OMEGA 3 FISH OIL: IT WILL PROLONG YOUR LIFE !

Recently the noise makers in the health industry have been bombarding us with all this information about good fat versus bad fat, sometimes it just gets so confusing that you don’t know what is what. Today they are harping about fat being the enemy, the next they tout the health benefits of consuming fat in your diet.

Until a few months ago I was as confused as the next guy. So I did some digging around and I discovered the wonderful health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids which is most popularly found as omega 3 fish oil. I know you are wondering if fish oil is all it’s cracked up to be and the short of it is yes! If you are not getting your daily dose of omega 3 by eating oily sea fish e.g. mackerel (Titus to you in Naija!) then you had better start now and if you can’t stand the taste of fish, start taking supplements.

FOODS THAT RAISE BAD CHOLESTEROL

Sequel to my last post on cholesterol, i have decided to write on the foods that raise your levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL).  With this list you will be able to make informed choices about what foods to eat and foods you should avoid. Let this list be a rough guide to your nutrition when it comes to cholesterol control. It is by no means exhaustive and if you know any foods I have omitted, I would be grateful for the feedback.

Thanks, and do have a wonderful day.

1.       Egg Yolk:

The yolk of egg has the most cholesterol of any food with 1234mg per 100gram serving or 411% of the recommended daily value. A single egg yolk will provide 210mg (70%) of daily value of cholesterol, while a whole egg provides slightly more with 212mg (71%). Thus all the cholesterol in egg is in the yolk. Hence my advice to you is to avoid egg yolk as much as possible.

MORE AWESOME BODY TRANSFORMATIONS!

Today i am not going to write much, i want these awesome body transformations from everyday people to speak for themselves. I know its tough finding motivation to work out, but if these people could so can you! So enjoy these pictures and i hope they motivate you to get active and healthy today. All pictures are courtesy of bodybuilding.com.

Do have a wonderful day.

10 Things you probably don’t know about Sylvester Stallone

We here at corefitness cant get enough of the sly one. His life should be made into a movie! He rose from poverty and ill health to become one of the biggest stars of the 20th century and also one of the truly fit celebrities of our time. In previous posts we have looked at how he became a health and fitness icon as well as one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Today i want to round off  on a light note with this fun trivia on Stallone. How many of this facts did you know before today?  Give us a shout  by subscribing to our weekly post.

Do have a lovely day!

1.       HE WAS BORN WITH THAT SNEER ON HIS FACE:

 Sly was born on the 6^th of July 1946 with his trade mark sneer; it was caused by an inexperienced medical intern who helped deliver him. Rough use of medical forceps cut a facial never in baby Sylvester causing the permanent droopy look and sneer. Didn’t seem to affect his career though! 

2.       HE WAS BULLIED AT SCHOOL:

Young Sylvester was a short skinny kid who got bullied frequently at school and as a result got obsessed with getting big and strong like Steve reeves(pictured below)

LADIES! 8 WAYS TO GET RID OF YOUR LOVE HANDLES

First off I have to apologize in advance to anybody who wants to get in shape in time for Valentine’s Day. These tips are coming way too late to be of help on February 14^th. You are just going to rely on your charm, wit and internal beauty to be in shape for your loved ones. However don’t fret we still have over 300 days for you to be in your best shape and feel like the star you are in 2014.

Today I am giving you 8 special exercises that you can incorporate in your daily workout to help you get rid of the ironically named love handles. If you don’t know what love handles are then we both have a long way to go. For those of you still wondering, Love handles are those rolls of fat on the waist. Ubiquitous, unsightly and annoying they ruin the fit of your clothes and make you look unhealthy. If you want to banish your love handles, then I recommend these exercises for you.

These exercises are not just for the ladies alone but for the guys also because love handles do not discriminate against either sex! So in the spirit of love and sharing I present my Valentine’s Day gift to you all.

For inspirational purposes I am also attaching some awesome transformational pictures of everyday people who decided to take charge of their bodies and get rid of their love handles. Hope they motivate you to achieve your true potential.

Do have a lovely day!

BICYCLE CRUNCH:

REMEMBERING BIG PUN, AND HOW TO AVOID HIS FATE!

                               

He is virtually forgotten now; one would have thought that would be impossible given his massive girth! Today marks the 14^th anniversary of the death of Christopher lee Rios, better known as Big pun. He died on February 7^th 2000 of a massive heart attack at the peak of a successful but ultimately short career that only showed the beginnings of what would have been a successful career. In case you are wondering what big pun has got to do with a fitness and health blog, don’t worry his is a cautionary tale of how you could lose that which we should cherish above all: good health and life itself.

Dwayne " The Rock " Johnson Workout video 2013

THE STALLONE SYSTEM: GAIN WEIGHT, WITHOUT GETTING FAT!

This piece was inspired by an old secondary school friend of mine, let’s call him KC. Now must of us guys in our thirties are currently engaged in a battle with our waistline and generally we are losing it! Most guys are struggling to lose weight, trim down and stay in shape. Now KC’s problem is the exact opposite because he struggles to maintain a healthy weight and be fit and his asked me for advice. Now I love a good challenge so I delved into the archives and came up with this wonderful training advice from Sylvester Stallone.

Now we all agree that sly is the epitome of fitness and dedication to one’s objectives and he has inspired and continues to inspire millions of guys (and ladies) to be in their shape no matter their age. Sly is 66 now but, I am willing to bet he is in far better physical condition than most of us in our thirties! (check out the previous video post of old man sly still doing his thing!!)Sly wasn’t always so ripped and muscular as you can see. He too was underweight as a young man and had to overcome physical and mental barriers to get to where he is today, both physically and professionally.

SYLVESTER STALLONE TRAINING ABS ROCKY 4 STYLE AT 65

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COKE ZERO? DRINK WITH CAUTION!

It’s supposed to be the perfect carbonated soft drink. You get all the taste and flavour of drinking coke and none of the sugar associated with regular coke. Great deal right? The answer to that is not so fast, there are certain unanswered issues when dealing with coke zero and it revolves around a major ingredient: 

aspartame.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that is used as a sugar substitute in coke zero, it is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and contains almost zero calories. Now, you might ask me what’s all the fuss about a coke zero and the answer is many people are now drinking coke zero to avoid sugar consumption in regular soft drinks and might not know what they getting themselves into.

A NEW YEAR, SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!

Let me start with apologies. The last time I signed in was in later October 2013 and for that I owe you all a sincere apology. Even with the best of intentions life’s challenges can make you lose track, and I have to admit I have been off track for the past three months.

I want to promise you that in this New Year I will strive to be totally focused and committed. I promise a better, more interesting and interactive blog. I will not wander off! Guys forgive me. I’m back!

THE ELEVEN COMMANDMENTS OF GYM ETIQUETTE

The gym is a wonderful place, we go there to for different reasons; to get fit, to get ripped some even go just to socialize and make friends. Whatever your reasons just remember that the gym is a social space and like all social spaces there are rules that guide behaviour. You may not have given it much thought till now, but its true and you will be judged by your behaviour in the gym.

What I would like to do today is to give you my own set of commandments to live by in the gym. They will help you make the most of your gym membership and help you achieve your fitness goals that much quicker. These rules are for everybody, even if you have never paused to admire yourself in front of those huge gym mirrors! (Hopefully all my nagging on this blog will drive you to one in the nearest future!).

So, sit back and have a wonderful read and do me a favour; pass it on.

Do have a wonderful day.

1.       ALWAYS RETURN THE WEIGHTS AFTER USING:

This is my number one commandment, and my pet peeve. It is extremely annoying and frustrating having to search all the nooks and crannies of the weight room for dumbbells, weights and attachments. Please once you are done return all weights to their proper positions, that’s what the racks are for. It’s also a safety issue as weights left carelessly around can and do cause injury in the gym.

THE POWER OF LAUGHTER AND THE FUNNIEST QUOTES IN SPORTS!

Laughter is the best medicine! Whoever coined that phrase must have really been unto something because it turns out that laughter really is as good as medicine. According to a recent study by scientists from the University of Wisconsin, laughing can add years to your age by improving your health. The benefits associated with laughter include:

LOWER YOUR BLOOD SUGAR WITH APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Apple cider vinegar it turns out is the new wonder potion of our time. I stumbled upon it while doing some research on blood sugar and diabetes. I bet that right about now you are probably asking yourself, what in the world is apple cider vinegar?

Apple cider vinegar is apple juice that has been fermented twice over to get first apple cider, then apple cider vinegar. It is a moderately acidic compound that has been around for many years but is only now being acknowledged for its ability to reduce spikes in blood sugar.

Why is apple cider vinegar so important to you? Well in Nigeria today diabetes is one of the fastest growing chronic illnesses. It is thought that about 20% of adults over 40 years old are either diabetic or pre diabetic. Our diet is now full of processed carbohydrates like noodles, white rice and bread that have a high glycemic index (high sugar) and as a result many of us are at risk of developing this condition which is lifelong, very expensive to manage and potentially fatal if not well managed.

HOW YOU CAN DEFEAT HYPERTENSION THE SILENT KILLER!

Imagine this; after months and months of nagging from your wife (Men generally feel too macho for regular health checks!) you finally drag yourself to the doctor and undertake a medical. The doctor looks at you and says “you have hypertension” what would you feel? Shock,  fear or confusion?

You would probably feel a mix of all three, and you are not alone. It is estimated that at least 30% of adults suffer from persistent high blood pressure which leads to hypertension. This means your chances of suffering from this are pretty high, and it gets better as hypertension symptoms are not easy to spot and you might have it for years without knowing! If this condition is left untreated, it can be potentially fatal.

Now, you might be wondering is he trying to scare me. The short answer is yes! I hope that you read this get scared and get tested to know your blood pressure. This is very personal to me as I have recently experienced the death of someone close to my family who had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Typical for us Nigerians he didn’t take it too seriously would rather take “agbo” than his medications and was in bad physical shape. He had a stroke in February, and was paralyzed on the left side of his body. Unfortunately he never recovered and died from a second stroke a month later. He leaves behind a wife and three little children.

This could have been you. Read this piece, act on it and I promise you that this will not be you. If you read this, you will find out the causes and effects of hypertension and how you can avoid it, if you act on the knowledge, I promise you will not have to live in fear of hypertension.

Do read this, pass it on to anyone you know over the age of 35 and together we can beat hypertension.

Do have a wonderful day.

WHAT IS HYPERTENSION? :

ABDOMINAL AND CORE TRAINING MISTAKES TO AVOID

Abs, everyone wants them! We all desire that lean and muscular belly (yes even you, don’t deny it!) Many guys love to show off their biceps and chest, but take a glance at their bellies and you see that beer gut or pot belly well on its way and that look is just not cool.

You might not have the biggest arms or a barrel chest, don’t worry they come a dime a dozen.  If you build a flat and chiseled core and you will stand out from the crowd because having a strong core gives you the look that screams, I am fit, healthy and virile. Unfortunately, many of us in our desire to build that solid core take up the wrong advice from dubious sources. This ends up hindering our efforts to build the strong core of our dreams and leads to frustration.

What I want to do today is to highlight the fundamental errors you are making in your core training that hinders the development your corefitness (I couldn't resist that!) please read through them I am sure you will find it helpful and even if you are not training your core today, I hope this piece inspires you to change your thinking and motivate you to get core fitness tomorrow.

Do have a wonderful day.

1.       YOU DO ONLY SIT UPS AND CRUNCHES:

FOODS THAT LOWER BAD CHOLESTEROL

This is the final installment in our series on cholesterol, here I just want to highlight for you some foods you can eat to help lower bad cholesterol. Do you remember LDL? That’s your bad cholesterol. Today I want to show you some heart friendly foods you can include in your diet, while removing some bad ones! So if you want to reduce your risk of developing heart disease please read on and I promise you more power because knowledge is power.

Do have a wonderful day.

1.       Whole grain Oatmeal:

If you are serious about reducing bad cholesterol, the key is to start with a healthy breakfast, and they don’t come much healthier than whole grain rolled oats, nutritionists estimated that two servings of whole grained oats a week can lower your bad cholesterol by approximately 5.5% in six weeks. The key to this is a substance called beta-glucan that absorbs LDL which your body then excretes.

2.       Red Wine:

Yet another reason to drink up! Thank you science! On a serious note it turns out that red wine is another cholesterol buster. A study from a Spanish university has established that red wine can reduce cholesterol by about 12% in about 3 months. Now the bad news, you must drink in moderation, this means no more than 30cl a day for men and 15cl a day for women. Anything more and the wine becomes a health problem and not a cholesterol buster. Sorry.

CHOLESTEROL: WHATS IT ALL ABOUT?

You have probably heard this many times, “my cholesterol is too high”, this an all too familiar term in our modern life. People are constantly being diagnosed with high cholesterol or being told to watch it, so we all become scared of cholesterol. It must be some evil force stalking us, choking our system from the inside!

To be honest with you, my knowledge of cholesterol was like every ones else’s –close to zero!  All I knew was that it was bad and killed people! Then I heard something unbelievable, there is good and bad cholesterol! I was stunned. No it’s got to be some scam I thought, so I decided to do some digging around and this is the result.

This piece will give you the information you need to know and it will help increase your knowledge of cholesterol. What it is, the good and bad types, foods that increase and reduce them and why you should know your blood cholesterol levels. Read this piece and I promise you will move beyond the hype and fear to find out what you need to know about cholesterol, why you should be concerned and whether it is as bad as they say. Knowledge is power, read this and build some serious power!

Happy reading.

WHAT IS CHOLESTEROL?

Basically it’s a fatty wax like material that is found in your blood. It is produced in your liver and helps your body to produce hormones like estrogen, testosterone etc. it’s also help you process vitamin D and also produce bile, which helps you digest fat. So it serves a purpose in your system, there are basically two types of cholesterol, let’s call them good and bad cholesterol.