Smoking: How It Helps Destroy Your Fit & Healthy Body

Smoking, does it really help you feel relieved of stress?

Here's the real truth about smoking. If you haven't done it you can't enjoy it. The enjoyment is not pleasure in the sense of a sensation that can easily be described to someone who has never experienced it. It is simply the feeling of topping up the nicotine that is already in your body. Be honest - the first time you smoked it smelt, tasted and felt awful. It actually still does! Your mind is just disguising the fact from you.

Here's an experiment for all the smokers or maybe even for the non-smokers who want to try it out.

Take a stick of cigarette and a piece of tissue paper or a white cloth. Light the cigarette and give it a hit without inhaling the smoke (Just leave it in your mouth). Then blow it to the tissue/cloth that you have, see the change in color? Now take another stick, light it up and give it a good draw, this time, you inhale the smoke. Blow it to another side of the tissue/cloth. See any changes? NONE! That's what you inhale to your lungs in every draw of a cigarette stick.

Basically, smoking doesn't help anyone at all in staying fit and unhealthy. It is scientifically proven that smokers have weaker lungs compared to non-smokers, meaning, will cut your normal time on the treadmill or your normal time while lapping in the pool. The greatest danger of smoking, of course is the lung cancer that it can cause to your body. However, I'd like to focus on how it is a hindrance in being able to stay fit and healthy.

It weakens your lungs. I am truly emphasizing this line because a lot of smokers out there pale in comparison to non-smokers when it comes to endurance in sports. It gives you negative resistance against lung cancer and you'll need a lot of potions to counter that attack. Kidding aside, it seriously brings your lungs down to its knees. If you think of your life expectancy plotted on a graph, your decline towards death will be much steeper than a non-smoker. But not only that, your quality of life will suffer and will not be as good as a non-smoker. The health risks of smoking are more severe the older you are, particularly when you get into your 50's.

Well, it is not always too late to quit cigarette smoking. The good news is that you don't have to wait years to see all the good effects of stopping smoking. Your health will start to improve within minutes of stopping smoking as your body rids itself of harmful toxins. Within 20 minutes of stopping smoking, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. After eight hours, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood reduce by half, and your oxygen levels return to normal. Over the next few hours and days, you will see other beneficial changes, such as your lungs clearing themselves out and becoming strong again, your sense of smell and taste improving, and your breathing becoming clearer - That's if you quit smoking but if you plan to continue, this video will show you what happens if you smoke at least 400 sticks of cigarettes.

The Untold Benefits of Cardio -- better sex and improved brainpower

What is Cardio?

Before we begin to talk about the benefits of cardio, we must first know what exactly it is. Cardio, also known as cardiovascular or aerobic exercise, refers to any physical activities that increases the heart rate of a person. Now that we know this, let's take a look at the many benefits cardio has to offer.

I'm sure that everyone knows one of the benefits cardio has, which is weight loss. It's true, if you wanna lose weight, you have to start building up a sweat by exercising but it isn't the only benefit it has. What many people don't know is that cardio improves the overall wellness of the body and mind. In other words,  it makes you feel good about yourself. Let's face it, many of us hate doing cardio because it's tiring and boring but once you hear the untold benefits of cardio, you might want to hit the treadmill more! 

Better Sex

"lets you hold unusual positions"

What do I mean by improving the wellness of the body? Well, it has been proven that cardio strengthens our heart and lungs and also improves our muscle endurance. This all leads to one thing..... a better sex life. How is that possible? Well first of all, it makes your body look good. Who wouldn't want see a good physique..... naked, right? 

As I already mentioned, it improves muscle endurance. This lets you do things that you wouldn't normally be able to do and also lets you hold unusual positions. By doing regular cardio, you improve your stamina meaning you won't get tired easily. This lets you last longer and have more time to please your partner. This also boosts your energy level which will lead to more energy for sex. Cardio also improves blood circulation throughout the body, including the sexual organs resulting in better performance and more fun.

Improved Brainpower

"allows you to make smarter decisions"

Cardio doesn't only improve your sex life. Studies show that it also improves your brainpower. What happens is that once you start doing your cardio workouts, it sends the blood into your brain signaling the production of certain hormones such as serotonin, which is responsible for boosting your mood; dopamine, which affects learning and attention; and norepinephrine, which influences perception, motivation, and arousal. This chemical mix allows you to process information better which allows you to make smarter decisions.

Productivity also increases when you exercise compared to those who don't exercise. The effects are somewhat like drinking a cup of coffee. By timing your exercises before you start working, you actually increase your level of performance. Another output of cardio is a boost in memory. There was a study published which said that people did well in memory tests after a 30 minute cardio exercise. You might want to add a little cardio in your routine after reading this.

What's next?

I'm sure after reading this your first reaction will be a complete disbelief but after letting it sink in, your next reaction is to join the first cycling class you see. Of course, there are many ways to do cardio exercises. Try to do different things and not the same old stuff so you wont get bored. Join a dance class, a kickboxing class, a cycling class, a yoga class, and whatever classes that are available out there because aside from being able to break a sweat, you'll be meeting new people. No time to join a class? Then why not go jogging or swimming. These are also great ways to engage in some cardio workout. Do at least 30 minutes of cardio, three times a week and you'll see the results within the next few weeks. So what are you waiting for? Wanna have a better sex life? Wanna be more productive? Then start doing your cardio exercises! 

What gets you going.

CAUTION: ENERGY DRINKS ARE NOT NECESSARILY SPORTS DRINKS

Energy Drinks:
Energy drinks are designed to infuse stimulants into your body such as caffeine, ginseng, etc. Such stimulants have a sort of an "adrenaline" effect to the body, giving it a sudden burst of energy. Although that these drinks keeps you going, it DOES NOT replace lost body fluids in the process of exercise! It only stimulates but not replenish. This may be harmful to your system.

Sports Drinks:
Sports drinks are scientifically designed to be most effective during exercise. Its ingredients have a certain ratio for effective absorption by the body. Sports drinks contain water, salts, and sugars. Salt prevents hyponatremia and water intoxication (consuming large amounts of water without any salt). Sugars provides energy for muscles to perform different kinds of exercises. All these together keeps your body safe from dehydration and other health hazards caused by strenuous exercises.

CHOOSE YOUR SPORTS DRINK:

GATORADE - REHYDRATE, REPLENISH, REFUEL



Comes in different flavors:
Blue Bolt, Orange Chill, Grape, Tropical Fruit
Pink Lemonade, Lemon Lime



100PLUS - OUTDO YOURSELF!



Comes in 3 Flavors:
Original, Tangy Tangerine, Lemon Lime

Fat Freezing = Fat Burning?

"Michael Phelps eats 12000 calories per day..." - How on Earth does he do it?

Let's say, a normal person with a weight of 170 ran a 26.2-mile marathon, he would only burn around 2,600 calories, which is just three-quarters of a fat. How could Phelps eat an extra 9,000 calories per day? In order for Phelps to burn those kinds of calories above and beyond what his resting metabolic rate was, he had to burn 860 calories an hour at competitive swimming rates, meaning he would have to sustain more than 10 HOURS of continuous butterfly every day. Obviously, he can't do that.

So how does he burn all those calories? - It is the thermal load of the water. Water is 24 times more thermally conductive than air. Phelps spends three or four hours a day in the water. The effect was the same as pouring hot coffee into a metal cup instead of a ceramic mug; the
former loses calories (heat) much faster. Running a marathon might burn 2,600 calories, but working out in an 27°C pool for four hours could burn up to an extra 4,000 calories, if one considered thermal load.

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SCIENCE ALERT!
(If you are already convinced that low temperatures can increase fat-burn then skip this)

Basically, there are two types of fat.
1. White Adipose Tissue (WAT)
2. Brown Adipose Tissue (WAT)

WAT is what we usually think of as fat, like the marbling on a steak. A WAT cell, an adipocyte is composed of a single large fat droplet with a single nucleus.

BAT, the “fat-burning fat” appears to be derived from the same stem cells as muscle tissue. A BAT cell is composed of multiple droplets that are brown in color because of a much higher volume of iron-containing mitochondria. BAT helps dissipate excess calories as heat. These excess calories would otherwise be stored in the aforementioned WAT and end up in your belly.

Cold stimulates BAT to burn fat and glucose as heat. In other words, cold might help you increase the amount of your “fat-burning” fat.
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Here are a few ways you can experiment with for fat-loss:

1. Place an ice pack on the back of the neck area for 20-30 minutes in the evening, when insulin sensitivity is at its lowest.

2. Consume at least 500 milliliters of ice water on an empty stomach immediately upon waking up. This water consumption has been shown to increase resting metabolic rate at 24-30%. After drinking, eat breakfast 20-30 minutes later. (Preferably the Slow-Carb Diet, one of our earlier posts)

3. Take 5-10 minute COLD showers before breakfast and/or before bed. This is a killer if you are not used to it. Expect it to wake you up in the morning.