The Scene; You’re driving in your Volkswagen on a cool autumn day. You gaze out the window to admire the colorful foliage when out of nowhere a toddler on a big wheel rolls directly in front of your car. You slam on the breaks, just barely avoiding disaster.

You can feel your heart in your chest. It appears everything has slowed down. Your vision seems to have narrowed. Your once clogged sinuses are now clear. That nagging tendonitis you have had in your elbow seems to have temporarily gone away.

Your body has just given you a powerful dose of Epinephrine.

Epinephrine/Adrenaline

The fight of flight hormone. Your body releases epinephrine in response to short term stress situations. These situations tend to involve extreme changes in the environment, like those of temperature, noise, bright light, or children running in front of your car. The purpose of this temporary doping is to allow increased oxygen to reach the brain and skeletal muscle in order to allow for momentary peak performance. The type of performance one might have needed to escape from a sabre toothed cat 2 million years ago. The software in our bodies hasn’t really updated much since then.

Testosterone

For our purposes I’ll skip the sex education speech and go into the not-so-familiar method of elevating testosterone; through exercise. Studies have shown that using complex movements like squats and pull ups as opposed to leg extensions and biceps curls has a much greater impact on our bodies ability to naturally increase its testosterone levels. Testosterone offers us a plethora of benefits such as increased libido, mental and physical energy, decreased fat mass, and increased protein synthesis and bone density. Not bad for anyone whose goal is to either shed a few pounds or gain some lean muscle. Aside from using compound movements studies also seem to favor using heavy weights when trying to stimulate greater testosterone levels.

Cortisol

Like epinephrine, cortisol is also released due to stress. Its job is to try to bring your body’s systems back to homeostasis after an event. It does this by increasing blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood sugar. It also temporarily shuts down the immune system in order to cater to the other more important bodily systems. Unfortunately, some negative side effects of long term cortisol release can leave you pretty beat up on the inside. Your body is now more likely to store fat close to the vital organs in your gut so that it is more readily available for the next stressful event. A good way to spot the stressed out guy at your office is to look for the beer belly.

Although this article did not focus completely around exercise and fitness, it should be easy to see how knowing a little bit about the way things work on the inside can affect the way you look on the outside. Understand and learn your body; that is a major key to success in any fitness program.

Super geek and futurist Ray Kurzweil is known for his brilliant insight into the future of technology and computers.  

Upon reading an article about him on life extension I learned that he uses this ROM machine for quick, intense 4 minute workouts.  Much like the fast paced cardio workouts I prescribe to boost fat loss. It appears that Kurzweil is really on to something.  Come on, there’s no arguing that the guy is brilliant.  

I really believe that this is the future of fitness.  Long gone are the days where you spend hours a week at the gym receiving little to no results.  It’s all about quality intense workouts in a short period of time.  Although, I really don’t think you need a $14,000 machine to do this.

By the way The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology is a great book.  I highly reccomend it.  

The snow has me trapped in my house and I can not get out.

In an effort to entertain myself I came across this little gem.  Japanese, monkeys, bulldogs and fitness.  Enjoy!

Fitness advice from a bum?  Nope, it’s just me looking very homely today.

Listen to me ramble a little bit about the use of exercise equipment and why I don’t believe machines are gods gift to the gym.

How do you feel about training with machines?  Good?  Bad?  Is there a place for them in a solid fitness routine?  Let me know how you feel.

Sorry folks.  No new content today.  I’ve been mentally drained these last couple of days.

Here’s an old but funny one for you.

by Mike Roussell PhD(c)

http://www.thebuffgeek.com/warpspeedfatloss.php

What foods should I eat for maximum fat loss? This is a common question that I get from clients and friends. There is so much new information out there everyday “X food is now good for you but Y food is now bad.” How can you possibly sort through all the junk science and sensational reporting to truly find out which foods will help you lose weight and which foods won’t?

Let me help. Here’s a look at foods that you should eat to maximize fat loss. These foods are listed in no particular order because they are all important.

1. Salmon

While salmon was once demonized by the fitness community in the 90’s because of it’s fat content (I actually saw it in an article about ‘Foods to avoid for fat loss’) we now know that the long chain omega-3 fats found in salmon are the best kind. Research has shown that these fats can actually help you burn more fat. Salmon also contains high levels of protein – it is really the perfect package.

2. Almonds

Almonds are a great fat loss snack. Almonds are extremely convenient, portable, and they have a long shelf life. You should keep a small bag of almonds at your desk, in your briefcase, or backpack as an emergency weight loss snack. Almonds contain fat, fiber, and protein – all of which will help curb your hunger. They are also low in carbohydrates and provide your body with energy while keeping your blood sugar levels under control.

3. Broccoli

Broccoli is a true superfood. From a health perspective they contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that have been shown to help fight cancer. There is also some evidence to suggest that another compounds found in broccoli, Calcium D-glucarate, can bind excess estrogen in the body. It is a low impact carb with a nice dose of fiber. You can buy it fresh or frozen (broccoli cuts or florets – go with the florets). The bottom line is Eat Broccoli Often.

4. Green Tea

Green tea is another powerful food, like broccoli, that will have huge impacts on your fat loss and health. Green tea can be an acquired taste for some people as if you let it steep to long (e.g. leave the tea bag in the water) it can be very bitter. You can drink it hot or cold (if you opt for cold you may need to add a little splenda). Green tea contains cancer fighting compounds, not to mention antioxidants, caffeine, and the fat burning powerhouse EGCG. Research has shown that the combination of caffeine and EGCG (which is naturally combined in green tea) can help burn extra fat. Drink 2-3 cups a day. In fact I’m drinking some right now!

There you have it four time tested and research proven foods to help you burn more fat. If you aren’t eating (or drinking) all of these foods daily (or at least every couple days) then you are not doing everything possible to burn maximum fat. Add them to your diet, get healthier, and burn more fat.

About the Author/More Info:
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit Warp Speed Fat Loss. Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mike’s writings can be found in magazines such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss (Warp Speed Fat Loss) is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Here’s something I’m really excited about.  Not so much this initial product.  But I think it says something about the future of fitness.  If the FitBit is successful I can only imagine what will come in the near future.

Allow me to geek out a little …

I know it could be a far off dream but how cool would it be to look down at your iphone to simply check things like blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat, blood sugar, heart rate and other measurements that to this day you need a specialist or technician to tell you.

Here is the official press release.

Fitbit Inc. Launches at TechCrunch50 Providing Preview of Health and Wellness Device and Website

Ultra-Compact, Stylish Fitbit Tracker and Website Offer Effortless Way to Manage and Maintain Healthier Lifestyle

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 9, 2008 – Today, Fitbit Inc., a new company devoted to making America healthier, introduced the Fitbit Tracker and Website at the TechCrunch50 conference. Fitbit inspires people to exercise more, eat better and live a healthier lifestyle. The company’s newly introduced health and wellness monitoring tools make it easy for anyone to achieve a healthier lifestyle by automatically collecting data about a person’s daily activities and by presenting this data in a motivating and entertaining way.

The Fitbit Tracker is an ultra-compact wireless wearable device that automatically tracks and wirelessly uploads data about a person’s activities, such as exercise intensity levels, calories burned, sleep quality, steps and distance. It is as small as a pack of matches and clips securely onto any article of clothing or slips easily into a pocket. The Tracker uses motion sensing technology to precisely capture all moment-to-moment physical activity throughout the day and night. It also measures sleep quality to provide a holistic view of a 24-hour period. At the click of a button, calories, steps and distance are illuminated and displayed on the Tracker. In addition to these numerical measurements, the Tracker also displays a user’s progress toward their goals in the form of an avatar that changes as a user advances toward or falls behind their goals.

Data collected by the Fitbit Tracker is wirelessly uploaded to a Website where the wearer can see their information and track their progress toward personal goals. The Website’s motivational interface encourages users to share progress and lets people create groups made up of friends, family or co-workers to jointly work towards a common goal. On the Website, users can also log nutrition, weight and other health information in order to gain a complete picture of their health.

“We are excited to launch our company at TechCrunch50. Our goal is to make people aware of their overall fitness and well-being – and to use technology to accomplish this in a motivating and entertaining way that appeals to people beyond just hard-core athletes,” said James Park, CEO of Fitbit Inc. “At a time when studies show more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight, the Fitbit Tracker and Fitbit community Website are designed to break down barriers to physical fitness by offering a new and easy way to stay aware and motivated about your daily physical activity level and eating habits.”

The Fitbit Tracker and the Fitbit Website will be available by early 2009. The Fitbit Tracker will retail for less than $100; signing up on the Fitbit Website is free. Pre-order information is available today on www.fitbit.com.

Fitbit was selected as one of 50 up-and-coming companies to present at the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco out of more than 1,000 applications.

About Fitbit Inc.

Fitbit is devoted to helping people achieve everyday health and wellness. Fitbit provides a complete wellness solution focused on behavior change via awareness and motivation. For more information and to pre-order the Fitbit Tracker, please visit www.fitbit.com.

About TechCrunch50

Founded in 2007 by leading technology blog TechCrunch and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the TechCrunch50 conference provides a platform for early-stage, and frequently unfunded, companies to launch for the first time to the technology industry’s most influential venture capitalists, corporations, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs and the international media.  Companies are selected to participate exclusively on merit.  TechCrunch50 is supported by corporate sponsors Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Salesforce, MSN Money, Symantec, Thomson Reuters and Yahoo!, as well as venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Fund, Clearstone Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Founders Fund, Perkins Coie and Fenwick & West.

Recently I wrote an article for lifehack about activities you can do to replace regular exercise.

It seems as though I have missed one.  Parkour.

Check this out.  It doesn’t get much better than this.

Body Weight Movements

Plyometrics

Mobility

Danger

Fun

and bad ass ninja like skills.

I think I found myself a new hobbie.