Due to my work schedule, I’m sometimes only able to reach the gym at about 9.30PM, which means I still have about 90 minutes to complete my workout (which is ample time). Also, I’m glad that Fitness First has recently made the move to extend their operation hours until 11PM - which is of great convenience to people like me as this allows me to actually use the facilities right up to almost 11PM (on weekdays) and 7PM (weekends/public holidays) - great news to those who really can’t make it to the gym early at times due to unforeseen circumstances.

Lately, I’ve noticed that Fitness First has started a new and terribly annoying practice - which is to play REALLLLYYY slow sentimental songs as it gets late and it is time to close. Songs that are 100% IMPOSSIBLE to work out to. Songs that are so slow, that I’m just waiting to find someone actually fall asleep in the gym. It’s gonna happen - just you wait and see. But, I believe their reasons for doing so are justified and I don’t blame them for having to do it.

They want the members to wind down and get going so that they can close up and leave at 11PM, but this almost NEVER happens. Even on weekends when they close at 7PM, members are still taking their own sweet time to get going. This is terribly inconsiderate of the members and I honestly pity the staff at Fitness First who are forced to wait just because some inconsiderate jerks waltz into the changing room just 5 minutes before closing and start to have their shower only then. Don’t these people know how to read the time? How selfish can they get?

On another note, I’ve recently purchased a portable MP3 player which helps overcome the issue of the ‘demotivating’ music they play before closing.

But even then, I always, ALWAYS make sure I’m done with my workout at least 10 minutes before closing, and leave immediately after retrieving my belongings from the locker (I’ll shower at home).

You should too.

Josh Stone, also known as DM, is the author behind the site http://www.dailymuscle.com which offers the author’s personal views on real-life fitness, bodybuilding, sports nutrition, cardio, fat loss, training information, and on all things that surrounds fitness.

Tags: considerate, diet, fat, fitness, gym, inspiration, keeping fit, membership, motivation, performance, skinnyconsiderate, diet, fat, fitness, gym, inspiration, keeping fit, membership, motivation, performance, skinny

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Are you a ‘look-and-lose’ dieter? Have you studied every diet ever created, read a zillion diet books, and yet are still unhappy with your weight?

Has your quest for the holy grail of dieting become a substitute for actually making changes required to take the ill health out of your current diet?

If so, you may not realise your thoughts are key to your happiness and success.

Do you look at yourself and say, “I’m fat”, or “My hips are too big”? Many of us look in the mirror and immediately compare ourselves to those ‘perfect’ human specimens we see every single day on TV, in magazines and in the newspapers.

Often we talk to ourself and make excuses, “It’s my genes”, “I’m much too busy to get fit”, “I like myself this”, as a way of protecting yourself from the way we see ourselves now and the way we want to be.

If we were to be truly honest with ourselves most people actually want to lose a few pounds - if we only knew how.

The good news is you CAN achieve your desired body shape with the right thinking about yourself, an understanding of how to get optimal nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to incorporate activity into your lifestyle to keep your muscles toned.

But most important of all, you need a regular mental workout to keep your self-image in shape.

Self-image is closely connected to the success or failure of any goal you choose to seek after, but none more so that the goal to get yourself fit and healthy.

So how do you go about strengthening your self-image? Well fortunately your self-image, just like your muscles, will respond well to a regular work out. You can actually strengthen your self-image with a few daily exercises.

Exercise One - Self Examination

Start by compiling a list of all those negative thoughts your have about yourselfI’m undisciplined, I can’t manage my time, I let people down, I can’t succeed, I don’t exercise enough. You will need to decide before you start this process that you won’t get discouraged.these are things that you will admit to yourself but they most certainly don’t have to control your life.

Next, compile a second list including everything you LIKE about yourself. Keep going until this list is LONGER than the first list you compiled. You might include things such as, I am a good cook, I can make people laugh, I contribute to the soccer club, my daughter loves the way I decorate her room.

Then, take your ‘negatives’ list and turn it into your ‘potentials’ list. You do this by creating a positive self-image to every ‘negative’ you listed. Instead of “I can’t succeed”, write a counter belief, “I will succeed”.

Ceremonially throw out the ‘negatives’ list - you are saying goodbye forever! Burn them, trash them, destroy them.they are no longer going to be a part of your thinking about yourself.

Now, keep your list of potentials in a prominent place. On your refrigerator door, in your daily journal, or in a picture frame on your desk. Make sure you have them in front on your every single day so that you are reading them constantly and reprogramming your daily thoughts.

Exercise Two: You Can Be What You Want to Be

Now that you have your list of potentials run your own visualisation stories so that you can ’see’ yourself in a new light. For example, if your list of potential includes “I eat just the right portions”, visualise yourself with a moderate portion on your plate, and feeling completely satisfied at the conclusion of your meal.

Read through your list of potentials every day taking a few moments of personal quiet time to reflect strongly on your visualisations. Try starting your day first thing in the morning and finishing as the last thing at night with visualising yourself being the person on your list, and doing the things you want to do.

Exercise Three: Keep a Journal of Your Daily Successes

Keep a record of all the positive changes in thoughts you have about yourself. We all have triumphs and ‘failures’. You must record and remind yourself of the positive changes because our human nature will replay the negatives - sometimes blowing them out of proportion. It’s important to nurture and celebrate the small steps you make every day.

Exercise Four: Go Easy On Yourself - You Are Beautiful Work In Progress

Don’t listen to the criticismnot your own nor that of others! Remember you are the designer of your self-esteem, do not hand this over to other people. You are way too important to give this away. Protect your role as creator of your own self-image and do not, take on board negative criticisms. We all make mistakes, and mistakes can be used to help us learn. Do not criticise yourself for being human and making a mistake. The only last mistake in the one from which we never learn to grow.

Exercise Five: Forget About The Past

The only moment you can live is the current one. You can’t live in the future and you most certainly shouldn’t live in the past.the challenge is to take charge of our thinking so that we think in the same time zone in which we live!

For example we may be tempted to think about yesterday’s failures”If only I hadn’t eaten second helpings”, “If only I didn’t reach for the chocolate cookies”. If we concentrate on the mistakes of yesterday this will our brains to replay our failures and reinforce them to us.

Yesterday is over, today is where you live.make sure that today you do NOT replay yesterday’s failures and make your resolve to change TODAY.

Exercise Six: Resolve to Change Today

Just as you shouldn’t live in the past, you can’t live in the future. You can only live or change today. The oldest clich

Tags: carbs, cellulite, cravings, diets, exercise, fat, fitness, lose weight, weight loss, workoutscarbs, cellulite, cravings, diets, exercise, fat, fitness, lose weight, weight loss, workouts

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Recently, a Japanese study showed dramatic results of organ fat loss and increased muscle strength, in test rats fed rare phytochemicals from baby green apple skins.

Without additional vitamins or supplements, these rats lost 27% of their internal organ fat — “belly fat” in you and me– and increased in muscle strength by 16%, in just three weeks. Should these findings translate to humans, we could be looking at a true health breakthrough of the new century.

Belly fat in mice and men is a signature of aging. The body deposits additional fat around the organs and raises blood levels of cholesterol in response to uncontrolled oxidative stress (aging) in the organism, because body fat and blood fat are the natural protectors of every cell in our bodies.

Exercise, which elevates human growth hormone, was the only proven way to reduce organ fat before the discovery of the remarkable water-soluble polyphenols given to these test animals.

What could this mean for you? It means that a concentrated natural apple extract, with no side effects, may reverse some of the aging markers in the human body. It is also worth noting that every drug which is given to humans has first shown its effectiveness and safety in mice and rats.

Ancient Supermen

In ancient mythology, the apple was considered to be the Goddess’s sacred heart of immortality. The Celts called the western paradise Avalon, which means “Apple-land.” The Irish kings received the Goddess’s magic apples of immortality. King Arthur was taken to Avalon (Apple-land) by the triple Goddess, in the form of the three fairy queens.

The Scandinavians thought apples essential to resurrection. The Greeks said Mother Hera kept the magic apple garden in the West, where the tree of life was guarded by her sacred serpent, represented by icons showing the great Goddess offering life to her worshippers in the form of an apple. The Norse Goddess Idun kept all the gods alive with her magic apples.

And now science is proving the mythic legends. In recent human tests, polyphenols from apples dramatically raise the biological activity of all three of the body’s anti-aging, disease-fighting enzymes- superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and catalase. No wonder the apple eaters were considered to be “consorts of the Goddess.” Such a man would be stronger, look better, and live in radiant health much longer than his non-apple-eating peers.

Modern Medical Marvels

Phytochemicals in baby apple skins may be the closest thing to “magic” to come out of the labs since penicillin. The list of health conditions that these botanical compounds improve or prevent is truly impressive. Apple phytochemicals are showing promising test results in 3 of the 5 leading disease killers of Americans, including seven types of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Apple polyphenols are 6 times more powerful than vitamin C against human cancer cells in lab tests. They may prevent asthma attacks, inhibit dental carries, lower cholesterol, and stabilize insulin response. Recently, scientists from Cornell University proposed that extracts from apples “could reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease such as AD (Alzheimer’s Disease).”

But unfortunately, an apple a day won’t keep the doctor away. Polyphenols in ordinary grocery store apples are lost through ripening, storage and processing. Immature green apples, which are too bitter to eat, contain up to 10 times more polyphenols than mature fruit. And in nearly every study, the test animals are not eating whole apples. They are given dehydrated, highly concentrated powder extracted from the apple skins, the richest source of these phytochemicals.

The blessing of these natural botanicals are our inheritance as children of the legendary Goddess, Gaia. Her crown jewels are the fruit of the trees, and the blossoms of the rain forest. And her most precious emerald gems– baby apples– may one day reverse aging, cure disease, and help her children realize their ultimate perfect health and longevity.

______________________________________________________

Katrina Kern is an author, women’s health counselor and former practicing nurse. More information on these exciting health discoveries, and her new e-book, “How to Absolutely, Positively Know When Your Body is Burning Fat,” are available now at http://www.applepoly.com/bellyfat/. You can find a link there for current medical studies and breaking news on apple phytochemicals.

Tags: apple, atkins, belly fat, bellyfat, diet, fat, fat loss, health, muscle, phytochemical, polyphenols, weightapple, atkins, belly fat, bellyfat, diet, fat, fat loss, health, muscle, phytochemical, polyphenols, weight

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