Eat A Dark-Chocolate Bar

It’s erection medicine. Dark chocolate contains epicatechins, flavonoids that trigger the release of dilating chemicals in the inner, or endothelial, layer of the arteries. How much should you munch? A University of California at San Francisco study shows that those who ate a 1.6-ounce dark-chocolate bar each day increased their blood-vessel dilation by more than 10 percent.

While the study wasn’t done specifically on erectile tissues, anything that benefits your body’s endothelial system will likely benefit your erections, since the penis is made up largely of endothelial surfaces. “Keeping those surfaces healthy is crucial to good arterial flow,” says Kevin McVary, M.D., a professor of urology at Northwestern University. Look for dark chocolate that bears the CocoaPro logo on the label—this symbol is a visible sign that the candy bar you’re buying is chock-full of flavonoids!

Eat Blackberry Jam On Your Toast

Dark fruits like blackberries, bilberries, and elderberries contain high levels of anthocyanins, ultrapowerful antioxidants that could act as erection insurance.

Quick science lesson: Your penis’s ability to rise and shine depends, in part, on the availability of nitric oxide, a blood-vessel-dilating chemical. When too many free radicals are present in your bloodstream, nitric oxide goes down-and so does your penis. Enter anthocyanins. These potent antioxidants attack free radicals before they have the chance to lower nitric oxide levels.

Here’s proof of their power: Indiana University researchers found that arteries treated with anthocyanins retained high levels of nitric oxide even after being flooded with free radicals. “Antioxidants help keep free radicals under control so nitric oxide can do its thing,” says David Bell, Ph.D., the lead study author. And that “thing” is giving your penis the blood it needs to turn excitement into an erection.

Working Out On The Go

Human beings tend to be creatures of habit: when we have a standard schedule and a 9-5 job, it’s easy for us to wake up, eat, exercise, play, and go to bed at the same time every day. But when traveling becomes necessary, life on the road can be disastrous for your
health.

It’s tempting to eat poorly, skip workouts, and pack light. But here are some ideas so your travels don’t get the best of you:

1. Resistance bands: lightweight, compact, and you can squeeze them anywhere. If you know how to use them, they can be a complete substitute for free weights.

2. Running shoes: upon arrival, use
Google Maps or ask your hotel’s concierge about local parks, and then go for a run. Throw a jump rope in with your resistance bands to further supplement your cardio.

3. Take advantage of social activities in your destination’s area. Go for a walk around town, go dancing for an evening, or take a day hike if you have the time. The important thing is: GO!

Eating right on the road can be very much the same as eating right at home: make the right choices. Pack your own, healthy snacks when you’re out for the day, go for half-portions or healthy items on the menu at restaurants, and avoid the siren’s song of fast food chains.

Mastering these very basic principles will really go a long way in helping you stick to your workouts and feel great while you travel! Happy trails!

5 Dangerous Mistakes Not To Make In a Streetfight

This whole Category is shared from http://www.oldstylemuaythai.blogspot.com
I do not take credit for the work I merely share what I consider great ideas and articles.

When a person puts their fists up to form a guard to protect themselves from an attacker’s strike, they make the biggest mistakes that will cause them to be ineffective in their self preservation.

Here are the top Five mistakes and the solutions to fix them to give you the edge in a streetfight.

1.) Keeping the hands to close to the face.

When the hands are held to close to the face, an attacker needs to just punch your forearms and fists to make you hit yourself with your own fists.

Now the reason people tend to do this is a fear of being hit in the face and the pain associated with it.

This is a perfectly normal behavior pattern, but it must be overridden when it comes to fighting.

If you keep flinching and closing your eyes, then it will not take long for an attacker to finish you off.

Unfortunately the only way to fix this is to get punched in the face. Have a training partner punch you lightly to the face in different areas.

For example the mouth, eye socket, cheeks, nose etc… this does two things.
First it gets you used to impact and pain. Second it trains you not to flinch and close your eyes.

Start this training with boxing gloves, then progress to just hand wrapped punching then finally bareknuckle.

You can also train the rest of the body to withstand punches by punching different areas of the body.

This will train you to receive impact and having the ability to shrug it off and continue to fight if need be.

This type of training will toughen you up and get you ready to take a punch.

Remember to keep your hands down or behind your back and allow your partner to punch you with a predetermined amount of impact force.

2.) Keeping the arms bent at ninety degree angles.

Due to the fear of being struck, another thing people tend to do is keep the arms bent at about 90 degrees or less.

This faulty tactic will weaken your defenses and allow your adversary time to smash through your forearms, as they collapse into your face and leave you defenseless and open for attack.

The best way to place your forearms is by extending them to about a 45 degree angle. This will help ensure that your forearms will not collapse into your face.

The structures you have created with your forearms become a solid open triangle.

All you will need to do is tighten your forearms muscles slightly to stiffen the structure of the triangle to insure that it will not collapse.

This will also help to keep him away from you, as he tries to close in and attack.

This structure can also be used as an offensive weapon to use against your attacker. By simply stepping forward and driving your forearms into your opponent, you can strike him in his clavicles and possibly break one or both of them.

Depending on how hard he comes in on you is how much damage he will inflict on himself.

He will literally impale himself into your forearms.

3.) Raising the fists too high.

When your fists are held too high in the guard position your elbows will tend to point towards the opponent.

This will cause the angle from which you will strike with your fists to be too high and make your punches ineffective and powerless.

You will be mostly slapping and pawing at your attacker instead of punching him.

Due to the high angle of your elbows your arms will come down like a draw bridge on a castle.

Again this is a very unrealistic way of striking. I am sure you have seen someone who didn’t know how to fight or throw a punch, do it this way.

So what you must do is keep your elbows low, by doing this you will have more leverage to throw a more powerful punch without having to telegraph your strike.

The way to do this is by rolling your shoulders forward and down, like a surgeon getting ready to operate.

Make sure to keep your elbows in front of your hips and not to the sides.
This will help increase the speed of your punches and also aids in breathing deeper.

Not to mention that it helps your abs contract harder and brings more of your bodyweight to your punches.

And lastly with the rolling of the shoulders your ribcage will cover and protect your solar plexus.

4.) Raising the shoulder girdle away from the torso.

Many tend to raise their shoulders to the ear lobes to protect themselves from getting hit from the sides and getting knocked out.

While this method may hold some truth, there is a better way to do this.

What you need to understand is when you raise your shoulders you are lifting the shoulder girdle away from your torso.

If you were to strike from this position you will not punch with very much power.

Also your full bodyweight will not transfer into your punch. And when you do strike your opponent, the harder you hit him the more recoil you will absorb.

Not to mention it will also restrict your breathing and cause you to hyperventilate.

Now let’s fix this by making one simple adjustment. Just roll your shoulders forward and down.

When you do this you instantly attach the shoulder girdle to the torso making you a more solid and powerful striker.

When you punch, you will be bringing your bodyweight with the strike; there will be no recoil as your force will transfer into your opponent.

You will also be able to breathe better and be more relaxed, the more relaxed the faster and more powerful your punches will become.

And the more dangerous a fighter you will be.

5.) Keeping the chin up and the mouth open.

More guys get knocked out or hurt badly not paying attention to these two important potential targets.

Many fighters get caught doing this as the adrenaline starts to flow and they start swinging with gross motor type punches.

Again another reason is the fear of getting hit in the face. The head will get pulled back as they throw their strikes and the chin will be exposed.

Now due to the large amount of energy being expended, heavy oxygen intake will ensue, causing the person to open his mouth to breathe more easily. This is a recipe for disaster.

Now let’s fix these two dangerous habits.

First you need to train to keep your mouth shut and second to keep your chin down.

And one of the easiest ways to do this is by wearing a mouth piece when you train.

Working out with a mouth piece trains you to bite down on your molars which by the way will give you an extra boost of power in your punches, some say by as much as 30 percent, not to mention keeping your jaw set solid when struck.

Also learning to breathe in through your nose and out through your pursed lips or clenched teeth, helps to slow down your heart rate and keeps you from opening your mouth.

Another way that works well is to just breathe in and out through your nose and grunt as you throw your strikes.

You can also try keeping your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth. This will increase the power in your punches, as you train to keep your mouth shut.

Now to train you to keep your chin down just place a small handball or rolled up hand towel or hand wrap and place it under the chin, then start to shadow box or hit the heavy bag or have a partner hold focus mitts while you strike them for time.

If you lift your head up for any reason the object you have under the chin will fall out letting you know that you raised your head and opened yourself up to the attacker.

Conclusion

So there you have it the five dangerous mistakes not to make in a streetfight and how to avoid and eliminate them.

Go over this material and train and practice getting your fighting skills honed to perfection.

The only way to do this is by repetition, repetition, repetition, you must get these skills internalized and getting the reps in, is the only way you are going to do this.

Yes it will take some work on your part but the rewards will be well worth it, trust me.

It must be ingrained in you and become second nature or when the time comes you will revert back to your old ways and possibly set yourself up for some serious damage to your face and head.

These tactics will go a long way to enhancing your fighting ability and give you an edge over your adversary without opening you up to danger.

While these tactics might not fit your typical boxing or kickboxing stand up style of fighting, they do fit perfectly for the street.

Lastly get serious with your fighting skills when you go to the gym and train as you will fight in the streets.

After all you can’t hide in the gym or dojo forever; you have to come out sooner or later.

The Top 5 Fitness Myths

There are so many myths about fitness – untruths that seem to continue to get buzz no matter how often they are debunked. In the spirit of ditching the fiction in order to drop the weight, I’ve isolated 5 of the most stubborn fitness myths still making the circuit, along with advice that’ll get your workout on track for success. Each myth has been around as long as I can remember. Each myth has also been debunked for as long as I can remember, yet, myth by myth – each one prevails.

Spot Reduction Myth The plain truth is there is no way to spot-reduce body fat from a specific area. Fat is burned from body areas in genetically pre-determined patterns that have no relationship to the exercises or muscles being used. So no matter how many crunches or triceps kickbacks you do, the excess body fat in your abdomen or upper arms may not budge.

Muscle Turns to Fat Myth This is one of my favorites. The idea that one type of biological tissue (aka muscle) can miraculously turn into a completely different type of biological tissue (aka fat) is far fetched to say the least. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of people who believe this can happen. Muscle does not turn to fat, nor does fat turn to muscle. However the saying “use it or lose it” is very true when it comes to muscle. If you are not engaging in some sort of physical activity to prevent this It will atrophy, and usually as a result you will gain some body fat.

Sweating Equals Weight Loss Sweating is your body’s way of regulating its temperature. As the water evaporates from your skin it creates a cooling effect. This has nothing to do with weight loss especially body fat loss. It may contribute slightly to weight loss in the form of losing water weight, but this is usually reversed when you re-hydrate after a workout. Excessive sweating while working out can actually be dangerous due to the possibility of dehydration. Some people will start to sweat with just a mention of working out while others can go crazy in the gym without a sign of the slightest bead. It does not impact weight loss one way or the other. Another very important note on this is that sitting in a sauna or steam room not only won’t help you lose weight but it is not a form of exercise.

Cardio For Weight Loss More and more professionals are coming around to the idea that long duration steady-state cardio or as I like to call it, the “hamster on the wheel” type workouts, are really not that efficient. As an alternative, higher intensity intervals are a great way to reduce the time while cranking up the caloric burn. Another terrific option is strength/cardio cross-training where you are performing bouts of weight lifting with cardio-esque bodyweight moves like jumping jacks and squat thrusts. Yet another change-up is trading in your boring 60-min treadmill trek for 20 minutes of a high-energy game of soccer, volleyball, or basketball. Take your pick and start seeing results.

Fat Burning Zones Step on any piece of cardiovascular equipment, and once you have figured how to turn it on, you will most likely be asked to choose the type of program you want to perform. A standard choice has always been something called the “fat burning zone.” You may also see a diagram telling you the spectrum of intensity where your specific fat burning zone is, giving you the impression that fat is only burned when you are exercising in this magical zone. Truth is, you are burning fat all the time, even while you sit and watch TV. The concept behind these fat burning zones is that you will burn more fat calories by staying at a lower intensity – something these machines profess to help you carefully dial in.

Although the principle might be true, the part most people don’t understand is that the total number of calories is more important, even if a higher amount comes from carbs. Ultimately, you will burn both more calories in total and more calories from fat, with a higher intensity, and most likely this can happen at a shorter duration. So forget the fat burning zones and go for the great overall caloric burn.