Josh Perez Fitness

During an athletes competitive career or an average person fitness routine, an anti-oxidant formula that complements your multivitamin is paramount. The goal of taking an antioxidant is to decrease some of the deleterious oxidative effects of exercise.

We are all susceptible to harmful environmental chemicals, aging, intense exercise, and the rays of the sun on a daily basis. This increases our already delicate but normal free radical production and protection balance from increasing damage to our bodies. In other words, this will accelerate our aging process and possibly speed up the start of certain diseases.

Though moderate exercise can increase free radicals, high intensity exercise may exceed the body’s natural ability to protect against long-term damage. Many antioxidant studies on exercise focus on aerobic training (cardio). Some latest research examined weight training and antioxidant supplements, they found that the weightlifters who supplemented with vitamin E at 1200 IU/d, significantly reduced the markers for muscle damage. Also, taking vitamin C also resulted in reduction of cortisol (catabolic hormone/ natural human toxin) following training. Lastly, it increased the post-workout testosterone to cortisol ratio in weightlifters and is showed to enhance the anabolic (muscle growth) environment.

With the majority of evidence, it supports that taking vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene supplements (antioxidants) will lower your fatigue rate, and will bolster your workouts. Also, the supplementation of an antioxidant will enhance recovery, and the length of time for optimal performance (productive years of competition)!

Below, I put my recommendation of the best time release antioxidants for vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene supplements.

Refer to my Fitness Products – Deals and Fitness Products – Store for your savings on all major fitness brands.

There really is no 100% way to avoid getting sick or preventing the common cold. But one of the best ways to avoid it is to wash your hands before eating, when preparing food, even after using someone else’s phone at work. Or even when your done working out, touching the machines, someone else’s sweaty dumbbells and laying on drenched sweaty stretch mats. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen grown men leave the bathroom without washing their hands – even after going number 2!

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, colds can occur any time of year, but they mostly affect people during winter. When someone has a cold, their nose is teeming with a virus that is spread when they cough, sneeze or touch something. People are most contagious during the first two or three days of a cold. So take in plenty of vitamin C and drink plenty of water to keep your body clean and germ free.

One of the best ways to care for your feet is to invest in a good pair of workout shoes. There is nothing worse than trying to workout when you’re experiencing pain and risking possible injury. To improve your workouts, look for a high-quality shoe with a good fit that is made to support the activities you do.

Here are a few simple tips to follow along with the best shoemaker that fits each category:

Running Shoes:

Have additional cushioning to absorb shock as your foot hits the ground, which helps to reduce blisters. They are flexible and light. Running shoes are designed for forward motion, so they don’t support you well when you move in other directions (like during basketball or step aerobics). Look for New Balance Shoes or try Road Runner Sports as they rate top of the food chain for running shoes.
See current promotion for New Balance and Road Runner Sports.

Trail Shoes:

Have added traction for running and walking in grass, mud, or trails. Walking shoes tend to be stiffer and heavier than running shoes. These provide more support since your foot rolls from heel to toe more slowly than when you run. Look for Adidas trail shoes!
See current promotion for Adidas.

Cross Training Shoes:

Are great for people who have a varied workout routine or play different sports. This is the most versatile athletic shoe, designed to give more support for changes in direction and impact, making them an economical choice. They’re heavier and less cushioned than running shoes and not recommended if running is your main mode of training. Look for the Nike cross training shoe.
See current promotion for Nike.

Specialty Shoes:

They exist for weight lifting, cycling, hiking, tennis, basketball, and soccer. If you engage in these activities multiple days a week, consider buying a sport-specific shoe to fit your needs. Puma shoes are a great fit here.
See current promotion for Puma.

Lifestyle shoes:

Are not made for athletic activities, even though they are made by the same manufacturers who make running and workout shoes. These shoes have flat soles and a sporty look, but not enough support for a workout or recreational activity. They’re fine for running errands or casual wear, but don’t make them part of your exercise gear. For the lifestyle shoes, Nike has everyone beat.
See current promotion for Nike Lifestyle.

This year Bodybuilding.com has broken down their key points of transformational success: Information, Motivation and Supplementation. These points are so important in fact, they are also the basis of the Company Mission Statement, which states, “To help our visitors reach their health, fitness and appearance goals through information, motivation and supplementation.”

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The Motivation SuperFeature gives people the tools to find motivation from within, including goal setting, maintaining both long-term and short-term motivation, and everything else that goes into making goals a reality. Most helpful is Bodybuilding.com’s new BodyGroups feature, where over 240,000+ BodySpace members (Bodybuilding.com’s on-line social community) come together to share common goals and to cheer each other along. More information on BodyGroups can be found at BodySpace.. Anyone without a BodySpace account is encouraged to sign-up to better track their progress, hold themselves accountable and have fun with other BodySpace members.

Bodybuilding.com is also providing contests to help provide further motivation. The 2nd Annual MuscleTech $50,000 Transformation Contest presented by BodySpace gives all BodySpace members the chance to win $25,000 cash, $1,000 in MuscleTech supplements from Bodybuilding.com and the opportunity to spend a day with 2008 Mr. Olympia, Dexter Jackson. Plus, MuscleTech is also giving away more than $20,000 in runner-up prizes. BodySpace is also holding a Hydroxycut Max! Transformation Contest for all female BodySpace members where the winner will take home $5,000 cash and receive a photo shoot vacation. And best of all, the winner’s transformation story and photos will be featured on Bodybuilding.com!

Bodybuilding.com’s third key point of transformational success, supplementation, helps people get faster, higher-quality results from their diet and workout programs. The right supplements will help with muscle gain and fat loss, and help people feel better and stay healthy (Bodybuilding.com’s TOP 50 selling products!). Bodybuilding.com offers premade supplement stacks based on different goals with Bodybuilding.com Supplement Award winning products. But don’t just take their word for it; their new Bodybuilding.com Product Ratings and Review section holds the largest source of supplement reviews online, generated solely from customer recommendations. This new review feature can be seen at Bodybuilding.com.

By combining Information, Motivation and Supplementation in one comprehensive feature, the 2009 Bodybuilding.com New Year’s Transformation SuperFeature will prove itself to be the true source for everyone’s transformational needs. Looking to be more fit then you were in 2008? Let Bodybuilding.com provide everything from workout plans to nutritional supplements.

This is a great article for the support of the Mediterranean diet. Thanks Internal Medicine! Here is a brief summary of the Mediterranean diet before you read this article:

The Mediterranean meal plan incorporates the traditional healthy living habits of people from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It includes an abundance of vegetables, legumes, dried beans, whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, olive oil, as well as moderate consumption of fish, occasional poultry and minimal red meat. The food is fresh, unprocessed and unrefined. It is also low in saturated and trans fats. And if you’d like, you can include a glass of wine with your dinners.
Get started today and Lose 10 lbs in 5 weeks!

In older adults at risk for heart disease, a Mediterranean diet plus daily servings of mixed nuts may help manage metabolic syndrome, according to a Spanish study.

Metabolic syndrome describes a group of health problems that includes abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and high glucose levels — all of which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Previous research suggests that a Mediterranean diet — which includes lots of cereals, vegetables, fruits and olive oil, moderate consumption of fish and alcohol, and low intake of dairy, meats and sweets — lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome.

This new study included 1,224 people, ages 55 to 80, at high risk for cardiovascular disease. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The control group received advice on a low-fat diet while the other two groups received quarterly education about the Mediterranean diet. One of the Mediterranean diet groups received one liter per week of virgin olive oil, while the other group received 30 grams per day of mixed nuts.

At the start of the study, 61.4 percent of the participants met criteria for metabolic syndrome. After one year, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased by 13.7 percent in the mixed nut group, by 6.7 percent in the olive oil group, and by 2 percent in the control group.

There were no weight changes in any of the groups over the one-year study period. But the number of people with large waist circumference, high triglycerides or high blood pressure significantly decreased in the Mediterranean diet/mixed nuts group compared with the control group. This suggests that the Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts improves certain features of metabolic syndrome, such as oxygen-related cell damage, insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation, the researchers said.

“Traditionally, dietary patterns recommended for health have been low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets, which generally are not palatable. The results of the present study show that a non-energy-restricted traditional Mediterranean diet enriched with nuts, which is high in fat, high in unsaturated fat and palatable, is a useful tool in managing the metabolic syndrome,” concluded Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvado, of the University of Rovira i Virgili, and colleagues.

The study was published Dec. 8 in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

For more information, please visit The Mediterranean Diet Official Website.