Pilates - the Secret to the LEAN Well-Toned Muscles

"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing out many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure." Joseph H. Pilates

Finally, the value of Lean, Well-Toned, but not bulky, muscles is recognized by many people from competitive athletes to casual gym goers. PILATES is the one behind the trend, according to Steve Shipside.

(1) Joseph H.Pilates was NO ballerina.
After suffering, as a puny youth, from rickets, asthma, and rheumatic fever, Joseph Pilates developed his now famous technique in a concerted attempt to overcome his physical weaknesses. Joseph forged himself a new body in the process of a career as a gymnast, boxer, circus performer, and, eventually, physical educator.

His theories have been taken up and moved on by generations of practitioners, but certain characteristics and the basic principles remain unchanged. Without going through them all, the keys are concentration, precise control of movement, and an unerstanding of the role and technique of breathing and of the importance of building a strong physical core to anchor all other movements and exercise.

(2) What can I expect?
You will start with mat work and perhaps a large sausage of plastic form. Initially, a lot of work will focus on making you aware of specific parts of your body and in particular the muscles of your STOMACH and the bones that you sit on.

Simple movements come next such as rolling up into a sitting position or lifting legs and shoulder blades off the deck. These help you realize how different parts of the body work together - for example, how lying on your front and pulling your shoulder blades down should lift your chest slightly off the ground. the moves are all done slowly, with considerable emphasis on breathing correctly, and repetitions are very few in number. If that sounds easy, then think again. The degree of concentration, plus the effort of tensing muscles in unfamiliar ways, makes for surprisingly hard work. You, however, would have to be some kind of twisted genius to injure yourself during a PILATES session, so it suits all ages and levels of physical strength and flexibility.

It also promotes a general feeling of well-being due to measured breathing, gentle pace, and the sense of muscle control. That control is also the key to why it appeals so much to recovering athletes. If that's what draws you, then make sure you signal your injury to the instructor before launching into a class.

Among the benefits of PILATES are a greater attention to the deeper-lying muscles of the core, such as the tranasversus, which lies under the abs. For athletes, this core strength approach gives greater balance and power. Dancers appreciate the suppleness encouraged by moves, and there are those who swear that it improves posture so much that you can end up taller !!!

7 Perfect Breakfast Recipies in 5 Minutes- Part II

(Continued from Part I in the previous blog)

In the time you spend each morning calibrating your hair gel, you could be doing something more important, with a much better payoff: eating breakfast. Mom was right (and it's okay to admit it): Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Liz Ward reporting:

It keeps you slim: Breakfast eaters are less likely to be overweight than breakfast skippers, and successful dieters are also more likely to be breakfast eaters.

It keeps you healthy: Eating breakfast may reduce your risk of serious illnesses like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, and it strengthens your immune system so you're more resistant to common ailments like colds and the flu.

It keeps you sharp: Memory and concentration get a boost from breakfast. A study on children found that kids who eat breakfast score higher on tests and are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and hyperactivity. It should help you at the office, too.

Here are 4 more perfect breakfast recipies:

(4) Two PB-and-Banana Wraps With Milk
Prep time: 2 minutes

2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Eggo Special K waffles
1 medium banana
1/2 pint fat-free chocolate milk

Spread a tablespoon of peanut butter over each (briefly microwaved) waffle. Divide the banana between them and roll each to make wraps. Wash down with chocolate milk.

Benefits: Eggo's Special K waffles supply complex carbohydrates, which break down slowly in the body and stimulate the production of serotonin, a calming brain chemical. The banana is packed with potassium -- a heart protector.

Per meal: 570 calories, 23 g protein, 90 g carbohydrates, 16 g total fat, 7 g fiber

(5) The Santa Fe Burrito
Prep time: 4 minutes

2 eggs
1 c Santa Fe frozen mixed vegetables (black beans, peppers, and corn)
1 flour tortilla
1/2 c low-fat shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 c salsa

Mix the eggs and vegetables and spread the mixture on a plate coated with nonstick spray. Cook in the microwave for 1 minute, stir with a fork, and microwave again until the eggs are cooked and the vegetables warm. Pile onto a flour tortilla, top with shredded Cheddar cheese and salsa, fold, and eat.

Benefits: "Without protein, guys can lose muscle mass quickly," says William J. Evans, Ph.D., a professor of geriatrics, physiology, and nutrition at the University of Arkansas. This meal is packed with it.

Per meal: 530 calories, 36 g protein, 53 g carbohydrates, 18 g total fat, 6 g fiber

(6) Black-Cherry Smoothie and Peanut-Butter Oatmeal
Prep time: 4 minutes

1 c R.W. Knudsen black-cherry juice
1 c frozen strawberries
1 c frozen unsweetened cherries
2 Tbsp protein powder
2/3 c oatmeal
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 c fat-free milk

Blend the cherry juice, frozen fruit, and protein powder until smooth. Microwave the oatmeal according to the directions on the package. Stir in the peanut butter and milk.

Benefits: Men who ate at least one serving of whole-grain cereal (like oatmeal) a day had the lowest risk of dying of any cause, including heart disease, according to a 5-year study of 86,000 doctors. Cherries and strawberries are natural sources of salicylates -- the active ingredient in aspirin -- making them ideal for relieving stress-induced morning headaches.

Per meal: 600 calories, 27 g protein, 100 g carbohydrates, 11 g total fat, 10 g fiber

(7) Almond-Butter-and-Raisin Sandwich With Smoothie
Prep time: 1 minute

2 Tbsp almond butter
2 Eggo Special K waffles
1 Tbsp raisins
1 Stonyfield Farm smoothie

Spread the almond butter on the waffles. Sprinkle the raisins over one waffle and top with the other. Wash down with the smoothie.

Benefits: Whole-grain waffles help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and improve your body's processing of insulin and glucose, a benefit that can reduce your risk of becoming diabetic.

Per meal: 600 calories, 21 g protein, 86 g carbohydrates, 22 g total fat, 7 g fiber

7 Perfect Breakfast Recipies in 5 Minutes- Part I

We all know we should not miss breakfast. Some of us, however, might be doing it wrong. "Most men make the mistake of eating too little in the morning, and then get so hungry they go overboard and eat a giant meal later in the day," says Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D., a nutritionist in Irvine, California, and author of Stealth Health.

A typical "wrong" breakfast is just a couple of hundred calories, mostly in the form of simple carbohydrates that spike blood-sugar levels and leave the body starving for energy a couple of hours later.

Even a classic fiber-rich breakfast -- say a cup of raisin bran with blueberries and skim milk -- provides less than 300 calories and only about 10 grams of protein. An ideal breakfast needs to be much larger -- between 500 and 600 calories. And it needs to be packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, including at least 20 grams of protein and at least 5 grams of fiber. That will give your body a high-quality, long-lasting, steady supply of energy to help you through the morning.

Here's how to hit those numbers. Each of the following meals tastes great and can be made in minutes, Liz Ward reporting:

(1) Blueberry Smoothie With Toasted-Cheese Sandwich
Prep time: 4 minutes

2 slices whole-wheat bread
1/2 c Kashi Go Lean Crunch! cereal
1 c fat-free milk
1 c frozen blueberries
1 1-oz slice Cheddar cheese

Pop the bread into the toaster. Dump the cereal, milk, and berries into a blender and liquefy. Stick a slice of Cheddar between the warm slices of toast and nuke the sandwich in a microwave for 15 seconds. It tastes grilled -- but isn't.

Benefits: "The cheese and milk in this meal are essential for building and maintaining new muscle," says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., a professor of nutrition at Georgia State University. "The whole grains in the bread and cereal will help lower cholesterol, and the minerals in the milk and cheese will help keep blood-pressure levels down."

Per meal: 509 calories, 26 grams (g) protein, 75 g carbohydrates, 14 g total fat, 12 g fiber


(2) Grab-and-Go Breakfast
Prep time: 1 minute

1 medium apple
1/2 pint fat-free milk
1 bran Vita muffin
1 pack Skippy Squeeze Stix peanut butter

Slice the apple, grab the milk, muffin, and peanut butter, and go. Squeeze the peanut butter out of its pack onto your apple slices as you eat.

Benefits: Vita muffins (vitalicious.com) contain 100 percent of your recommended intake of several important nutrients, including vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, and E. Foods high in monounsaturated fats -- like peanut butter -- may boost testosterone levels. This meal should help you burn energy more efficiently and lift more weight at the gym.

Per meal: 506 calories, 20 g protein, 87 g carbohydrates, 12 g total fat, 15 g fiber

(3) Minute Omelette with Toast
Prep time: 2 minutes

1 egg
3/4 c frozen spinach, thawed
1 slice Canadian bacon, diced
2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 Tbsp almond butter
1 c Welch's grape juice

Stir together the egg, spinach, and Canadian bacon and pour onto a plate coated with nonstick spray. Microwave for 1 minute or until the egg is fully cooked. Toast the bread and eat it with the almond butter. Chase everything with grape juice.

Benefits: Monounsaturated fat in the almond spread will help prevent spikes and drops in blood sugar, which can leave you feeling tired or crabby. Grape juice gives you an antioxidant, called resveratrol, that not only helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels but also helps improve bloodflow to the heart.

Per meal: 540 calories, 25 g protein, 73 g carbohydrates, 19 g total fat, 8 g fiber

(More recipies in the next blog)

7 Worst Foods to Eat at the Movies

This summer is packed with newly-released Hollywood movies such as Wall-E, Hancock, Wanted, Kung Fu Panda, The Incredible Hulk, etc. After a long week of hard work on maintaining your body fit, you sure deserve a break and a reward to yourself with some guilt-free snacks at the movies. I, however, as always, at least bring you the facts so that you know what you are eating and don't get fooled by the commercialism.

According to Men's Health: At a movie theater, a lot of the stuff you carry away from the concession counter is a horror show in its own right. And it comes with a sequel: When you debut in your bathing suit this summer, everyone will know what you did last night at the movies — you overate, so now you overflow.

Not that I blame you, of course. I've been there, too. Engrossed by the big screen, too many of us fall victim to giant soda cups, popcorn buckets, and candy boxes, which are sneakily designed to keep the munchfest moving swiftly for the duration of the film.

One Cornell study showed just how thoughtless it can be. Researchers gave patrons different-sized popcorn buckets, and those with large buckets ate nearly twice as much as those with medium buckets. And get this: In some of the buckets, researchers traded out the fresh-popped corn for two-week-old kernels! Those moviegoers munched away so absentmindedly that they put away 34 percent more stale popcorn than those with medium buckets of fresh corn!


So before you plunk down your hard-earned cash for The Incredible Hulk, consider how you may come to resemble him if you mess up a lot at the concession stand. Here's where the real danger lies:

(1) Large Popcorn
1,283 calories
78 g fat (49 g saturated)
1,850 mg sodium

Yes, yes, it’s the custom; everyone at the theatre is eating popcorn. In fact, each American consumes more than 200 cups of popcorn a year, and it’s no surprise considering a movie theatre’s large bucket is 20 cups in itself! But snub the butter soak and you’ll save yourself from two-and-a-half day’s worth of saturated fat.

(2) Large Nachos with Cheese (40 chips, 4 oz.)
1,101 calories
59 g fat (18.5 g saturated)
1,580 mg sodium

This movie-time snack has more calories than two large orders of McDonald’s French fries. In fact, you’d still be saving fat and calories if you smuggled in two Quarter Pounders with Cheese instead!

(3) Snickers Popables (5 oz., 46 pieces)
692 calories
33 g fat (14.6 g saturated)
73 g sugars

The name's cute, but think about this: your chewy-nougat body in a bathing suit. The Snickers will be following you in two ways. The combined fat-load of these little popables is equal to two-and-a-half full-sized Snickers bars. So even if you split the bag, you’d still do better to down a real candy bar.

(4) Whoppers (5 oz. box)
676 calories
24 g fat (20.3 g saturated)
88 g sugars

How many malt balls does it take to run up a day’s worth of saturated fat? About 70, the number in a theatre-sized box of Whoppers. This candy's a long-standing classic, but so are fat-guy comedians. You want to join that jowly double bill?

(5) 44 oz. Cherry Coke
572 calories
0 g fat
154 g sugars

The theater owners say it's all about convenience: They give you the super large size cup, so you won't have to come back if you want seconds. Oh, and they can charge you twice as much up front while they're at it.

That’s why movie-theatre cups (and everything else in the theatre) have grown to such mammoth proportions. This beverage, for instance, has 50 percent more calories than a half-pound of ground beef, and every bit of it comes from —yikes! — high fructose corn syrup. (For other drinks that will lay waste to your waistline, check out this eye-popping report on America's worst drinks!)

(6) Large Soft Pretzel with 3 oz. Nacho Cheese
643 calories
14.5 g fat (3 g saturated, 4 g trans)
3,068 mg sodium

The pretzel weighs in at 5 ounces, and it holds nearly 100 calories in each ounce of soft bread. Top it with a massive load of warm, trans-fatty cheese sauce, and you’ve got the plot of a disease-of-the-week movie.

This "snack" packs more calories than a proper dinner, and well over a day’s worth of sodium. If you buy one of these salty dogs, don't eat it: Just throw it over your shoulder for good luck. (Do the same with these saltiest foods in America!)

(7) A cup of Haagen Dazs, Almond Hazelnut Swirl
640 calories
44 grams of fat (20 g saturated)
200 mg cholesterol

This innocent sounding everybody's favorite ice cream has three times more fat than a California Pizza Kitchen's Margherita slice.

Want to avoid other foods that are wrecking your waistline? Study up on the 20 Worst Foods in America. By maneuvering your way around these gut-bombing traps — or better yet, growing delicious food in your backyard — you’ll be well on your way to a lean, healthy and fit summer!

What is the Best CARDIO exercise? – Running, Bicycling, Elliptical, Swimming ?

There are many choices on Cardio exercises in the gym; but I will narrow down to 4 choices: (1) Running; (2) Bicycling; (3) Elliptical; & (4) Swimming. I will compare Pros and Cons of each choice.

(1) Running
a. Pros
No tools or machines are needed. It is very effective on calorie burning. A 30-minute slow running can burn 300 calories for a 135 lbs woman and a little more for a 175 lbs man. Especially, on the Treadmill, you can select different options such as speed, degree of the slope, and time.

b. Cons
The impact from the surface could create too much pressure on the joints, the knees,

(2) Bicycling
a. Pros
It is also good for effective calorie burning- 200 calories for 135 lbs woman and more for a heavier man. It works on Arms and Glutes as well.

b. Cons
The wrong posture could hurt the back- keep the back straight. Forget the Tour De France riders- they are professionals riding against time.
Good bikes can be costly- over $1,000. If you have a gym membership, be sure to take advantage of its stationary bikes.

(3) Elliptical Machine
a. Pros
It provides a total body workout. Especially, the ones with arm movements can be used as a simple warm-up exercise as well.
It burns about 200 calories for 30 minutes.

b. Cons
It might take a little while to get used to the different movements of the legs.

(4) Swimming
a. Pros
Swimming is an all-around body exercise. It works on your shoulders, back, quads, and abs. It is a very effective cardio exercise because it forces you to breathe at the right interval. You also learn how to coordinate the movements of your arms and legs.
Swimming is good for the people with joint problems, especially in the knees.
Recreational swimming can burn roughly 300 calories for 30 minutes.

b. Cons
Obviously, you need an indoor pool for cold weather.
If you do not know how to swim, start with a kickboard and a buoy.

I will post more blogs on swimming to help you learn how to swim as a beginner.

Meet Mr. Smith for Your Butt, Thighs, Hamstrings & Calves.

The machines in your gym can be intimidating; however, they can be great assets to your workout if you get to know them up close and personal :)

Have you ever wanted those rock-hard butt/glutes that Hollywood actors/actresses have? Here is the first step to acquiring the solid Lower Body - introducing the "SMITH Machine."

The Smith Machine looks like a huge barbell trapped in a machine, as in the photo - almost all gyms should have one. If you don't go to a gym, use dumbells or barbell at home.

Well, as you guessed, Mr. Smith invented it and called it after his name.

I like this Smith Machine particularly because (1) it helps maintain the correct form; (2) it is safer to use compared to squating with a free barbell because of the locking hook; (3) it creates less straint on the body than a free barbell; &
(4) Most of all, it trains your butt, quads, calves, and hamstrings.

Please note that you can move on to the Free Weight Squating (w/ a barbell) AFTER getting comfortable doing squats on the Smith Machine and then, it will increase the intensity; however, until then, let's learn how to use the "Smith Machine."


A. Squats
(1) Correct Form
If you use the Smith machine, try to keep your back straight. If you use a barbell or dumbells, slightly leaning forward is OK. Keep your feet shoulder wide.

(2) Reps
Do 5 sets, 7 reps each set. Take a few minutes of break after each set.
Increase gradually up to 10 sets.

B. Lunges
(1) Correct Form
Keep your back straight at all times. The front knee should not pass the toes (= should stay behind the toes), otherwise it creates too much straint on the knee. The back knee should almost touch the floor, an inch above. Remember: both front and back knees should form 90 degrees.

(2) Reps
Do 5 sets, 7 reps each set. Take a few minutes of breat after each set.
Increase gradually up to 10 sets.

On the first week, take it easy using very light weights, otherwise your legs will be sore.

Good luck and enjoy !

Meet Mr. Smith for Your Butt !!! - Squats & Lunges

This is a preview for how to work on your butt with the "Smith" machine.

The Smith machine looks like a barbell trapped in a machine, which is avaliable in almost every gym.

The Smith machine is excellent for beginners to get a rock-hard butt.
(continued on the next blog)