http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/ ru Bodybuilding megasite. Daily bodybuilding, fitness, bodybuilding for bodybuilders, muscle men, muscle women DataLife Engine http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/09/23/alcohol_and_fat_metabolism.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/09/23/alcohol_and_fat_metabolism.html The main problem with alcohol is not the number of calories it contains but rather the effect is has on fat metabolism. A recent study, for example, has shown that even small amounts of alcohol has a large impact on fat metabolism.

In this study eight men were given two drinks of vodka and lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink. For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by 73%.

The reason why alcohol has this dramatic effect on fat metabolism has to do with the way alcohol is handled in the body. When alcohol is consumed, it readily passes from the stomach and intestines into the blood and goes to the liver. In the liver, an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase mediates the conversion of alcohol to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is rapidly converted to acetate by other enzymes. So rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into acetate, the amount of acetate formed is dose dependant on the amount of alcohol consumed. For example, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.]]> jerrywear Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:17:11 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/09/19/thyroid_ultimate_guide_to_getting_lean.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/09/19/thyroid_ultimate_guide_to_getting_lean.html By: Dr. David Ryan

Whether you are the weekend athlete, soccer mom or a professional physique athlete your overall appearance is based on the same factor of a tiny little gland called the thyroid. This tiny little gland in your neck controls your hair, skin, eyes and every cell in the body.

In your quest to become ultra lean or just shed a few pounds, your success is controlled by the tiny little organ. Several factors can go wrong and leave you bloated or just stuck on a treadmill confused about how you can drop those simple first four pounds. Making sure that your body is ready to get lean is one of the first steps of losing excess body fat.

If you are having trouble losing body fat or you have hit that body weight plateau and cannot get your last few pounds off, then it is time to learn more about the ultimate factor controlling your bodyweight. Many other health conditions are closely associated with thyroid conditions.

Thyroid problems often lead to hormonal problems, which can be very difficult to correct if left undetected. Several of our own habits can lead to a dysfunctional thyroid.]]> jerrywear Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:22:29 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/07/02/15_healthy_delicious_foods.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/07/02/15_healthy_delicious_foods.html By: Marie Spano

Article Summary: Many of us have some form of cardiovascular disease.
Keep your heart healthy by eating right outside of the gym.
Many dietary factors affect one's risk of developing CVD.

You suck in your stomach, stand tall with your chest out and slyly grimace as you walk by the large department store window. It's only natural to appreciate the results of one's hard work in the gym. And while we may get a bit of satisfaction by examining our physique, it's even more important for us to spend a bit of time also focusing on what's inside our bodies.

All of us are walking around with some plaque in our arteries. That's reality. And, many of us are also walking around with some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD; diseases of the heart and blood vessels).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four adults has CVD. And if you are a man, your risk for both CVD and death from CVD is greater1. Those are the grim statistics. But, the good news is, many dietary factors affect one's risk of developing this disease2. Why is that good news?

The more diet is involved the more you have wiggle room to decrease your risk. Instead of telling you what you can't eat, I am going to outline 15 physique-friendly foods you that should be included in your diet (in no particular order though fatty fish does stand out as the top food to eat).]]> jerrywear Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:23:06 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/18/low_testosterone_appears_to_increase_lon.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/18/low_testosterone_appears_to_increase_lon.html by The Endocrine Society

Men may not live as long if they have low testosterone, regardless of their age, according to a new study. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

The new study, from Germany, adds to the scientific evidence linking deficiency of this sex hormone with increased death from all causes over time-so-called "all-cause mortality."

The results should serve as a warning for men with low testosterone to have a healthier lifestyle, including weight control, regular exercise and a healthy diet, said lead author Robin Haring, a PhD student from Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, Institute for Community Medicine.

"It is very possible that lifestyle determines levels of testosterone," he said.

In the study, Haring and co-workers looked at death from any cause in nearly 2,000 men aged 20 to 79 years who were living in northeast Germany and who participated in the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Follow-up averaged 7 years. At the beginning of the study, 5 percent of these men had low blood testosterone levels, defined as the lower end of the normal range for young adult men. The men with low testosterone were older, more obese, and had a greater prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure, compared with men who had higher testosterone levels, Haring said.

Men with low testosterone levels had more than 2.5 times greater risk of dying during the next 10 years compared to men with higher testosterone, the study found. This difference was not explained by age, smoking, alcohol intake, level of physical activity, or increased waist circumference (a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease), Haring said.

In cause-specific death analyses, low testosterone predicted increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease and cancer but not death of any other single cause.]]> jerrywear Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:26:53 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/18/testosterone_replacement_benefits_older_.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/18/testosterone_replacement_benefits_older_.html Written by The Endocrine Society
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
In older men with low testosterone levels, testosterone replacement therapy improves their risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to two new studies. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

In older men with low testosterone levels, testosterone replacement therapy improves their risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to two new studies. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Testosterone deficiency becomes more common with age, occurring in 18 percent of 70-year-olds, said a coauthor of both studies, Farid Saad, PhD, of Berlin-headquartered Bayer Schering Pharma. Low testosterone levels are linked to the metabolic syndrome-a cluster of metabolic risk factors that increase the chances of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes-and other health problems, including loss of bone and muscle mass, depression, and decreased libido.

Yet the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy are unclear in older men, he said.]]> jerrywear Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:25:02 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/13/men_with_low_testosterone_levels_and_no_.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/13/men_with_low_testosterone_levels_and_no_.html The majority of men with androgen deficiency may not be receiving treatment despite having sufficient access to care, according to a report in the May 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Androgen deficiency in men means the body has lower than normal amounts of male hormones, including testosterone, according to background information in the article. Although prescriptions for testosterone therapy for aging men have increased in recent years, treatment patterns for androgen deficiency are not clearly understood in community-dwelling U.S. males.

Susan A. Hall, Ph.D., of New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Mass., and colleagues examined data collected from 1,486 Boston-area men (average age 46.4) from April 2002 to June 2005 to estimate the number of men receiving treatment for androgen deficiency, to explain how treated and untreated men varied in seeking care and to understand potential barriers to health care. Specific symptoms of androgen deficiency include low libido, erectile dysfunction and osteoporosis and less-specific symptoms include sleep disturbance, depressed mood and tiredness.]]> jerrywear Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:23:45 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/07/the_benefits_of_massage_therapy.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/07/the_benefits_of_massage_therapy.html By: Lisa Sutton

Massage therapy is often regarded as an extravagance, a luxury, or an expense awaiting justification. Few actually regard a massage as a viable form of medical treatment. But it is. Massage therapy is actually the simplest and oldest form of medicine. There are references to massage in Chinese medical literature dating back to 2,700 B.C.

Indeed, Hipporcates, the father of Western medicine wrote in the fifth century B.C., that "the physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing... for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid." I, for one, think that Hippocrates was on to something there.

Think for one moment, your very first reaction when you stub your toe, hit your funny bone, or bump your head. Instinctively, you place your hand over the injured area. Likewise, what is your first reaction when a cramp in your calf muscle jolts you out of an otherwise sound sleep in the dead of night?

Immediately, you get your hands on the muscle and feverishly rub! These very natural, genetically programmed reactions comprise the very core of massage therapy itself. An appreciation for the simple notion that human touch promotes healing.]]> jerrywear Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:47:40 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/07/7_steps_to_safe_workouts.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/06/07/7_steps_to_safe_workouts.html Nobody goes into the gym planning to get injured. Still, most people tend to do just that at least once in their journey to a fit physique. Some things can't be helped - bad luck strikes in the gym easily as outside it - but there are some steps you can take to tilt the odds in your favor.

Step 1: Warm-up

This may sound like the king of cliches, but guess what? A large percentage of the gymrats out there, especially the younger ones, are so eager to hit the bench press that they skimp on or ignore the warm-up altogether. This is a big mistake.

Properly warming up will raise your core temperature, get your metabolism into gear and "pre-lubricate" the joints in preparation for the actual workout. Simply put, your body is ready to tackle the big weights.

Your warm-up should consist of 5-10 mins of moderate cardio on a treadmill or stationary bike, 5 minutes of light stretching and, as you get ready for the weights, 1-2 light sets before your "real" sets begin.


Step 2: Stretch

Failure to stretch will make your muscle bellies shorten over time, making you less flexible. While it may seem like a minor aesthetic detail to get that slightly-hunched, gorilla-look, your muscles and joints become a lot more vulnerable.

Why? If a supporting muscle stiffens or becomes shortened, it will start interfering with the normal groove of your exercises. Not a big deal at first, but over time you train increasingly "wrong" and put a lot of extra stress on joints, ligaments and unintended secondary muscle groups. The cumulative effect over a couple of years can throw some serious curveballs at your bodybuilding efforts.]]> jerrywear Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:45:06 -0700 http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/04/16/be_calm__stress_free_to_achieve_your_phy.html http://www.2-bodybuilding.com/2008/04/16/be_calm__stress_free_to_achieve_your_phy.html By: Herve Duchemin

Beginning the day with a calm and relaxed mind has many advantages. In order to see these advantages, it is necessary to understand the workings of a non-calmed mind. In its essence, a non-calmed mind is a stressed mind.

When the mind is under stress, it cannot perform optimally, and many of its thoughts will produce illogical reactions and responses to various stimuli which a calmed, stress-free mind would be able to handle in a more controlled and logical fashion. It is worthwhile to consider the notion that most of the dire "human-caused" evils we see around us occur when stressed minds produce illogical, forceful actions.

Forced & Unforced Emotions

Think of all your unforced emotions. Love, happiness, enthusiasm, altruism and confidence are all "unforced" emotions. You cannot force someone to love you, but you can "act" toward them in a loving manner. You can willingly "give" them love. You cannot force someone to be confident, but you can aid them in "unforcefully" noticing and revealing the confidence that lies deep within their souls.]]> jerrywear Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:17:51 -0700