It's the most common weightlifting press done but it's also the one most commonly done incorrectly.
Finally, a solid video detailing how to do bench press with proper technique.
Some things I learned:
-squeeze shoulder blades together to start
-keep feet planted far apart on the floor and press into the ground for leverage
-on the way up, try and break the bar; on the way down try and spread the bar apart
This video from Westside Barbell discusses narrow, medium, and wide grip for the bench press:
This video from Crossfit Football is good because it also explains how to properly spot someone during a bench press:
Another Crossfit Football Bench Press Technique Video:
Now most people assume that whole wheat is the paragon of health foods out there. It's also widely believed that if you don't have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity then there's absolutely no issue with wheat.
Think again.
"In just a mere 50 years, grains – wheat, in particular – have become a mutant species crafted by the hands of human intervention in the name of increased crop yields, resistance to drought, disease, and heat, as well as an end to world hunger – all of which are honorable causes and tremendous scientific achievements. However, the accelerated evolution of wheat through hybridization – a feat that would make Gregor Mendel proud – has been to the detriment of human health" (Underground Wellness article).
There's so much controversy on whether dairy is good for your or bad for you but this video puts it all together and it makes sense!
He talks about the different dairy cow varieties (Bos Indicus vs. Bos Taurus and Guernsey), A1 vs. A2, pasteurization, BCM7 peptide etc.
This is one of the reasons why I don't follow the Paleo diet closely. It's strictly forbidden in the Paleo diet and that works for most Americans, since most milk in the states is pasteurized from Jersey cows but I have access to raw, grassfed Guernsey cows (A2) so it should be fine to consume.
1. Canned Tomatoes - BPA in the can liner and the acidity of the tomatoes leads to leaching into the food itself.
2. Corn-fed beef - cows are meant to graze on grass not eat corn, which makes their guts so acidic that they develop ulcers and other ailments. Corn-fed beef also has lower levels of omega-3s and other nutrients.
3. Microwave popcorn - the bag itself releases toxic chemicals when microwaved. You should avoid nuking food in general as it denatures the molecular structure of the food itself and possibly makes it difficult for your body to absorb, not to mention deleterious effects of the radiation.
4. Nonorganic potatoes - root vegetables absorb the herbicides and pesticides sprayed on them.
5. Farmed salmon - they are fed an unnatural diet, plus all the pesticides and antibiotics used on them are introduced to your own system.
6. Milk containing rBGH or rBST - these hormones increase milk production but also increases pus in the udders and thus the milk. It's consumption also increases the cancer risk in humans.
7. Nonorganic apples - sprayed with pesticides more than most if not all other fruits. Also, people tend to eat the skin, which contains the pesticides. If you peel it then you are losing out on valuable urosolic acid, which promotes muscle growth and prevents muscle catabolism.
Now I'm not sponsored by Yogi at all but I've been a long time fan of their teas. They recently launched a line of cereals and I've tried three of them and my favorite hands-down is the "Digestive Health" one since it has plenty of cinnamon, clove, and cardamom, which are my favorite spices. You can really taste the cloves. So stay clear of this if you don't like the aforementioned spices.
The problem is that the local grocery store is always out of stock of the "Digestive Health" and they always have plenty of the "Essential Antioxidants" blend, which supposedly has goji berries. If you are of Chinese or Taiwanese descent you probably grew up on goji berries and are very familiar with the sweet, tangy taste. However, now that goji berries from China are the new "it" health item, they are winding up in all sorts of processed food items. The problem with this "Essential Antioxidants" cereal is that you cannot taste the goji berries at all. If you read the ingredients label, you'll see that they have pulverized a tiny amount of goji berries and added that to the cereal so that they can still write "GOJI BERRIES" on the front but it really has little to no goji berries contained in it.
This was my random rant on Yogi Cereals. Hopefully, Sprouts will restock Yogi "Digestive Health" cereal.
For those who have seen the frenetic, testosterone-charged TV show, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," I'm sure you have wondered how the actors got in shape for their roles. While there are many YouTube videos describing the "Gladiator Boot Camp" and their diet, I found this video by Scott Herman to be very accessible to the layman in the practical sense in that you can follow step-by-step the fitness routine provided. Most of the other videos are more for trivia, while this gives the guts and bones of the actual routine for you to work on personally. All you need to do this workout are some dumbbells and free time.
The exercises done are deceptively simple and facile; they are much more difficult when executed in the circuit training. However, as with all exercise routines, consistency is key and with frequency of practice I'm sure this workout will pay off dividends. I may try out this routine myself next week when I get over this persistent sinus infection.
This is another (shorter) video of the 'Spartacus workout':
(It has annoying music playing in the background though; I'm posting it because it shows all the exercises quickly in succession so you can get a feel for the whole routine without watching the longer Herman video.)
A marine biologist said that in the documentary titled, "Tapped" (2009). He has for many years been studying the dramatic decline of water quality in our oceans.
In 1999, they did a survey and found that there was 6x more plastic particles in the seawater than plankton. In 2008, they found there was 46x as much plastic as plankton. And fish are consuming these smaller plastic fragments. The researcher found 26 plastic pieces in a single fish.
Some may say that they always recycle their plastic bottles but they don't realize that in the U.S., less than 20% of water bottles get recycled (versus the 50% worldwide rate). Part of this is due to low public funding. Each city is responsible for recycling but with low funding and staff they cannot handle the demand, so then it just fills up a landfill or it goes to an incinerator.
Disregarding the environmental impact of bottled water though, you can take a look at the economics of it. Most bottled waters have been shown to be nothing more than filtered municipal tap water and yet the major companies like Nestle, Coca Cola, and Pepsi charge 1900x the price of tap water. Also, due to the plastic packaging additional chemicals are introduced to the drinking water. Independent testing of various brands found there to be petrochemical compounds present like toulene, styrene, and pthalates, which are all carcinogenic and/or endocrine-disrupting. This is due to the PET plastic bottles, many of which are made in Corpus Christi, Texas at an oil refinery plant called Flint Hills. In Corpus Christi, the birth defects rate is 85% higher than the national average. The cancer rates are also significantly higher. Many of the residents were ignorant of the effects of living close to a plastics plant and now they cannot move elsewhere since they can't sell their houses; plus they already have health ailments. A previous EPA employee quit due to his moral qualms over working at a regulatory agency that is being manipulated by special interests and corporations. He stated that many of these chemical plants have ground level leaks, where the waste seeps into the groundwater -- in addition to the benzene and other volatile compounds spewing into the air from the smokestacks.
The bottled water industry has been remarkably adept at convincing the public that their product is superior to the municipal tap water through extensive marketing campaigns (i.e. Aquafina -- "Drink more water;" using models and celebrities in their magazine ads, promoting water's health-promoting attributes, etc.) The municipal water plant on the other hand doesn't have the funds to compete with marketing ploys. The municipal water processing plant is required by law to check the water quality several times a day and posts the results online for the public to see. On the other hand, private bottled water companies are not required to provide any water quality tests to the public. They send their own studies to the FDA and the FDA doesn't require or conduct any independent studies on their water quality. There is only one person in the FDA that oversees the entire bottled water industry and that person also has to attend to other duties. The FDA is severely understaffed and underfunded. The big scandal with the FDA over this issue was when the bottled water industry and the petrochemical industry told the FDA that BPA was perfectly safe despite independent scientific organizations that said otherwise.
Then there is the social injustice aspect. Due to these companies' cache of high-powered lawyers they found a loophole in the law, where Nestle can go into Maine and pump as much water as they want without paying a dime for it and then charging $19 per gallon for it. The small rural community that was affected by this pumping requested Nestle pay 1 cent per gallon that they pumped so that it would return to the community but Nestle (operating under the name of Poland Springs or Ozark) refused. Then in Atlanta when there was a water crisis and residents and local businesses had to follow stringent water restriction policies, Coca Cola was completely exempt and continued to pump millions of gallons from a lake that was already far below normal levels.
I've always just carried a resuable water bottle to fill with filtered or tap water for environmental, health, and economic reasons, but after watching this documentary I feel compelled to do more and to spread the message.
("Blue Gold: World Water Wars" (2009) was a similar movie and probably even better than this one but I didn't write a review on it. "Blue Gold" was more comprehensive on the subject of commoditizing water, while "Tapped" focused in on the bottled water industry. Both movies are highly recommended.)
