Life Cleanse - Colon Cleanse
April 30, 2009
Life Cleanse is a colon cleansing product that can help you lose weight, become healthier, and even help increase your metabolism. It can also help decrease gas and bloating and flush toxins from your system.
Pros » Life Cleanse can flush toxins and waste from your body. » There is a free trial of Life Cleanse, so you can use it before you buy. » You may lose between 5 and 15 pounds by using Life Cleanse. » Life Cleanse includes antioxidants.
Ingredients
There is no list of ingredients on the product’s website, but the company does claim Life Cleanse is all natural Why Should I Take Life Cleanse? You should take Life Cleanse if you want to flush toxins from your body and want to improve your overall digestive health.
Benefits of Life Cleanse
Life Cleanse will help you lose 5 to 15 pounds, flush toxins from your body, and may even help increase your metabolism. Diet While Taking Life Cleanse, While taking Life Cleanse, you should eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly.
FAQ about Life Cleanse
- Life Cleanse Colon Cleanse: Life Cleanse does help cleanse your colon and flush waste from your system.
- Does Life Cleanse give you Diarrhea? No, Life Cleanse is made from natural ingredients and should not cause diarrhea, although increase bowel movements may occur while the wastes are being flushed from your body.
- Is Life Cleanse Safe for Diabetics and Teenagers? Yes, the product is safe for anyone, although diabetics and teens should check with their doctors before using Life Cleanse.
- Life Cleanse Recommended Dosage: Life Cleanse should be taken as directed on the bottle.
- Life Cleanse Side Effects: The product has no side effects since it is all natural.
Life Cleanse Colon Cleanser Reviews - Tips on Using Life Cleanse Supplements
April 30, 2009
After featuring on Oprah’s Best Life Series, the term - ‘colon cleansers’ has generated lot of interest. The colon cleansers were always there in the market and people used to take them for various health issues. Now they are being considered in a major way for weight reduction. One among the lot is Life Cleanse supplements.
Many users have claimed colon cleansing with several benefits, especially weight loss. Let us review the benefits and ingredients:
1.Starting from the core, with the fast life we lead today all of us have shifted to the fast food culture.
2. It is mainly because most of us do not find the time to cook for ourselves. Then we rather bank on the frozen foods or the processed ones.
3.As a result, our body is deprived of all the nutritional values of the food.
4. But we are ignorant to that fact that with these fast foods & processed foods we have increased the intake of fats & toxins in our body.
5.This has lead to innumerable ailments among one & all.
6.The doctors & dieticians always refer to the term ‘roughage.’
7. Basically roughage is nothing but the fiber content of the food that has very less fats and yet is capable of satisfying the appetite.
8.For this the experts always suggest the dieters to take a lot of salads & raw foods in their meals.
9. Fiber can simply be divided in to 2 categories as per the physical characteristics & its affects on our body: i. Water insoluble that is the course fiber ii. Muciligenic types.
10. Insoluble fibers, for instance cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, etc. have very less caloric value and satisfy one’s appetite.
11.The muciligenic fibers like gums, pectins, cereals, etc. are the soluble ones.
12. Now our intestines work towards waste disposal in the body. The food is then formed in to a liquid and it moves in to the small intestine; then in to the colon for the final processing.
13.Now the water & minerals are further re-absorbed. This leaves a semi solid waste that is evacuated from the rectum.
14. Any flaw in this process leads to the storage of toxins in the body. It also leads to innumerable chronic & day-to-day ailments.
15. Life Cleanse inculcates a rich supply of supplemental fibres &cleansing agents in the body that help you combat the backlog & the toxins.
Life Policy 101
April 29, 2009
Everyone Really Needs Life Insurance.. Especally Since The FLU is going around.. For a Free Quote Check Out Life Policy 101.
Swine Influenza (Flu)
April 28, 2009
Article Summary:
Swine Flu is spreading all over the usa. Tamiflu helps prevent but is very expensive and limited. Acai Berry has tamiflu in it and has been proven to stop the swine flu. A Free and Limited trial is going on right now. Everyone should go here and get their supply.
Swine flu
Swine influenza (also swine flu) refers to influenza caused by any strain of the influenza virus that is endemic in pigs (swine).
Signs and symptoms:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A few more patients than usual have also reported diarrhea and vomiting.
Prevention And Treatment:
Tamiflu or any product that contains tamiflu in it such as acai x3.
Tamiflu is used to treat some types of influenza (flu) in patients who have had symptoms of the flu for 2 days or less. Tamiflu works by stopping the growth and spread of the flu virus in your body. Oseltamivir helps shorten the time you have flu symptoms such as nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, muscle aches, tiredness, headache, fever, and chills.
Where to get tamiflu free trials?
Believe it or not Acai Berry has Tamiflu in it….. By taking Acai Berry you can prevent Swine.. Their is a free trial right now going on so if you want to prevent swine flu make sure you go get your free trial here.
Tai Chi & Tai Chi Benefits
October 29, 2008
Tai Chi & Tai Chi Benefits :-
Tai Chi is an internal Chinese martial art. It is often promoted and practiced as a martial arts therapy for the purposes of health and longevity. Tai Chi is considered a soft style martial art, an art applied with as much deep relaxation or “softness” in the musculature as possible, to distinguish its theory and application from that of the hard martial art styles which use a degree of tension in the muscles.
Variations of Tai Chi basic training forms are well known as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice every morning in parks across China and other parts of the world.
Traditional Tai Chi training is intended to teach awareness of one’s own balance and what affects it, awareness of the same in others, an appreciation of the practical value in one’s ability to moderate extremes of behavior and attitude at both mental and physical levels, and how this applies to effective self-defense principles.
Tai chi, sometimes called tai chi chuan, is a noncompetitive, self-paced system of gentle physical exercise and stretching. To do tai chi, you perform a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner. Each posture flows into the next without pausing.
Anyone, regardless of age or physical ability, can practice tai chi. It doesn’t take physical prowess. Rather, tai chi emphasizes technique over strength.
Stress reduction through tai chi :-
(1) Reducing anxiety and depression.
(2) Improving balance and coordination.
(3) Reducing the number of fall.
(4) Improving sleep quality, such as staying asleep longer at night and feeling more alert during the day.
(5) Slowing bone loss in women after menopause.
(6) Lowering blood pressure.
(7) Improving cardiovascular fitness.
(8) Relieving chronic pain.
(9) Improving everyday physical functioning.
Pregnancy & Tai Chi:-
Tai Chi is also beneficial for pregnant women who have never done any forms of exercise before as it reduces the chances of these women injuring themselves. Other exercises, even yoga, involve a certain amount of moving that could be a problem for pregnant women in later trimesters.
Coping with changes in body size, lifestyle and work can be stressful for a pregnant woman. This is where the mediation portion of Tai Chi kicks in. Deep breathing and helping the mind to focus on the slow repetitive movements of the breathing, provides relief to these external changes. Tai Chi also teaches patience and enhancing such a quality would be beneficial especially when the baby arrives.
Cancer & Tai Chi :-
Those who promote the use of tai chi say that it helps to balance qi or chi - the vital energy or life force of the body. Balanced qi is said to prevent illness, improve health, and extend life expectancy. Tai chi also is based on the ancient theory of yin and yang and those who promote the use of tai chi for cancer patients say that balancing yin and yang helps patients to achieve inner harmony.
Basic Weight Loss Mistakes
October 17, 2008
A lot of us are out there watching what we eat and exercising, but still not making a dent in our bellies and body weight. There are a few things we are probably not doing, or doing too much of, that would mean major improvements in our health.
Get more sleep. After a very short period of time (about 6 nights), studies show that your glucose levels can rise if you get only 4 to 7 hours of sleep each night. New parents are excluded, but everyone else should try to hit the 8 hour mark as often as you can and get to bed BEFORE midnight. Every hour of rest before 12 a.m. is twice as valuable as the hours after midnight: Our cortisol levels are lowest before midnight therefore our recovery is the highest.
Eating fewer refined and processed foods. Avoid fast and fried food and try to consume as many real foods as you can. It’s also imperative to get enough fiber (helps with elimination); fruits and veggies are a great way to fill up.
Avoid sugary drinks and reach for more water. Water is great for so many things like digestion, eliminating toxins in the body, and transporting important nutrients to our cells which need energy to burn calories. Americans drink 20% of their calories, so be careful of that silent pitfall.
Get to know your kitchen. I realize it takes more work, but the simple truth is we eat out or order in too often. There is a greater opportunity to control what is in your food if you cook it yourself.
Slow down. When you do sit down to a meal, don’t wolf it down. Our culture encourages eating while driving or sitting at our desks. The only time we seem to sit down and enjoy our food is at Thanksgiving. The monks chew each bite of food 100 times (which is excessive), but they also eat only until they are full. They recognize that chewing their food more makes it easier for the body to digest.
Breathe. There are so many days that I don’t breathe deeply. In the morning, mid-afternoon, and at the end of the day take a 10 conscious, belly-deep breaths. Close your eyes, pull that air deep into your stomach via your nose and let all the junk out through your mouth. Whether its a stressful day, or you just want to start and end your day on the right foot, breathing is important.
Don’t starve yourself. Oddly enough some of you may not be eating enough, and the lack of calories is putting your body into save mode. Our bodies are so brilliant, and if they aren’t getting enough food, your metabolism will tell your body to store each and every calorie it receives or to make energy from whatever muscle tissue you have. Not good. Oh and by the way, don’t skip breakfast. People who skip breakfast are over 4 times more likely to be overweight.
Do more than exercise. Even if you are working out, you can’t eat and drink whatever you want. It really is a three sided puzzle: balancing exercise, food, and (oh yes) the spirit (which stress and happiness play into).
I wish you the greatest of success, and remember, being healthy is like making your bed. It really is something we have to work at everyday.
America’s Worst Breakfast Foods
October 17, 2008
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of eating breakfast. Studies show that people who take time for a morning meal consume fewer calories over the course of the day, have stronger cognitive skills, and are 30 percent less likely to be overweight or obese. Beyond that, people who skip breakfast are more likely to drink alcohol and smoke, and they’re less likely to exercise.
But just because breakfast is the most important meal of the day doesn’t grant you permission to go into a feeding frenzy. But that’s exactly what many of the country’s most popular breakfast joints are setting you up for, by peddling fatty scrambles, misguided muffins, and pancakes that look like manhole covers.
These foods are loaded with unhealthy fats, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates, which catapult your blood sugar, sap your energy levels, and tell your body to store fat.
To help you avoid the morning mishaps, we searched out the good, the bad, and the greasy, and uncovered some of the worst breakfast foods in America. We’ve presented a sampling of the worst offenders below. It’s like a lineup down at the local police station, except in this case, they’re all guilty as charged.
Worst Side Dish
Burger King Hash Browns (large)
620 calories
40 g fat (11 g saturated; 13 g trans)
1,200 mg sodium
60 g carbs
Yes, you’re ingesting more than a meal’s worth of calories from a side dish, but the real cause for concern here is that these little potato cakes pack seven times more trans fats than you’re supposed to eat all day! Until BK learns to cut out the partially hydrogenated oils, avoid encounters with potatoes of any kind at that fatty food joint.
Eat This Instead!
Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan’wich
300 calories
17 g fat (6 g saturated; 2 g trans)
740 mg sodium
26 g carbs
Worst Breakfast Sandwich
Hardee’s Monster Biscuit
710 calories
51 g fat (17 g saturated)
2,250 mg sodium
37 g carbohydrates
When they say “Monster,” they mean it. This 700-calorie behemoth should be enough to scare anyone: It contains nearly a full day’s worth of sodium and saturated fat. Instead try the Sunrise Croissant with Bacon. It’s not exactly diet-friendly, but if you’re stuck at Hardee’s, it’s a way to escape without too much damage.
Eat This Instead!
Hardee’s Sunrise Croissant with Bacon
450 calories
29 g fat (12 g saturated)
900 mg sodium
28 g carbs
Worst Kids Meal
Denny’s Big Dipper French Toastix with margarine and syrup
770 calories
71 g fat (13 g saturated)
107 g carbs
As important as it is for mom and dad to eat a good breakfast each morning, it’s even more critical that their kids do. After all, breakfast affects their energy levels, metabolism, and performance in school. Better think twice before feeding them these dubious little sticks. For more healthy kids’ choices, check out Eat This, Not That! for Kids.
Eat This Instead!
Kid’s D-Zone Smiley Alien Hotcakes
340 calories
12 g fat (5 g saturated)
49 g carbs
Worst Pastry
Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll
813 calories
32 g fat (5 g trans fat)
117 g carbs
You wouldn’t start your day with three brownies, would you? As far as your body knows, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing if you wake up with this cinnamon-swirled disaster area. In fact, because Cinnabon offers no healthy alternatives, you’ll have to invite friends (or enemies?) to share the risky roll, or steer clear of Cinnabon altogether.
Worst Smoothie
Smoothie King Grape Expectations II (40 oz.)
1,102 calories
256 g sugars
740 mg sodium
Why Smoothie King would even offer a 40 oz. serving size is beyond us. With more than half the calories you need in a day and the sugar equivalent of 12 Haagen Dasz ice cream bars, this “drink” should be renamed “diabetes in a glass.” Just goes to show you the importance of drinking responsibly.
Drink This Instead!
Smoothie King Low Carb Strawberry Smoothie (20 oz.)
268 calories
3 g sugars
176 mg sodium
Worst Combo Meal
McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast
1,360 calories
64 g fat (22 g saturated)
2,325 mg sodium
160 g carbs
49 g sugars
With four vehicles for refined carbohydrates (biscuit, hash browns, hotcakes, syrup), this “deluxe” disaster will send your blood sugar soaring. Why blow nearly an entire day’s calories under the arches, when a perfectly satisfying Egg McMuffin will save you more than 1,000 calories?
Eat This Instead!
McDonald’s Egg McMuffin with coffee
310 calories
12 g fat (5 g saturated)
820 mg sodium
30 g carbs
3 g sugars
Worst Omelet
IHOP Big Steak Omelet
1,490 calories
(No additional nutrition information available)
IHOP doesn’t provide nutritional information aside from calorie counts, but with a boatload of steak, a bucket of cheese, and handfuls of hash browns, this omelet’s fat and sodium numbers are surely just as appalling.
Eat This Instead!
IHOP For Me Garden Scramble
440 calories
The Worst Breakfast in America
Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes
1,543 calories
77 g fat (26 g saturated; 9 g trans)
2,259 mg sodium
198 g carbs
109 g sugars
It’s not a good sign when it takes you nearly five seconds to spit out the name of your breakfast. This bad boy packs in more than 75 percent of your calories for the day, along with more sugar and fat than nine glazed Dunkin’ Donuts, and nearly as much sodium as five Bloody Marys.
Eat This Instead!
3 Scrambled Egg Beaters with 2 slices of bacon and fresh fruit
314 calories
19.5 g fat (5 g saturated)
700 mg sodium
21 g carbs
18 g sugars
Apples: The Live Longer Fruit
October 17, 2008
The beginning of autumn means that we’re entering apple season, which will be a time of cider, desserts, and the crisp, wholesome goodness of the fruit freshly picked from your local orchard. Apples have been a staple of healthy eating for many years, and the often-repeated line of an apple a day keeping the doctor away is far from a myth. Apples really do have a wonderful variety of nutritional benefits, and are a tasty addition to any diet of good health and longevity.
Of all of the fruits we eat, apples are the best source of pectin, a natural fiber that has several health benefits. Apples also contain phytochemicals, quercetin, tannins, and antioxidants, all of which have different healthy properties. Below is a list of the top five benefits of making apples a standard part of your daily diet.
1. Apples improve the bowels. Pectin is a source of dietary fiber and a very handy nutrient to have in one’s diet. While it is also found in citrus fruits, plums, and other fruits, apples have the highest concentration of them all. Pectin works to increase the stool’s volume and resistance of fluids and is therefore helpful in treating constipation, diarrhea, and generally improving the health of the bowels. Studies have also found that apple pectin reduces the incidence of colon tumors, and that has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
2. Apples lower cholesterol. A study on nutrition and heart disease found that eating three apples a day for three months can help you to drop your cholesterol by at least 20 points. How does this happen? Apple pectin, that miraculous source of dietary fiber, helps to draw bad LDL cholesterol out of the system. Not only that, but the antioxidant quercetin that is found in apples inhibits the LDL cholesterol from even accumulating in the body’s bloodstream. When it comes to lowering one’s cholesterol, apples provide a cocktail of nutritional benefits that are hard to pass up.
3. Apples reduce the risk of cancer. Apples do not stop at merely preventing colon cancer. The high amounts of quercetin, other flavonoids, and phytochemicals found in this fruit deliver potent antioxidant activity to all who eat an apple, and with that inhibit the actions of free radicals. In addition, the phytochemicals may act against carcinogens, which will likewise help to prevent cancer. This means that apple eating prevents cancer of the prostate and lung, as well as other parts of the body.
4. Apples slow the aging process. There may have been many generations of explorers that sought the fountain of youth, but all they had to do was fight the daily stresses of life with a tasty apple! The phytochemicals that come from the bright colors you find in the skins of your favorite apple variety, along with aiding the apple’s ability to lower cholesterol and fight cancer, also inhibits the onset of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other conditions that lead to potentially debilitating situations in old age.
5. Apples help to prevent hair loss. If keeping a full head of hair will help you to age more gracefully, then chow down on some apples. Chinese medicine considers hair loss to be a sign of a depleted kidney essence, and apples are on the list of fruits and vegetables that will help you to restore this essence and nourish the blood that flows to your hair follicles.
I hope you eat your apples, and that you really do keep the doctors away. As always, I encourage you to share your own favorite longevity foods and other tips with me.
May you live long, live strong, and live happy!
How To Find the Motivation to Exercise
October 16, 2008
Summer is gone and so goes play time, summer fun, vacations and the free-feeling attitude that comes with summer. It’s back to school (good news for moms, not so much for students), full workweeks with heavier workloads, traffic as usual, and a more regimented schedule all around.
So maybe you’re not the “bikini time - get into shape” type. Maybe you are more of a regimented work schedule type, and the end of summer is just what you need to get yourself back to exercise, eating well and more invested in your own health and fitness.
Training is essential to your mental and physical wellbeing – you know that. And with real life back in session, you are going to have to find added inspiration to manage a regular exercise regimen into your already busy schedule.
So let’s find some fall inspiration. How, even though you have been thinking about getting into better shape ‘forever’, do you finally make it happen?
1. Schedule in your workouts and let everyone who could throw off that schedule know your plan. Then get yourself committed by setting up training dates. I do this. I schedule in my workouts at the beginning of the week for the entire week and make dates with running/walking partners.
I book exercise classes, and make sure that I am committed to a minimum amount of training each week. Everyone is busy. So I make sure to get my training dates with others set ahead of time. And wherever possible I have regularly scheduled dates, which really works out well because I can schedule other things around it, knowing ahead of time that it’s there and I have someone else who is committed, too. And believe me, anyone who could get in the way of my training – whether I live or work with them – get’s the heads up.
2. Think outside the gym to make it work in your schedule. You already know that you can get up 45 minutes earlier than before and get a really fabulous workout in. But if that’s truly asking too much of yourself, do half of your training before work and the rest when you get home. I made a workout video called AM/PM walking that is very popular. There are so many benefits to exercising morning and evening, and I highly recommend this at least once a week.
3. Tell yourself the truth - If you know that you won’t feel like working out after a full day of whatever you do all day, here’s another option: Do a really tough 20 - 25 minutes of training (intervals would be great) before you start your day and then do a strong, but not too intense, 20 – 25 minute walk at lunch time. There – you’re done for the day.
4. Get started and don’t look back. Don’t evaluate or judge your workouts (or even your missed workouts). Keep moving forward, keep the momentum going, and know that soon you, too, will be looking back only to see how far you have come, and how much you have changed.
The NFL Workout
August 16, 2008
Ovie Mughelli steps out of his Lincoln Navigator, and suddenly I feel—for the second time today—weaker than usual. The Ravens’ 6′1″, 255-pound fullback greets me with a smile and a grip that envelops my hand. He’s an easygoing guy—but with threatening pecs that look like they might burst through his shirt.
Earlier, another nice guy had knocked my body image 5 yards downfield. It was my trainer for the day, Jon Crosby, C.S.C.S., who had me do squat jumps on a Vertimax, a tool that improves lower-body power by laughing at you. The Vertimax’s cables are attached at one end to a square rubber platform, and at the other to a belt around your waist. As you jump, resistance from the cables yanks you back down. When you’re finished, though, you feel as if you could leap like an NFL defensive back.
This is my first workout at Velocity Sports Performance, Crosby’s 16,000-foot training center in Baltimore, which houses an indoor artificial-turf field, a three-lane sprinting track, and enough bumper plates to sink a navy destroyer.
Mughelli has been coming here for 3 years. He first worked with Crosby as a Wake Forest senior to prepare for the National Football League’s combine—the legendary battery of physical tests used to evaluate collegiate talent.
Getting Up to Speed for the Combine
Crosby and his team of trainers typically have 6 weeks to train players for the combine. Coaches and personnel directors look for strength, speed, power, flexibility, and agility. These players have plenty of that already. Crosby, who has put 100 players through his program in 7 years, gives them more of everything.
I wanted to see how he did it.
Mughelli, wearing black shorts and a black compression shirt that strains to contain his biceps, starts with an “active and dynamic warmup” on the track. He skips, does butt kicks, runs ladders, and does variations of the lunge while swiftly punching his knee back and forth.
He mixes in sumo squats, planks, and a pack of other exercises that get him moving in every direction and pausing in stretched positions. Fifteen minutes later, he’s ready to work.
“It’s definitely not the same as touching your toes a few times and going at it,” says Mughelli. “You don’t realize the difference this will make until you do it.” (For a sample routine, go toMensHealth.com/warmup.)
After his warmup, Mughelli rips through drills and exercises he first learned in training for the combine. Just 5 minutes in, he’s dripping with sweat and looking bigger and faster than before. I’d draft him.
Soon Crosby is putting me through a similar, though tamer, workout. I come out of it feeling beat, but better. Anyone need a cover corner?
Training for the combine’s main events can help you build a body that excels in any sport. Have a friend time your sprints and measure your jumps. Then do the drills and exercises and retest yourself every 6 weeks. It’s more fun than tracking how many workouts it takes to move up 5 pounds on the preacher curl — and more rewarding, too.
The Bench Press
The combine tests strength and endurance by seeing how many times a player can bench-press 225 pounds. Technique counts. If your hips rise off the bench on your second rep, for example, you’ll stay at two until you fix your form.
Lift as if someone were inspecting every repetition. “We’re trying to save energy by how we line up on the bench,” says Crosby. Using correct form eliminates unnecessary movement, allowing you to lift more weight more times.
Pay attention to your feet. Place them flat on the floor at the sides of the bench, with your knees bent at a slightly acute angle, just less than 90 degrees. Your feet should give you a wide base of support, says Crosby. Pull your shoulder blades back so there’s a natural arch in your lower back.
Keep a tight grip. “A lot of people let the bar roll back in their fingers, but you want a straight line from the elbow through the wrist,” says Crosby.
Improving your form will instantly boost your bench, but benching alone will only help you so much. “You have to work the triceps and the stabilizers of the shoulders, because once you fatigue the pecs, these other muscles finish the exercise to some extent,” says Crosby. Try dips for your triceps and Swiss-ball pushups to strengthen the smaller muscles of your shoulders.
In 2005, Brigham Young University offensive lineman Scott Young added endurance training to his bench-press routine, and it paid off. Young bench-pressed 225 pounds for an NFL-combine record of 43 repetitions. “If you increase your muscular endurance, you should be able to withstand more fatigue and increase your total number of reps,” says Mike Gough, C.S.C.S., Young’s trainer for the combine and owner ofwww. procombinetraining.com.
Frequency: Work on endurance every other time you bench-press, Gough suggests. Try bench-pressing 65 percent of your one-rep max (the weight you can bench-press only once) as many times as you can. Keep the bar moving fast, yet under control, Gough says. You can also try this chest routine:
Do 20 pushups, then 20 reps of a standing chest press using a resistance band. (Attach a band to a fixed object, face the opposite direction, and press the handles away from your chest. Allow the handles to move back to the sides of your chest, and repeat.) Using the bands allows you to develop strength and endurance in a full range of motion, says Gough. After the standing presses, try 20 chest flies with the band while standing and another 20 standing presses. If you’re still not fatigued, perform another set of pushups.
20-Yard Shuttle
This drill improves agility and quickness. It’s easiest on a football field, but you can place three sticks, cones, strips of tape, or any other markers in a row, 5 yards apart on your lawn. (See the illustration below.)
Stand at the middle line with one foot on each side of it. Squat and touch the line with your right hand. (This is the starting position.) Sprint to your right and touch the 10-yard line with your right hand. Then sprint across to the far line and touch it with your left hand. Finally, sprint across the starting line. When you start over again in the middle, reverse the motion, sprinting first to your left.
Shave seconds off your time by using a hockey stop to change direction. (Most men have trouble accelerating out of stops in this drill—and in games.) As you approach the line, drive both your feet into the ground while turning your hips 90 degrees away from the direction you’ve just been running in. Keep more weight on the leg you’ll push off with to run in the opposite direction.
Increase your speed by strengthening your core. The small muscles that support your hips, pelvis, abs, and back project your hips forward as you run—a key to speed. (More on hip projection in the 40-yard-dash section.) Try a variation on the drawing-in maneuver for your core.
Frequency: Do the shuttle three to five times in each direction, once or twice a week.
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40-Yard Dash
The classic football measurement. But better sprinting speed will give you an edge in most other sports as well.
The key to acceleration is fast arms. The key to fast arms is your back muscles, Crosby says, because they help move your arms. “Move your arms from your shoulders, not your elbows,” says Crosby. Keep your arms bent and below your head as you pump — swinging your arms overhead can actually cause you to overstride.
Start the drill like a defensive end, left foot in front of right, right hand on the ground, and left hand on the left side of your butt. For the first 20 yards, lean forward 45 degrees. You’ll naturally move into a more upright position as you stop accelerating and continue to run at full speed.
A “wall sprint” accustoms you to running at the correct angle, because your torso stays steady as you pump your legs back and forth. (See the description on the previous page.) You’ll do eight to 16 repetitions of the wall sprint, pausing after each rep to make sure your body remains at a 45-degree forward lean. Progress to doing two steps before the pause, then three steps (left-right-left).
Frequency: Work on acceleration twice a week.
60-Yard Shuttle
This speed-and-stamina drill is best done on a football field. Place four markers in a row, 5 yards apart. (See the illustration below.)
Sprint 5 yards and touch the first line, then sprint back and touch the starting line. Next, sprint 10 yards to the second marker, touch the line, and sprint back to touch the starting line. Finally, sprint 15 yards, touch the line, and sprint all the way back.
Try the box blast. It will help you accelerate in the 40-yard dash.
Frequency: Do the shuttle three to five times, once or twice a week.
The L Drill
This exercise improves agility. Arrange three cones in a modified L, with each leg of the L 5 yards long. Call the end of one leg cone A, the corner cone B, and the last cone C.
Sprint from A to B, then back to A, touching your right hand to the ground near the cone each time. Next, sprint past cone B and slice between cones B and C so that your right shoulder passes to the inside of cone C. Continue around cone C (don’t touch it) and sprint around cone B (again passing the cone with your right shoulder) and finally back to A.
Practice the L drill in parts. For instance, work on just sprinting from cone A to cone B and back in one workout. Work on the loop around cone C in another workout. You can also try the drill in reverse.
Frequency: Perform the L drill three to five times in each direction, once or twice a week.
Vertical Jump and Long Jump
The combine uses a piece of equipment called a Vertec to measure your standing vertical jump. It’s basically a pole with plastic strips that you swipe with your hands at the top of your jump. In your gym, chalk or wet your hands and reach up to touch the wall, making a mark. Then jump, touching the wall as high as you can. Measure the difference to get your vertical jump. For a standing long jump, mark where you start and land, and measure the difference.
For better hops, add the box jump to your workout. “I want you to handle your own body weight in gravity before we start strapping things on you,” says Crosby. You’ll need a box, exercise step, or bench. See the description on the previous page.
After doing box jumps, try three to five rebound long jumps: Jump forward and land, then immediately spring up and out into your next long jump. You can progress to doing both box jumps and rebound jumps on one foot or with the added resistance of a weighted vest. You can also try long jumps starting with your feet in a staggered stance. Doing this not only improves your leg power, but will also help with your acceleration in each shuttle.
Frequency: Practice the box jump and re- bound long jump once or twice a week.
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