Women avoid weight training as much as men love it. The reason women are reluctant to work out with weights is only because they feel they might end up looking like female body builders. But before jumping onto any conclusions, consider this:

. Lifting a baby who weighs anything from four kilos to ten kilos is done on the spur of the moment.

. Lifting one or two liters of water-filled jars at a time is another chore most women do unthinkingly.

. Picking and lifting pieces of furnitures, cooking utensils and such other items are done daily.

Women have been lifting weight everyday for years and this hasn’t made them muscle-bound, so how can a few weight -bearing exercises?

Weight training is not only about looking good and sporting a muscular body. It’s also one form of exercise with untold benefits.

It may be difficult to believe but weight bearing exercises help to:

. Strengthen one’s body.

. Build a strong skeletal structure.

. Stay slim as muscles burn more calories during rest.

. Look good.

. Maintain flexibility of joints.

. Cope with daily chores efficiently.

Random Tip: Modern day thinking is that if the “core” of one’s body is strong then the rest of the body stays strong as well. The core is the centre of one’s body which comprises abdomen, the back, shoulder and pelvic girdle. If one works towards the health of these centres, then the rest of the body will stay fit as well.

Must Read: Workout and Exercise Tips For Firm Breasts at http://www.weightloss-health.com/exercise%20firm%20breast.htm

Muscle Building at Home: Develop core stability!

. Adopt correct posture where one pulls in the abdomen while standing or sitting. This is purely a contraction which is muscular in nature and helps tone and tighten the deep layers of muscles in the abdomen, pelvic girdle and the back.

. Keep the back straight by pulling the shoulder blades down and back and the spine completely free of stress in the lower region. To find this neutral position of the lower back or the lumbar spine, stand with legs shoulder width apart and tilt pelvis forward once and once to the back. In both these movements, you will realize that the ‘feel’ of the lower back alignment isn’t right and you need to stand straight to get the right lower back alignment. This means the area between the navel and the public bone should be held in, the lower back should be held in neutral and the shoulders should be pulled back, down and relaxed.

. Maintain the posture while working around the house and in a few weeks you will notice small changes in the way you look and feel and the way your body starts maintaining correct alignment and strength while at work.

Must Read: Workout and Exercise Schedule For Women Weight Training at http://www.weightloss-health.com/woman%20muscle%20exercise.htm

The goal of core training should be to gain maximum strength and stability in these areas. Dont let muscle building mind games such as ” Exercises are boring” or the fear of looking muscular overpower you. The biggest favour you can do to yourself is REGULAR EXERCISE.

Random Fact: Weight training helps in more ways than one. It makes you stronger and slimmer without making you look like a wrestler.

About the Author:

Ashley Green: for http://www.weightloss-health.com/muscle_building.html your complete and most comprehensive guide on Muscle Building.

Look out for highly effective women muscle building programs from the best in this field and a chance to go through muscle building articles directory at Women Weight Training Workout, Exercise and Tips

If you wish to reproduce the above article you are welcome to do so, provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including this resource box and LIVE link to our website.

Far from the Flintstones shapes many of us chewed as kids, adult vitamins provide nutrients needed by a full-grown body. While vitamins are abundant in many foods, many adults do not follow diets that provide all of the vitamins and nutrients needed; a supplement can help augment our daily intake.

Like children, adults need certain vitamins to help our bodies function properly. Vitamins can also help prevent certain types of diseases. For example, vitamin D helps strengthen bones and reduce risk of osteoporosis. Vitamin A enhances vision, and vitamin C helps fight colds. Vitamin B can give us energy, which is certainly necessary in today’s busy world. And vitamin E helps skin stay taut, which is definitely a bonus as we begin to age.

Some vitamins are fat-soluble, while others are water-soluble. The first type of vitamins is stored until the body can use the nutrients. These include vitamins A, D, E, and K. The latter type directly enters the blood stream, and what isn’t used is excreted through the urine. These vitamins-vitamins B and C, in particular-need to constantly be replenished.

If you are not into popping pills, there are indeed ways to up your vitamin intake by adjusting your diet. These foods are high in vitamins:

Vitamin A

Eggs, milk, carrots, spinach, nectarines, canteloupe, apricots, sweet potatoes

B Vitamins

(There are several types of B vitamins)
Whole grains, seafood, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, green leafy vegetables, beans, peas, citrus fruits

Vitamin C

Citrus fruits, canteloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage

Vitamin D

Dairy products, fish, egg yolks

Vitamin E

Whole grains, green leafy vegetables, nuts, egg yolks, sardines

Vitamin K

Green leafy vegetables, dairy products, pork, green leafy vegetables

If you are able to get the vitamins you need directly from the foods you eat, you will benefit most greatly. If not, there are many multi-vitamins available over the counter that will help you reach your nutritional needs. Getting the vitamins and minerals we need is critical to maintaining good health as we get older. Those chewable vitamins you took as a child started the job; it is your responsibility to maintain it!

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Vitamins Information a website providing information on Vitamins and supplements

Here’s another group of fruits that you can use to get constipation relief. Use these every day for desert or in between meal. Use more than normal to get rid of constipation.

Figs and Dates

Figs are high in fiber and can provide a gentle action on your colon when you have been constipated. This action can take about 24 hours before it takes place. Figs aid in digestion and provide a high level of fiber and minerals, They also provide a natural source of serotonin.

The use of figs and dates combined can have a stronger action on your colon. Here’s a source for fig syrup that I found: http://www.baar.com/figsyrup.htm

Grapes

Grapes have a good laxative action. Eat 1-2 lbs of grapes though out the day and reduce the amount of food you eat during the day. Eat more vegetables and other fruits. Reduce the amount of processed foods you eat.

Grapes are high in vitamins and minerals. They have good fiber content and are especially high in manganese.

Since they are high in sugar, bugs are attracted to them. This causes farmers to spray them with pesticides. Try to find them at the farmers market as organic or not sprayed.

Papaya

Papaya is well known for its enzyme papain. Its minerals help reduce cell waste and eliminate stomach and colon mucus. You can add papaya to your smoothies or eat them in between meals.

Persimmon

Persimmons are as good as apples and maybe even better for your heart. They are high in fiber, minerals - sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and manganese - and phenolic compounds, which are anti-oxidants. The persimmon skin is also high in fiber but I find the skin hard to eat. You may like it.

Eat 2-3 persimmons each day, if they are available. They help to keep you get constipation relief.

Plums

Fresh plums are filled with minerals and have a mild laxative effect. They can relieve gas and have a cleansing effect on your intestines.

Prunes

Prunes are dried plums. Eat both for their natural laxative effect. Prunes are more effective than plums for constipation. Buy a bag of dried prunes and eat them throughout the day. Aside from this laxative effect, prunes are high in iron.

Raspberries

Raspberries are high in vitamins A and C. They are high in magnesium, calcium, and iron. They are helpful in clearing constipation.

Experiment with the different fruits listed here. Eat them at different times and eat different quantities. Prepare them in different ways or buy them in different forms. Using these fruits consistently will give you constipation relief.

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid e-books. He writes a newsletter called natural-remedies-thatwork.com and his information on other topics can be seen at http://www.stop-constipation.com or at http://www.constipation-remedies.for–you.info

When I was 12, one of my best friends was a square dancer. Twice a week, her family would pile into the Country Squire station wagon and head to the Grange Hall, where they’d gather with their square dancing club for an evening of music, friendship and do-sa-do.

As a regular guest, I was fascinated by the form but, in the height of my coolness-conscious years, also acutely aware of the overwhelming dork factor. These people lived to square dance.

They skipped around for two or three hours at a time, twirling and smiling and dabbing at their foreheads between dances. They hunted for holiday-themed fabric months before special dances in order to whip up the perfect ruffled dress and matching shirt for each occasion. They packed their petticoats and headed to Penticton, British Columbia every summer for a regional square dancers’ convergence.

The square dance girls were just as boy-crazy as my regular friends, but they had a built-in way to hold hands with the guys they liked. As for me, I had a major crush on my friend’s older brother who, at 15, was an articulate, ambitious student body president with piercing blue eyes and blond hair to his shoulders (it was 1972, after all).

In one of our (for me, anyway) excruciating conversations involving much blushing, he told me that square dancing was like meditation. “It’s a way to forget about everything except what’s going on right now. You have to pay attention to what the caller says, and let your mind and body make sense of it naturally, without trying too hard.”

At the time, I had only a fleeting familiarity with meditation, and I didn’t see much similarity between these suburban, gingham-clad dancers and the Hare Krishnas who offered carnations to passersby on downtown street corners.

Years later, I have to marvel at his insight.

Square dancing IS like meditation. There’s no focusing on memories of the past or worries about the future. Instead, a square dancer must remain in a state of acceptance and anticipation. The caller will determine the next move, and no amount of second-guessing or outsmarting will help you become more effective–or more popular.

As a square dancer, you’re surrounded by other dancers but not really attached to a particular one–your matching outfits notwithstanding– because you are constantly moving among the others. Your attention is directed toward whatever comes up–in this case, the caller’s command and your subsequent focus on that engagement, however brief.

There’s a continuous current of possibilities, and your state is that of relaxed readiness without any judgment. Other than the moment your crush happens to be holding your hand, there is no partner or move that is better than any other.

The beauty is in the flow of it all and the awareness of being fully there.

For the square dancers, their Wednesday-and-Saturday-night gatherings provided fellowship, fitness and an opportunity to really let go. Despite the hopelessly unhip pointy white shoes and the Hee-Haw setting, the dancers had discovered a way to make mindfulness, well, FUN if not exactly cool.

Perhaps it never crossed their minds that they were engaging in anything but entertaining exercise. But if a 15-year-old boy–cute or not–could see it, I’m guessing that others recognized the sense of connection they gained in an evening of fully-present partner swinging.

We tend to think of mindfulness as something to be experienced only through meditation. WRONG. Mindfulness involves us 100% in the present moment, but we don’t need a cushion, maple bench, or incense to get there.

In our mindful moments, we are at our finest and most human–open, forgiving, focused, compassionate and connected. Sitting, standing, or swinging your partner, that’s a good place to be.

Yee-haw!

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse in Portland, Oregon. Through her company, Real-World Mindfulness Training, she teaches fun and effective eyes-wide-open alternatives to meditation. To subscribe to her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, please visit http://www.MassageYourMind.com

Hair transplant surgery is very common these days. As hair loss is such a big problem for so many people, and as hair transplant surgery becomes more and more effective, it is more in demand.

However hair transplant surgery is usually the last in the list of things that you need to consider if you are suffering from hair loss.

For those who are suffering from some degree of hair loss there are some steps you need to take before you consider hair transplant surgery. Hair loss is not necessarily permanent, and the very first thing that you need to do is to consult your doctor and find out a specific cause.

Hair loss can be temporary. For example there are various medical conditions and medical treatments which can cause hair loss and once these conditions have been treated or the treatments stopped the hair recovers. No need for hair transplant surgery there.

And where you have a diagnosed hair loss condition that may well be permanent, such as male pattern baldness, or permanent hereditary hair loss, there can still be some other options to consider.

The first option is to do nothing. Don’t laugh. Hair replacement treatments, and particularly hair transplant surgery, can be exceedingly expensive. They can have some side effects and can be unpleasant. Sometimes they don’t work, or are unsuitable for your particular condition. Doing nothing about it is a very viable option and one that any proficient professional should counsel you about.

Baldness is becoming fashionable. Perhaps it started with Yul Brinner, who knows, but there are some who deliberately shave their heads as a fashion statement. You don’t need to go that far, although you could also consider that, but you certainly could consider living with it.

Work out how much effort and money you are prepared to expend on doing something about it. Hair transplant surgery is very expensive and hair loss is not really considered a disease so government or private medical funds may not cover the cost. Check that out.

Next find out about the pharmaceutical hair replacement products. There are several which do work, although not for everybody. Check them out. Find out more. They also have their drawbacks, but you should educate yourself about all options.

But for many this process still leads them to hair transplant surgery. There is no doubt that if you have hair transplant surgery done by a reputable hair transplant centre it can be very effective.

There are positives and negatives to hair transplant surgery. As previously stated, it can be expensive. It is a long process, over many months, requiring repeated visits, and it is surgery, with the normal, though low, risks attached to any surgery. And it doesn’t suit everybody, depending on the nature of your problem.

On the other hand hair transplant surgery, once it is over, is very effective in most cases. You end up growing your own hair and the result is permanent. The final effect, which takes around 12 months, can be extremely effective.

There are various types of hair transplant surgery available at various hair transplant centres. If you have spent some time thinking about your options and have finally come to the conclusion that hair transplant surgery is for you then take the next step.

Visit a reputable hair transplant centre or find one on the internet and find out more about hair transplant surgery. The results can be life transforming.

For a website totally devoted to hair loss and hair replacement visit Peter’s Website The Hair Replacement Guide, and find out about Hair Transplant Surgery as well as Female Hair Loss and more, including Male Hair Loss and Hair Loss Treatments

Going away for your holidays will also bring with it a good supply of temptation on the food front, unless you are on a survival course, climbing a mountain or camping in the wilderness on limited rations. The chances are you will be at a hotel, and if you have chosen a good hotel, it is likely there will be good food, often as much as you want.

So, how do you deal with your weight loss aims when you are on holiday away from home? Here are just a few ideas:

Sample The Fresh Local Food

If you are having your vacation in a warmer clime by the sea, then there is a good chance there will be a good supply of fresh fish and delicious fruits, even some vegetables you’ve not tried before. Try to concentrate on those. After all, what is the point of travelling somewhere else if you end up sticking to the same old foods. You may well find some low calorie delights that will add to a memorable holiday.

Avoid The Full Buffet Table

Many hotels offer buffet breakfasts, and also buffet lunches and evening meals. If you decide to eat at the hotel, arrive late. If you are the first there and see a sumptuous spread across the tables, your desires may be stimulated, your appetite inflamed. Plus, you will have more time to eat. Arrive later on, and the almost empty display will not look so appealing; also, what is left is likely to be the lower calorie foods.

Explore The Locality

If you are visiting a foreign land, or somewhere new in your own country, take at least a daily stroll around the local streets. Or if you want to visit further afield, see if you can hire a bike. That adds a healthy but interesting dimension to your experience, and assists in maintaining your weight loss programme.

Keep Active On The Beach

There is much you can do at the beach that will help you with your weight loss ideals. Get involved in beach volleyball or any other activity that might be going on, or which you and your companions or family could start. Not only does it help shed weight, it also keeps your mind off food. And there in front of you is an enormous swimming pool, the sea. Swim as often as you can within your safety limits, and you will go home a healthier you. Even if you do not swim, get in the sea and exercise your limbs in the water. I cannot swim, and that’s just what I do; the water resistance is an excellent aid to exercise.

Use The Hotel Facilities

It depends on the hotel, of course, but many have good facilities that will help you both enjoy your holiday and lose weight, or at least not put on weight. You’re paying for the hotel and the facilities, so make the most of them if they are included, or treat yourself if they are not. If you prefer to swim in freshwater, use the swimming pool as part of an exercise routine during your stay. If there’s a gym, make it a daily part of your itinerary; if there’s a sauna, indulge.

Relax

If you are relaxed, your self control and confidence are likely to be higher. So, relax. If you want to indulge yourself, have a massage instead of foaming at the mouth over chocolate gateau.

Of course, the holidays should be about enjoyment. So whether you are at home or in some distant location, enjoy yourself. You never know, you may come home a pound or two lighter, still telling everyone about your wonderful holiday.

Roy Thomsitt is the owner and part author of http://www.routes-to-self-improvement.com

Cayenne is a constipation home remedy that is effective in producing peristalsis in your colon and aids digestion. It can be used regularly at every meal and when needed for constipation. Cayenne pepper is known to help thin the blood. So, it is good for improving blood circulation.

Cayenne is available in capsules of different strengths, from 5,000 heat units (HU) to 100,000 and even higher. In addition, cayenne when used with other herbs helps to deliver these herbs more efficiently to where they are needed in the body.

As a constipation home remedy, start with one capsule of 40,000 HU and always take it after you eat. You will feel a hot or slight burning feeling in the upper stomach and that’s when you know its working. The feeling is like when you get heartburn. This burning sensation will pass as your body gets use to you using cayenne.

Do not use cayenne seeds, as they can be toxic. If you are pregnant or breast-feeding do not take cayenne supplements. Use cayenne only as directed on its container and only as capsules.

Cayenne has the ability to block the ulcer producing effect of NSAIDS. It also has shown to increase the body’s absorption of theopylline, a drug used to treat asthma.

In his book, Left for Dead, Dick Quinn tells how Cayenne pepper saved his life after coronary bypass surgery failed to restore it. In this book, Shannon Quinn, say,

“One of the most effective stimulants, mostly, cayenne targets the digestive and the circulatory system. Cayenne regulates blood pressure, strengthens the pulse, feeds the heart, lowers cholesterol, and thins the blood. It cleanses the circulatory system, heals ulcers, stops hemorrhaging, speeds healing of wounds, rebuilds damaged tissue, eases congestion, aids digestion, regulates elimination, relieves arthritis and rheumatism, prevents the spread of infection and numbs pain.”

Use the recommended dose shown on the bottle of cayenne you use.

You can also add cayenne pepper into other foods. Add cayenne to soups, salads, and other foods you like.

In soups or salads break open a cayenne capsule and mix it in. You can add 1 - 2 capsules, but first start with 1/4 or 1/2 capsule so you can get use to the hot taste.

If you are pregnant, it is considered safe to use cayenne.

Use this constipation home remedy and you will see results. It definitely has the power to eliminate constipation and keep you regular and has many other benefits, especially for your heart.

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid e-books. He writes a newsletter called natural-remedies-thatwork.com and his information on other topics can be seen at http://www.stop-constipation.com or at http://www.constipation-remedies.for–you.info

If you listen, even for a moment, to the talk in overweight communities you will almost always hear that gastric bypass weight loss surgery is the “easy way out” of Fat Land. People with weak spirits and good insurance get a lucky break, have their stomachs whacked and stapled and lose weight the easy way. Weight Loss Surgery: seen by pious public to be surgical baptism for the guilty gluttonous slothful.

But those of us who step in the water to be cleansed of our fatty sins know better. Weight loss surgery is NOT the easy way out, a simple dunking of the repentant, the sins atoned, and the price paid, the soul and body healed. We know the atonement is paid every day for the rest of our lives when we set our healthy house in order with gastric bypass.

We understand that WLS is not easy. Why, then, does the public think it’s redemption to weight loss?

First: what the public sees is a rapidly diminishing person recently repaired by gastric bypass. The pounds melt away seemingly in a plain sight. What hides behind the curtain are the ugly demons. Dumping? We don’t talk about it. Vomiting? We don’t tell our regurgitating stories. Head games driving you insane? Who you going to tell? Who is listening? Exercising? Nobody wants to hear about the “E” word. So what the public sees front and center stage is a person consistently succeeding at massive weight loss; a person glowing in their own rebirth and betraying the fat and hopeless around them. How else can it be explained? WLS must be the magic pill, the easy-way-out of obesity hell.

Second: the WLS grass-roots public relations machine tells the public gastric bypass is easy, thus we become our own worst enemy. Tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar: “I can still eat the same things, just less of them! ha ha ha!” or how about, “I lost 145 pounds and never had to do a moments exercise - WLS is fabulous that way - no exercise required.” And so the popular belief perpetuates that fat glutton slobs can lose weight just by eating less of the same foods and never exercising. Brilliant! How easy is that?

Let me tell you what weight loss surgery is really like for me.

I am six years post-op. Two nights ago I vomited my dinner (bacon-seared sea scallops and green beans) because it was just a bit too greasy for my sensitive stomach. A week before that I became deathly ill, it’s called dumping, from snacking mindlessly on Chinese chow mein noodles. Disorientation, hot sweats and then cold chills - dumping - a dire consequence of eating the wrong foods with the malabsorptive system. This morning, just like most mornings, I walked two brisk miles on the treadmill to begin my day. This evening I spent 25 minutes strength training to maintain my muscle tone, keep my metabolism running high and making damn sure I don’t regain one single pound.

And this is how it will be for the rest of my life. I will vomit, dump, exercise and be vigilant day in and day out if I want this easy weight loss surgery to work for me.

My body does not take weekends off from weight loss surgery. I don’t get chocolate cake just because it’s my birthday. I do not have a double-cheeseburger with fries and a shake just because I’ve had a stressful day and I deserve it. My body is on the gastric-bypass plan 24-7.

Do you think that’s easy?

Weight Loss Surgery post-ops understand what I’m talking about. Many of us go through a phase of fighting the gastric bypass and engage in snacking or grazing. We out-eat the stomach pouch and regain weight and we become self-loathing. We vomit and dump and do it all over again thinking we can somehow trick the body. Eventually we learn and we get it: WLS is for life.

Weight loss surgery pre-op patients want badly to understand this, but the dieting culture has taught us to be strict for X-number days and then we get a free day. The culture has taught us if we can stick to a plan for X-weeks and lose X-pounds then we can “get back to normal”. We are all expert dieters by the time we elect to have gastric bypass surgery.

There is no back to normal after WLS - it is a lifetime lifestyle commitment.

Kaye Bailey © 2005 - All Rights Reserved

An award winning journalist and former newspaper editor Kaye Bailey brings expertise in writing and personal experience with gastric bypass surgery to EzineArticles.com. Having spent most of her life overweight Ms. Bailey is strongly empathetic toward the obese, particularly overweight children. This compassion compelled her to found the website http://www.livingafterwls.com, a fast-growing resource of information, understanding and support for the weight loss surgery community.

The LivingAfterWLS.com site is complimented with daily blog. The blog, http://livingafterwls.blogspot.com offers readers the chance to comment or leave feedback about fresh content added daily. This site contains success stories and recipes, general information and WLS inspired topics. Complementing the site is a monthly newsletter titled “You Have Arrived” available exclusively to people who subscribe through the website or the blog.

Garlic is another wonder herb. It has action in all areas of your body and can help you eliminate constipation. You can find it in capsules in a brand call Kyolic.

Kyolic is a special garlic preparation, which is aged for 20 months in stainless steel tanks. With this aging, garlic odor is eliminated and certain chemicals are enhanced - S-allyl-mercaptocysteine, S-allyl-cysteine. These chemicals are powerful sources for fighting various diseases - cancer, heart and liver disease.

Kyolic cleanses, soothes, and reduces inflammation throughout your gastrointestinal tract. It is rich in potassium, which is necessary colon wall contraction.

Kyolic is also effective in killing pathogens and bad bacteria that live in your colon and elsewhere in your body. It also binds to heavy metals and other toxins that exist in the blood and colon and sweeps them out of the rectum. Aside from helping in constipation, it is helpful for reducing,

Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuiders’ training regimes.

It is useful, therefore, to describe in detail the processes involved in actually doing these exercises. This will help beginners to start out using the correct techniques before moving on to potentially more dangerous heavy weights. If it also helps more experienced lifters to redress some of the little faults that have almost imperceptibly crept in over the years, all the better.

In this article we’ll take a close look at the seated calf raise.

MUSCLES TARGETED: soleus

STARTING POSITION

Sit erect on the seat facing the machine.
Position the thighs under the pads and place the balls of the feet on the near edge of the step.
Position the feet and legs parallel to each other with the toes pointing straight ahead.
Allow the heels to hang off below the step.
This is the starting point for each repetition.

UPWARD MOVEMENT

Keep the torso erect and the legs / feet parallel, push up on toes as high as possible.
Push up off the step.

DOWNWARD MOVEMENT

Allow the heels to slowly lower back to the starting position.
Repeat or finish set.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding Exercises to learn more about the issues covered in this article.