Transverse Abdominis Muscles

The Transverse Abdominis are a part of your abs that controls a lot of your core strength.

As we are all aware you need to work your upper and loser abs to get a 6 pack but behind all of that six pack muscles is your Transverse Abdominis and these muscles are what keep your gut in as well as helping you stand upright.

One of the problems with working the Transverse Abdominis muscles or TVA as many people call them is that there is not up and down type motion that strengthens them.

As great as the picture here is it does not really tell you the whole story (those pics were just gross) and that is that this muscle is behind all of your abdominal muscles and so when you try to work them it is more of a flexing of them not the kind of exercise that most people do.

The people that really need to strengthen these TVA muscles are people that sit a lot and that do not move around much although all of us in one way or another probably have weak Transverse Abdominis muscles. So I tried to find some exercises to strengthen them.

Once you get the feel of the following couple of exercises you should not have much trouble just doing this exercise standing up anytime.

Transverse Abdominis Exercises

To work your Transverse Abdominis muscles the best way is to lean over and brace your body against your forearms against a table or counter. And after this let your stomach lay loose.

Then suck in your gut (fighting against the gravity) and just keep it held for as long as you can which may be about 15 or 30 seconds. Do this two or three times with a few minutes in between then rep/sets and you will really feel it.

The next exercise would be tougher and that is to get down on your hands and knees and do this same exercise. since you will be working your Transverse Abdominis with even tougher gravity you will find that this exercise will be even tougher. This is the Plank exercise. Most of us have done this in the past or heard of it at the very least.

What can you expect by working your Transverse Abdominis muscles

I am not sure how well these exercises will work for you but you are going to find if you have a flabby midsection then this may make the biggest difference to tighten your midsection.

As I pointed out earlier the Transverse Abdominis muscles are the most over looked muscle in your abdominal area.

Article source: http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/transverseabdominis-muscles.html

Antioxidants for Athletes

We all know that Antioxidants are a great way to help cleanse our body and reduce inflammation. But, what is the reason that an athlete may need more antioxidants than anyone else and how do antioxidants help athletes?

Why do athletes use Antioxidants?

Some athletes say that antioxidants help protect the body from free radicals.

What do the advocates say?

Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, CoQ10, glutathione, and alpha lipoic acid are important supplements for everyone, but especially for those who exercise on a regular basis. The rational is that exercise is a highly oxidative process and, as a consequence, produces free radicals from aerobic metabolism. Antioxidant compounds help alleviate this process.

There is conflicting evidence whether the best time to supplement with an antioxidant is before or after a workout.

How much Antioxidants are usually taken by athletes?

Most research has demonstrated that strenuous exercise increases production of harmful substances called free radicals, which can damage muscle tissue and result in inflammation and muscle soreness.

Exercising in cities or smoggy areas also increases exposure to free radicals. Antioxidants, including vitamin C and vitamin E, neutralize free radicals before they can damage the body, so antioxidants may aid in exercise recovery.

Regular exercise increases the efficiency of the antioxidant defence system, potentially reducing the amount of supplemental antioxidants that might otherwise be needed for protection.

However, at least theoretically, supplements of antioxidant vitamins may be beneficial for older or untrained people or athletes who are undertaking an especially vigorous training protocol or athletic event.

What Does Research Say About Antioxidants?

Placebo-controlled research, some of it double-blind, has shown that taking 400 to 3,000 mg of vitamin C per day for several days before and after intense exercise may reduce pain and speed up muscle strength recovery. However, taking vitamin C only after such exercise was not effective in another double-blind study.

While some research has reported that vitamin E supplementation in the amount of 800 to 1,200 IU per day reduces biochemical measures of free-radical activity and muscle damage caused by strenuous exercise, several studies have not found such benefits, and no research has investigated the effect of vitamin E on performance-related measures of strenuous exercise recovery.

A combination of 90 mg per day of coenzyme Q10 and a very small amount of vitamin E did not produce any protective effects for marathon runners in one double-blind trial, while in another double-blind trial a combination of 50 mg per day of zinc and 3 mg per day of copper significantly reduced evidence of post-exercise free radical activity.

In most well-controlled studies, exercise performance has not been shown to improve following supplementation with vitamin C, unless a deficiency exists, as might occur in athletes with unhealthy or irrational eating patterns. Similarly, vitamin E has not benefited exercise performance,18 19 except possibly at high altitudes.

Article source: http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/antioxidants-for-sports-and-fitness.html

Natural Acne Treatments

In my teens and twenties I went through trying every thing I could to get rid of my acne. I used everything from Accutane to Tetracycline to Benzoyl Peroxide and this natural list brings back some memories. All of these things do work, although I have never tried the vinegar, and are a great addition to your daily skin regimen.

Acne suffers usually go out and spend good money on common over-the-counter acne treatment products.

The truth is, most of these products are full of chemicals that can actually slow down the healing of acne, and irritate your skin, causing farther breakouts.

When an acne product has 20 ingredients listed on it, it can be hard to know if one of those ingredients is actually stopping you from having success.

It can be even harder when you can’t pronounce the ingredient, much less know what it is and how it is going to affect your skin.

The very sick thing is that most popular acne treatments are not only much more expensive than common household items, but they also don’t always work as well either. With that in mind…

Natural Acne Treatments

I will list some basic household items that can work wonders on clearing up your skin.

Baking soda

A very cheap cooking ingredient that most people have in their homes already, baking soda can be used as a great scrub. The purpose of a scrub is to exfoliate the skin, removing dead skin that can eventually clog pores and lead to acne spots.

To start off, you’ll want to mix a small amount of baking soda with some water for form a paste. Baking soda is very effective as a scrub, so you want to be sure to be extra careful when applying it to your face. Gently massage the paste into your skin for ten to fifteen seconds. Then rinse the baking soda off, and pat your face dry with a clean towel.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Though most people that use vinegar to treat acne use the apple cider form of vinegar, you can also use plain old regular vinegar. Regardless of which type you use, vinegar can be very helpful with it comes to clearing up acne. It can kill off acne causing bacteria, balance your skin’s pH, and absorb extra oil on your skin.

Starting with clean, dry skin, apply diluted vinegar (eight parts water to one part vinegar) directly to your skin with a cotton ball, and leave it on. If you want, you can also use a stronger vinegar solution (say, 2 or 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar), and apply it directly to problem areas, rinsing it off after ten minutes.

Lemon or lime juice can also be substituted for vinegar.

Both of these juices are rich in citric acid, and can exfoliate your skin very well, halting the growth of acne spots, as well as fading previous, non-active acne quicker.

Egg Whites

Rich in protein, egg whites can be used as a mask to heal and rebuild your skin. It can also help to absorb excess oil from your skin.

To start off, crack an egg, removing the yolk so that just the egg whites are left behind. Beat these egg whites, and apply them directly to your face. Let it sit for fifteen minutes, and then rinse the egg off.

Oatmeal

As odd as it may seem, oatmeal can absorb unwanted oil and draw out impurities which reside deep in your skin.

1. Cook some plain oatmeal like you would for consumption.
2. Let it cool off, and rub it over your clean skin.
3. Let it sit for a while, like you would a mask, and then rinse off.

If you do this on a regular basis, you should begin to start noticing results soon.

Tea Tree Oil

Is a commonly used all-natural household antiseptic, which you can pick up at most drugstores or supermarkets. You can apply TTO directly to acne spots to kill bacteria, or, if you strongly dilute it with another oil (such as jojoba oil), over your entire face.

Tea tree gel can be easier to apply than the oil, and many are made for applying over large areas of skin, so they aren’t quite as strong as straight TTO and do not need to be diluted.

Pantothenic Acid (Also known as Vit. B5)

Pantothenic acid can be taken in large quantities for the benefit of acne reduction. B5 works by helping your body to metabolize fats which would otherwise be later turned into sebum (oil) and excreted through the skin.

Small amounts of B5 won’t help though, and it has to be taken several times a day.

To help with acne, you will need to take 2.5 grams of pantothenic acid (the powder form is much easier to take), 4 times per day, for a total of 10 grams per day.

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera has been used for many years in kitchens for topical application to burns. Another benefit of aloe is that it can prevent scaring, fade marks and help heal acne spots.

You now have an idea of some basic household items you can use on your skin, that work better than many

Over the counter acne products, and are much cheaper to use. Since we have only really covered basic acne treatments, you can always take this to another level and take all natural, internal acne treatments.

This sums up our basic list of natural alternatives for chemical based acne treatment products. You can take this a step farther by attacking your acne from the inside out.

Acne has been shown numerous times to be very closely affected by the digestive system, so keeping your entire digestive system working as smooth as possible can help reduce acne. I will help give you a basic idea of some all natural products you can take to help clear up acne.

Cucumber, lemon and carrot juice, brewer’s yeast, and active charcoal pills are all capable of helping the digestive system function normally. Since the digestive system is closely related with the health of the skin, they should help reduce acne breakouts. Flax seed can also be wonderful for helping your skin heal faster.

Acne no more

Take a look at your acne problems and the good ways and bad ways of fighting the underlying reasons that you have acne in the first place. Acne no more is an ebook and is likely the best acne fighting book on the market. At $39.00 this is the Acne No More book and is a great investment in curing your acne and ultimately in helping you overall health at the same time. Check it out today and let me know if you think that this ebook is the best acne treatment!

Article source: http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/natural-acne-treatments.html