4 Great Winter Sports Workouts- By Andrew Rice

4 Great Winter Sports Workouts

By Andrew Rice

So far, it's been a brutal winter—and there's no better excuse than freezing cold weather for staying inside (and doing a Beachbody workout)! But there comes a time when you just have to make a break from the confines of your living room and get outside. The great news is that winter sports are fantastic cross-training workouts because they require more balance than many summer sports. Also, they each utilize a set of muscles different from your usual workout. It's possible to be at peak strength and form come spring if you engage in one or more of these four winter sports activities to get outside and stay fit.

1. Downhill skiing. As you already know, the core muscles are the cluster of muscles around your spine, pelvis, and groin that give you balance and stability. Skiing uses all these muscles in a fun, dynamic workout. To mix it up a little, do things like skating in your skis up the hill to the chairlift rather than booting up the slope. For a beginner, just learning to ski is plenty of exercise. More advanced skiers can use a few tricks to keep improving balance and core strength: Take a run where you balance on just one ski for as long as possible while still turning and stopping. When one leg gets tired, switch to the other and keep going. Backward skiing is also a test of your balance and works a different set of muscles. Leave your poles at the lodge when you try backward skiing, or take them off your wrists and hold them out in front of your body, kind of like a pair of handlebars. Of course, try these tricks on a run where you're really comfortable, not on a double black diamond. Skiing moguls and shredding the terrain park with the snowboarders are also fantastic for your core.
2. Cross-country ski skating. First, my condolences to those of you who have snow but no mountains. Life is cruel. But flat snow has its uses, too. The variety of cross-country skiing called ski skating is wonderful for your balance and overall aerobic fitness. If you don't know what this is already, picture yourself ice skating really fast through the woods, but on skis. Seek out your local snow-covered frozen lake or a groomed cross-country ski resort for the best trails. Lacking those options, seek out the closest golf course or even a snow-covered football field. The motions of skating work the heck out of your quads, glutes, and core. Your arms get a nice benefit, too, since you sometimes use them to push. And you can adapt skating to your own preferences. Some people go long distances; others do sprints. Mix it up and come up with a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program that'll blow away anything you do on a track in a pair of running shoes.
3. Snowshoe running. Proof that people will do just about anything to stay fit. This sport is largely practiced by devoted—make that maniacal—runners looking to crank up their fitness. According to at least one expert, marathoners who cross-train in the winter with snowshoes often find their race times have plummeted come spring. A set of good trail-running snowshoes should set you back between $200 and $400. Beyond that, it's free. It'll feel awkward at first. You'll need to retrain your brain a little from your running stride. On snowshoes, you'll pull your feet up using your hips rather than pushing down with your feet like you would running on dirt or asphalt. And don't run using a wide stance; that'll wear you down in no time. Truly hardcore snowshoe runners log up to 70 miles a week, but that's extreme. Start out slowly and work up to a mileage that's maybe 20 percent of your summer running.
4. Ice skating. Anyone who has ever watched Olympic speed skating or a hockey game can tell you that ice skating is a great way to build your lower body and flexibility at the same time. Plus, like everything that requires dynamic balance, skating builds insane core strength—that tiny 10-year-old doing a flying camel spin has more core strength than the entire Chicago Bears defensive line. But you don't have to be Olympic material to benefit from a good skating workout. No matter what your ability level, just getting on the ice works your core. Skating can also provide a great workout for the large muscles you employ on the ice, including your glutes, hip abductors, hip adductors, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.

For skaters at any skill level, the key is to get a little outside your comfort zone. Beginning skaters should work on gliding on one blade as long as possible with the other blade off the ice. Everyone has a strong and weak side. Use both. Start trying to do 5-second glides on each foot, then work up until you can go for much longer. Linking parallel ski-style turns is a blast on skates and utilizes your abs, glutes and thighs. Do this in sets with gentle skating in between. Finally, skating backward is a terrific exercise for your butt muscles and works the muscles on both sides of your legs. Make it a point to spend at least a third of your rink time going backward and soon you'll look like Wayne Gretzky from the rear.

I could blather on until spring thaw about great winter sports workouts, but I've got to get myself out of this chair and down to the rink. Enjoy the chill. Summer will be here soon enough and this year, I've promised myself to stay fit through the winter. I hope you can too.

10 Reasons to Eat Organically—and Locally

10 Reasons to Eat Organically—and Locally

By Steve Edwards

"Think globally, act locally" isn't just for bumper stickers anymore. This grassroots politics-type slogan has become an important way of thinking about where your next meal should come from. But the implications here are far more than political. Buying local—as well as organic—foods allows you to protect your family by feeding them in the safest way possible. Here are 10 reasons to add "visit the local farmers' market" to the top of your to-do list each week.

1. Local foods are safer. Or at least you can find out if they are. Organic food standards are high, but there are still companies out there attempting to cloud the rules. When you buy locally, it's easier to check out what you're buying, and you won't have to hire Magnum, P.I., to do it. The great thing about local media is that they love to cover this stuff. If for any reason a local farm is mixed up in nefarious activities, there's a good chance your paper has a reporter dreaming of a gig at The New York Times who'll be on the job for you. Even if this isn't the case, you can be inquisitive at the farmers' markets—you'll be surprised how quickly you can get up to date on the local scoop. Farmers who adhere to a strict code of ethics love to talk about others who do, and those who don't.
2. Organic foods are safer. Organic certification standards are the public's assurance that their food and products have been grown and handled according to sustainable procedures, without toxic, synthetic, irradiated, or genetically modified elements, including chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, and other additives. At least that's what the law says. But even though many companies still cheat the system, most of them play by the rules. These rules are in place to help both soil longevity and the health and safety of the consumer. Many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. Now, the EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides, and 30 percent of all insecticides, none of which meet organic criteria, to be potentially cancer causing. You can't always be certain you're getting safe food, but eating organic foods stacks the odds in your favor.
3. Organic food tastes better. Many people would be amazed to taste the difference between garden-grown fruits and vegetables (and wild meat) and the offerings you find down at your local mega-grocery-mart. The main reason for this disparity has to do with something called trophic levels, which is determined by where plants and animals fall on the food chain. When food—even natural food—is manufactured, as when plants are grown in poor soil with some added nutrients, or animals are raised using drugs and a nonnative diet, their physiological chemistry is altered. This doesn't just change their nutrient content—it changes the way they taste.
4. Organic food is more nutritious—which stands to reason, based on the whole trophic levels thing. When soils are depleted and then fertilized, only certain nutrients are added with fertilizers. This results in the loss of many of the plants' original phytonutrients. While these lost phytonutrients aren't necessarily a major component of any individual plant, they add up in your diet and become a major component of who you are. This lack of phytonutients in the plants in our diets has a lot to do with many modern-day maladies. With regard to meat, it's basically the same story. Animals that are fed a poor diet are, as you might imagine, less healthy to eat, because they're also missing out on essential nutrients thanks to the trophic level paradigm—just like you are.
5. You won't have to eat genetically modified organisms (GMO). A GMO is a plant, animal, or microorganism whose genetic sequence has been modified to introduce genes from another species. Because the long-term impact of GMOs on our health isn't known yet, they're forbidden by the Soil Association Standards for Organic Food and Farming. Furthermore, in order to qualify as organic, animals can't be fed GMOs, nor can they be fed antibiotics, added hormones, or other drugs. It is not currently required, however, that GMOs be mentioned on food labels, so it's very likely that anything not certified organic contains some GMO ingredients.
6. Your drinking water will be safer. The EPA estimates that pesticides contaminate groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country's population. Because organic farmers practice water conservation and don't use toxic chemicals that leach into your groundwater, organic farming leads to less waste intrusion into our aquifers, which helps keep your drinking water healthier.
7. Your kids will be healthier. The toxicity of pesticide residue is determined not only by the chemicals used, but by our body weight in relation to how much we consume. This means that your children are even more at risk than you are. It's estimated that the average child receives four times more exposure than the average adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. To try and minimize this risk, buy organic, but also make sure that your family eats a wide variety of foods.
8. To help farmers and farm communities. It's estimated that the U.S. has lost more than 650,000 family farms since 1990. The USDA predicts that half of the U.S. farm production comes from only 1 percent of farms. Organic farming may be one of the few survival tactics left for the family farm and rural communities. The majority of organic farms are still small-scale operations, generally on fewer than 100 acres, and using an average of 70 percent less energy. Small farms use far more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices than large-scale farms do. For example, small farms use manure to fertilize soil, naturally recycling it to keep the land productive. 
   
   Industrial farms produce so much manure that it's a human health risk. The overspill of manure has contaminated water wells with E. coli and other pathogens. This brings up another subject: Industrial farms still—though now illegally—feed animals the ground-up remnants of other animals that aren't naturally part of their diet. This has led to pathogens like E. coli getting into our foods in the first place. 
   
   Furthermore, farm workers are much safer on small farms. A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had six times more risk of contracting cancer than nonfarmers did. Due to their direct exposure, field workers on conventional farms are the most vulnerable to illness as a result of pesticide use. Organic farms eliminate that risk by eliminating harmful pesticides and other chemical inputs from their practices.
9. For more humane treatment of animals. Factory farms treat animals like commodities. They are usually kept in tightly confined pens or cages and often never move more than a few feet for their entire lives. They are also fed the cheapest foods available, no matter how it affects their—and then our—health. Besides the fact that a host of illnesses have entered our world as a direct result of this practice, it's also just not nice. Animals on organic farms are far likelier to be raised without cruelty. They are also fed a diet much closer to what they would eat naturally, and studies tell us—surprise!—that these animals tend to be significantly healthier than their factory-raised counterparts.
10. To promote a vibrant economy. Organic products only seem more expensive because people base their cost on their sticker price alone. However, retail price represents a mere fraction of their true cost. Market prices for conventionally grown foods don't reflect the costs of federal subsidies to conventional agriculture, the cost of contaminated drinking water, loss of wildlife habitat and soil erosion, or the cost of the disposal and cleanup of hazardous wastes generated by the manufacturing of pesticides. Compared to local farms, there's also transportation—and the pollutants that result from it—to consider. All of this means that essentially, you can pay now or pay later—just remember that you're going to be charged interest, mainly in the form of a socially and ecologically diminished world to live in.

What if you can't find organic food? One of our members, who lives in a rural area, went to her local market and requested healthier options. Now the store owner can't keep them on the shelf. You can, with a little initiative, make a difference. After all, retail stores are in business to serve you. If this doesn't work, hit the Internet. Since "organic" is the current buzzword of the food industry, there will be options. And of course, there's always your local farmers' market.

For more information on organic and local produce, check out the Web site for the Organic Trade Association, or type "Community Supported Agriculture" into your favorite search engine.

Is It Time to Eat?

Is It Time to Eat?

By Mark Nelson

It probably is. Because if you're like many people, you don't eat often enough. According to Turbo Jam^® trainer Chalene Johnson, you should eat at least five times a day. That includes three meals and two snacks. So why eat so often?

It helps prevent your body from storing fat.

I kid you not. Our bodies are actually programmed to store fat, and this trait has helped us humans keep going over the eons. At many stages during our existence, it was critical to our survival. If you look back in time with me, I'll show you why.

Picture yourself wearing an animal skin or scratchy woolen toga, a few smears of mud and no hair product. (Don't feel bad—no one else looked good, either.) If you look in your hand, you'll see that you're carrying a spear that you made yourself. The reason for making it is that you're hungry.

If you throw well, you eat. If you miss, you don't. So being able to store energy in the form of fat will hopefully sustain you until your throwing improves.

This same survival tool remains part of our makeup today.

So the best way to avoid slipping into this fat-storing mode is to keep your metabolism going with small meals and snacks. Eating frequently prompts your body to efficiently keep working and burning the calories.

And if that weren't enough by itself, there's another good reason to avoid long waits between meals.

Eating regularly tames wild cravings.

By eating smaller meals on a regular schedule, you'll help your body work comfortably on fewer calories, and stay in an energy (fat)-burning mode. This will help you feel more energetic, and keep your blood sugar stable, which will reduce carb cravings before your next meal.

Now let's say you need even more help controlling your cravings for the wrong stuff. What do you do?

Start your day with the right stuff.

Chances are, you don't eat in your sleep. So when you wake up, your cells are ready to absorb essential nutrients and, in particular, protein.

Throughout the night, your body uses excess or circulating proteins to replenish your muscles, hair, skin, and nails. In addition, your body uses proteins to create millions of antibodies for defense against bacteria, which often attacks while you sleep. That's why eating a healthy breakfast packed with protein is good for you.

Starting your day with eggs, nonfat cottage cheese, a P90X^® Peak Performance Protein Bar, or Shakeology can help you get a good serving of the protein and nutrients you need.

And a good rule of thumb for the timing of this meal is within an hour of waking up. If that's not possible, have a meal or snack as early as possible to get your metabolism revving. So what about the rest of your day?

Lift weights, then lift plates.

Another smart time to eat is about 30 to 45 minutes after a workout. At this time, the enzymes responsible for energy production are in high gear, and the energy-storing hormones within our blood are suppressed.

This means less energy will be stored as fat. Carbs will be immediately taken up to replenish the low glycogen stores caused through exercising. Protein will be used for the recovery and growth of new calorie-burning muscle tissue. And the best news is, your body will burn most of the nutrients from the meal to fuel these reactions. That's why eating after a workout is a good idea.

Having protein late in the day, for perhaps your last meal or snack, will also provide your body with the protein it will use overnight to revitalize your muscles, hair, nails, and antibodies.

Of course, remember portion size. If you're not sure how much that might be, use the palm of your hand as a guideline. It's a good trick, since you probably have your hands with you.

As with most things in life, timing is everything. So when you're trying to drop pounds, don't just think about what you eat—think about when. This will enable you to get more nutrients from fewer calories. Of course, the fewer calories you eat, the easier it is to lose weight. So eat right. On time. On schedule.

5 Tips for Getting More Whole Fruit in Your Diet

5 Tips for Getting More Whole Fruit in Your Diet

By Joe Wilkes

All right, so no processed sugar. High fructose corn syrup is definitely out of the question. And now science is finally proving that all those artificially sweetened sodas we've been quaffing so virtuously are just as bad for us as sugar is, and probably worse. What's someone with a sweet tooth to do? The answer is the fruit, the whole fruit, and nothing but the fruit. While fruit juice contains some vitamins, you're really missing out on the lion's share of nutrients if you deprive yourself of the whole fruit.

The skin of the fruit contains most of the healthy carotenoids and flavonoids that have numerous benefits—including, studies are finding, providing some protection against cancer. The pulp of the fruit also contains flavonoids and vitamins that can be lost through the juicing process. And where fruit juice really falls short is in its fiber content. An apple contains around 4 grams of fiber. A glass of apple juice contains no fiber. Fiber helps your body digest and metabolize fruit's naturally occurring sugar more slowly, which prevents your body from experiencing a "sugar spike"—the blood sugar elevation you get from drinking fruit juice. Plus we all know fiber is nature's Roto-Rooter^®, scrubbing your digestive system clean.

The argument for working a few servings of whole fruit into your diet each day is a strong one. After all, that old saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" didn't come out of thin air. When I was younger, I had a friend whose father was a doctor and she religiously ate an apple every day, including the core. Well, I thought that was a bit much, but I bet she was super-regular! A corollary to that old saying might be "An apple a day can make you pretty sick of apples after a couple of weeks." As with incorporating most food into our diets, variety is the spice of life. Here are a few ideas for slipping more fruit into your day.

1. Cut it. A lot of times, a big bowl of fruit can be too daunting. You might not be hungry enough to eat a whole apple and you might opt for a smaller snack. Try slicing up a couple of apples and putting them in an airtight container or bag. By tossing them in lemon juice, you can prevent them from turning that unappetizing brown, at least for a day or so. Keep them in the fridge, or handy on your desk or in front of the TV, for a healthy snack. Any sort of combination of cut-up fruit is a great idea for a TV snack. Instead of absentmindedly eating a day's worth of sodium and fat from the chip bag, you might eat your "apple a day" before you know it.
2. Mix it. Tired of apples? Check out some of the more exotic fruits in your produce section or farmers' market. Have you tried kiwis, pomegranates, mangosteens, or gooseberries? Also, get to know what the seasons bring to your neck of the woods. In California, we're in the middle of Meyer lemon and blood orange season—delicious citrus varieties that aren't as available or as good at other times of the year. And by mixing up the variety of fruits you eat, you'll be getting a greater range of vitamins and antioxidants, thus maximizing your health benefits.
3. Dip it. Especially for kids, a little fun time needs to accompany mealtime. But don't fool yourself into thinking that those apple-and-caramel dipper packages are healthy snacks. I guess they're better than pure caramel, but they're still pretty much two steps back nutritionally from just eating healthy fruit. Instead, why not mix up some nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt with a little cinnamon? You'll get the health benefits of yogurt. And cinnamon has been shown to have additional health benefits, like helping stabilize blood sugar. Dunking your fruit in a little unsweetened peanut butter makes for another great taste combo—the peanut butter gives the fruit some protein, and the fruit gives the peanut butter sweetness.
4. Add it. Forget those cereals with the sugared raisins or other sweetened dried fruit. And I assure you that Cap'n Crunch^® Crunch Berries^® are not found anywhere in nature. There are a ton of hot and cold cereals that contain dried or artificial fruit, and while dried fruit has some nutritional value, it's nothing—in nutrition or in flavor—compared to adding some berries or cut-up fresh fruit to your bowl of bran or oatmeal.
5. Freeze it/can it. While fresh fruit is often the most flavorful and nutritious option, procuring it can often be geographically or financially prohibitive. If getting fresh fruit is a hassle, consider buying fruit frozen or canned, or freezing or canning in-season fruit yourself. As with all prepared food, check the label to make sure that fruit isn't merely a decorative addition to a can full of corn syrup. Fruit is best if packed in unsweetened natural fruit juice. (Pear juice is a common canning juice.) Bags of frozen berries are also great to have on hand to jazz up your morning smoothie or just to pop in your mouth on a hot summer day for a frosty snack. Making "grapesicles" by throwing a bag of grapes in the fridge creates a great snack for kids and adults alike. And here's another good tip: If you have some bananas that are turning brown, peel them and wrap them in foil and stick them in the freezer for later.

Congratulations Brett Hoebel- the new Biggest Loser trainer

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RevAbs Delivers Because It Delivers Tri-Fit Training:
1. CARDIO INTERVALS to scorch fat.
2. STRENGTH TRAINING to build the muscles you need to burn fat and make you strong.
3. AB/CORE work to sculpt, tighten, and tone your abs.
Find out more about Rev Abs today!

 

Meet Brett Hoebel- The New Biggest Loser Trainer

The new Biggest Loser trainer has been known to fans as “El Capitan” and “The Dues Collector.”
Brett Hoebel is a sought-after fitness, strength, and nutrition expert in New York and Los Angeles, with a background in biomedical science and extensive training in martial arts.

Brett has trained celebrities ranging from athletes to actresses and Victoria’s Secret models, as well as everyday people looking for weight loss and fitness. He was the co-host of Fit Family on the Discovery Health Channel, and has appeared on such shows as The View and Good Morning America. He also provides fitness advice to magazines, including Vogue, Allure, Elle, Shape, and Self.




Brett Hoebel has been changing lives for the last 15 years. His Beachbody product- RevAbs™ is an innovative new home workout program that combines cardio and strength training with a unique form of ab work. It’s specifically designed to burn off the fat and give you a six-pack in just 90 days. With RevAbs, you work the abdominal muscles from six different angles for a smaller waist and toned midsection. Added interval-training techniques burn fat at the highest rate possible.



Why is it effective?
With creator Brett Hoebel’s Abcentrics method, you do full-body cardio and strength training in addition to ab work, but you “fire” your abs during every movement. That means you’re toning and tightening your abs the whole time. You get faster and more balanced results than you could from crunches alone, or from any “ab machine” on the market.
RevAbs includes plenty of strength training and cardio intervals to boost your metabolism and scorch calories. You define your abs and get rid of fat to reveal a great-looking midsection.

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7 Key Foods to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Workout

7 Key Foods to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Workout

By Karen Tonnis

At some point in your hooked-in, hard-core Beachbody^® experience, or even if you're just getting started, this thought may cross your mind: Wish I could get results even faster.

Well, now you can. Here's a list of dynamic foods that bring a lot to the table. Not only do they fit within a healthy nutrition plan, they're capable of sending your lazy taste buds a nice wake-up call.

1. Tomatoes. Make the lowly tomato your best friend and you could potentially up your chances of staying healthy and recovering faster. They're loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients. And because they're particularly rich in vitamin C and carotenoids, they may boost heart health, fight oxidative stress, protect against a variety of cancers, and combat inflammation. Tomatoes also contain potassium, an electrolyte that helps maintain fluid balance.
2. Fish. A powerhouse of lean protein, fish lets you load up without blowing your calorie budget. The very leanest choices include white-fleshed fish like flounder or tilapia, as well as most shellfish, including lobster. Even dark-fleshed fish like tuna and salmon are considered lean, and the fat they provide (in the form of fish oil) can help regulate hormones and metabolism and reduce inflammation. 
   
   Of course, all this muscle-building power won't show up as a six-pack if you're not careful about how the fish is prepared. Watch out for calorie bombs like deli tuna salad and deep-fried fish or calamari.
3. Açai berry. What look like ordinary small, purple berries are actually one of the best superfoods in the world. Açai berries contain one of the highest concentration of antioxidants of any known food, along with fiber, iron, amino acids, and healthy omega fatty acids. Add them to your diet in the form of juice or pulp and you can expect a load of benefits, including increased energy, faster recovery rate, boosted immune system, stabilized blood sugar levels, and more.
4. Dark green leafy vegetables. Breaking news: Popeye was right about eating spinach. Especially if you want to build muscle FAST. The antioxidants found in dark green vegetables help counteract the oxidative muscle damage that comes with heavy training or exercise. So vegetables like broccoli, collard greens, lettuce, kale, and our hero spinach should be high on your list.
5. Blueberries. Mom could've said, "Eat your blueberries and you'll grow up strong." This miniature superfruit is chock-full of nutrients and antioxidants. So if you're involved in strenuous activity, a daily cup or two of blueberries can help reduce cell damage. They also promote healthy blood pressure and contain complex carbs and fiber to help sustain energy and keep you in the game.
6. Eggs. When you're trying to add muscle, protein is as important as any dumbbell or training buddy. Most important, you want increased "clean calories" from whole, natural, unprocessed foods—like eggs. Eggs are one of the most perfect proteins for growing lean muscle. By incorporating egg whites into your diet (with a small amount of egg yolk), you can get a high amount of protein for a relatively low number of calories. Six egg whites will give you 99 calories and 21 grams of protein. Now that's a deal.
7. Green tea. If you're working out regularly, giving your body a constant supply of antioxidants can promote quicker recovery on a cellular level. And drinking green tea is a good way to vary your antioxidant intake. On top of its antioxidant properties, green tea can help protect the cardiovascular system and increase metabolic rate (which supports weight control), and may provide some anticancer and blood pressure–reducing benefits.

Add these 7 foods to your oxidant-fighting arsenal.
Go ahead and rev up your engine with these heavy hitters for quicker results. But don't neglect your regular exercise program and healthy eating plan. Those are the real key. Start with a sound regimen, then add these seven for extra kick.