model, figure competitor or bodybuilder is no more likely to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It’s not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner than nature intended (without negative consqeuences or side effects) is pure folly. You can’t force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period. For a baby, it’s nine months. For corn, I believe it’s about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?

The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing “mother’s” or “farmer’s mindset” towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on “fast abs” or “exercise in a bottle” or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can’t sow and reap in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with the rate of progress in your fitness or weight loss program (and who doesn’t), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build the body you want eventually if you’re patient enough and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, “the greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them.” Envision a castle – a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There’s nothing wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines.

So keep laying those “bricks” – every day – one at a time – and sure enough, eventually, you’ll build yourself a palace.

Softball is a popular sport these days. Corporations, adult leagues and inner-city competitions are fueling the demand for skilled and competitive players. While softball may be experiencing a surge of interest, the basic techniques to improve your game and gain a competitive edge have remained the same.

Many do not realize that basic softball movements such as batting and throwing are not a directly related to arm strength. The movement begins in the legs. The power is then transferred into the hips, the torso, the upper back, the chest, the shoulders and then the arms.

A proper softball strength training routine will include an exercise for each muscle group. During the off-season, athletes will be able to strength train 2-3 times per week. Training should be reduced to 1-2 times per week during the season. Each exercise should be performed 8-12 times for 1-3 sets.

Quickness, speed, agility, balance, explosiveness, and power will be enhanced as the strength training program progresses. Below is a list of sample exercises for the commonly used muscles in softball. There are many other exercises you could perform, but this will provide a starting point.

Quadriceps – Squats, One-Legged Squats, Jump Squats
Hams & Glutes – Lunges, Explosive Lunges, Bridge on Ball
Hip Adductors/Abductors – Lying Side Leg Raises, Ball Squeeze
Obliques- Oblique Crunch on Ball
Rectus Abdominis – Ball Crunch, 180 Ball Crunch
Erector Spinae – Plank Pose
Deltoids – Shoulder Press, Military Press
Pectoralis Major – Chest Fly, Chest Press, Push ups
Latissimus Dorsi – Bent Over Row, Reverse Fly
Triceps – Overhead Extensions, Skull crushers
Biceps – Bicep Curl, Hammer Curl
A powerful softball strength training program will produce powerful players. Use a full ROM (range of motion) for each exercise. Generally free weights provide a better ROM than machines, but use which ever feels best to you. The ultimate goal is to create a solid program that will deliver a well-rounded athlete.

Aging, a steady decline:
The History of the world is filled with stories of individuals trying to find eternal youth. Wealthy people going to private centers for magic elixirs. Many individuals taking megadoses of certain vitamins, drink green tea, use coenzyme Q10 etc, hoping to find the “fountain of youth”. Lets take a closer look and see what happens to our bodies as we age.

Time, our worst enemy:
Growth Hormone declines steadily at the age of 31 and at the rate of 14% per decade. Along with aging, we become vulnerable to diseases. Our ability to fight illness declines, the body’s ability to metabolize sugar, handle cholesterol, and clear the kidneys of toxins, becomes more and more difficult. Ultimately, the slow deadly disease of aging creeps in.

As a person ages, hormone levels fall. Decreasing levels of certain hormones shows symptoms such as:

gray hair
wrinkly skin
reduced skin thickness
forgetfulness
low sex drive
weight gain
bone or joint problems
immune system weakens
decreased muscle strength
These symptoms can be the possible result of, reduced Human Growth Hormone. Until age 21, Human Growth Hormone is abundant in the body being solely responsible for muscle building, bone growth, skin elasticity, increased energy, lean body mass, and sexual vigor.
Graying Hair
Gray hair is caused by the slowing production of melanin over time within the hair follicles. When this happens, the hair follicles produce less and less melanin, and the result is a loss of hair, color and strength.

The Skin
Hormonal breakdown and free radicals is the major contributor of skin aging because of the reduction of the body’s Hormone production or lack of. Hormones such as Human Growth Hormone and testosterone are only produced in noticeable quantities up to the age of 20. These Hormones are responsible for physical fitness, regeneration and the immune system. Due to a declining Hormone level, the breakdown of organs, tissues and cells begins.

Another factor are free radicals. These are parts of molecules that are found in the Human Body. As a result of external factors such as ultraviolet light (too much sun), smoking or unhealthy eating habits, under these circumstances free radicals are inclined to react. Meaning that they are in search of other chemical substances to bond themselves with. Ultimately, the breakdown of the skin begins. The body protects itself against these aggressors with naturally occurring anti-oxidant’s. Until you reach the age of twenty and onwards, this natural defense mechanism slowly declines, until eventually the skin can no longer defend itself.

What can be done about aging?
Well,about your actual age nothing, but could a healthier lifestyle, proper diet, or maybe vitamin and supplement intake, would that help turn back the aging clock? Is there something out there that could:

Alleviate menopausal and premenstrual symptoms
Reduce body fat
Restore gray hair
Increase energy
Increase sex drive enhancement in both men and women
Restore the function of organs and glands
Improve memory
Improve vision
Enhance one’s spirits
Stabilize blood pressure
Enhance the immune system
Well quite possibly, there just might be! Read below…