Wrestling is a sport that requires above average strength levels. In order to be a Champion, you need to keep the strength that you’ve built up in the off-season and keep it through a full season of dual meets, tournaments, and constant “cutting weight.” This isn’t easy to do… unless you know how to do it! The skills that you learn through countless hours of practice make or break you. The strength and conditioning allow you to perform the moves. Learn exactly how to get stronger for wrestling.

With all things equal, the STRONGER wrestler WINS every time!

The following tips will help you develop your wrestling strength and keep it throughout the season!

1. Drink Meal Replacement Shakes Meal replacement shakes were originally developed for cancer patients. They were consumed because they were pre-digested, and “nutrient dense.” They are loaded with vitamins and minerals, high protein blend, and just enough carbohydrates to keep up energy levels. These are perfect for wrestlers who are dropping weight to move down to a lower weight class. They are low in calories, yet have the nutritional values that are so important to maintain or build strength. Try to consume 2 or 3 per day if you’re cutting weight.

2. DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF Wrestlers are notorious for cutting weight by not eating, then dehydrating. Let me explain what happens to your body when you decide to do this in order to make weight each week. When you take in too few calories to maintain your body weight, the body goes into a defense mechanism. Sure, the scale will show that you are indeed losing weight. But the body determines that it is being starved, and as a means to protect itself from starving, it will hold onto body fat, and start breaking down muscle tissue for energy. You will wind up losing SOME body fat, plus muscle and water. So you make weight, but you’re not as strong due to less muscle on your body. If you have to make weight, plan ahead, and try to lose body fat, not muscle.

3. Train Your Wrestling Muscles When creating a workout program for wrestling you must first consider the muscles that you use in wrestling in order of importance. These are the glutes, hips and low back (the posterior chain muscles), then the quadriceps, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, and neck. I recommend that you perform a full body strength routine, You still want to work the entire body thoroughly, but prioritize the wrestling muscles first.

4. Strength Train Every 4-5 Days During The Wrestling Season Your goal during the season is to at least keep up your strength levels, with the best case scenario being strength gains as the season progresses. In order to accomplish this you want to strength train frequently enough, but not so much that you’re constantly breaking your body down. For the in-season, try to hit a full body workout on a schedule like this: Week 1 – Monday and Friday, Week 2 – Wednesday. Then repeat. This means that one week you perform 2 full body strength workouts, and the next week you perform one full body strength workout. Alternate these weeks throughout the wrestling season.

5. Progressive Resistance Remember to always strive to do at least one more repetition or the same amount of repetitions with a little more weight as often as possible. Your muscles quickly adapt, and you need to force them to become stronger. Strive for a 5% strength gain on each exercise per month. If you’re really cutting a lot of weight this season, you may not be able to gain strength because the body needs a surplus of calories from food in order to feed the muscle. At least, try to maintain your strength by keeping the same weight on each exercise throughout the season.

We all are familiar with the term boot camp. It is a form of outdoor group exercise where you find a good blend of calisthenics and various body weight work outs. The calisthenics include strength exercises like pushups, swats, crunches, weight lifting, etc. These camp exercises are set up with the idea of burning maximum calories and working out till the point your body can take. Here you will know how a fitness camp can benefit in toning your body.

Boot camps push the body to the limits. It challenges the body’s capabilities with strength training and weight exercises. Such a program is usually held for 1 to 2 months and aim at maximum physical discipline. If you join one, you will have to push your limits by waking up at early hours, practicing exercises with little rest or interval in between. A good fitness instructor will help you achieve a well-toned body in those 2 months. All you need is determination and craving for fitness and to work out as much as possible with a view to burn those extra calories. It is fun, and helps to burn fat within a short time frame. The consistent and intense workout schedule will help you reach your fitness goal.

A proper 30 minute workout regime at a boot camp will include a 10 minute warm up, followed by pushups, crunches, squats, hurdles, stretches and other weight lifting exercises. This 30 minute workout will actually burn 500 calories. There are various types of programs like body toning, weight loss camps, and fitness camps, body strengthening camps for aged people and one for kids as well.

A fitness boot camp is a good way to strengthen and tone up your body at an effectively low cost. Whatever your fitness goal, these exercises will help in toning your overall body. It also helps in weight loss and getting in proper shape. Some camps also conduct yoga practices for mental strength. A good fitness program focuses on all areas of the body and tones it up by helping you lose weight and fat. You will not only burn calories and shed fat, you will also go stronger!

Boot camps are extremely portable and can be set up anywhere. With simple equipments, toning your body cannot be easier than this! It includes strength exercises, weight exercises, cardio and muscle toning. In each 30 minutes of work out session, you can tone up your body to a large extent. There are different levels of boot camps such as beginners, advanced and pro. People are allotted in the categories according to their capability and stamina. A fitness trainer will help you out with this. With every workout session, you will gain confidence and strength.

There are some safety tips that one must remember while engaging in a boot camp routine. Proper safety and medical insurance is extremely important. One should also know to what extent one can tone up their bodies. Excessive weight exercises or muscle workouts can result in muscle cramps, body ache leading to many fatal problems.

So just in case you are looking for an effective way for getting in shape by losing those extra pounds, such a camp is a great idea. A good 4-8 weeks of exercises will tone you up a fair bit. Enroll yourself under one and enjoy healthy living!

Muscle building skinny guys do exist. In abundance mind you. You might be told that appearances do not matter, it is what you are on the inside, but they can say that because they’re not in your shoes. I know because not long ago I was skinny too. I didn’t have confidence in myself, I felt unattractive and I just hated being called skinny, lean or any other adjective, blunt or sugar-coated that described my small size. This article is my way of helping you to do what i did. First let me tell you more about skinny guy syndrome, and then I’ll tell you how you’re going to change that body of yours.

Back to hating being skinny. This is why there are muscle building skinny guys. We want to change the way we look and we want to put on some muscle. We don’t want to look at the scale and see the needle barely move. We want to see much higher figures when we get on that thing. BUT HOW?

How will you succeed as a muscle building skinny guy. Lets face it. Not every skinny guy who tries to put on muscle succeeds. A lot of the time we fail and that is because we just don’t know what to do and in some situations are just too plain lazy to get up and do it. Listen I’m going to be blunt with you. if you are the too lazy to do it type, you might as well click away from this page right now. But if you are the guy who’d do anything to get some muscle on your body, and you just don’t know where to start, I’ve got great news for you.

Here’s some of the advice I’ve bet you’ve heard already.

Eat more.
Sleep more.
Work out harder.

Come on, you already know all that stuff. But what do you eat, and sleep more? how will that work? And work out harder? You’ve already been spending every day in the gym hitting every machine.
NOW, I’m going to break it down for you.

So my muscle building skinny friend. Here’s how you eat. Pay close attention. You need to take in around 20 calories per pound of body weight. This is only an estimate. If this does not work for you, step it up a notch. Extra calories means extra energy that will be used to build muscle. Now these calories must not all be chocolate bars and coke. You need to get some good carbohydrates to make up the majority of these calories. Things like oats, whole-grain foods, and rice are great. Keep in mind that you’re skinny and you don’t have to worry about getting fat. If at any point you do start getting a belly, getting rid of it won’t be too hard.

The second largest portion should be proteins because these are your muscle building blocks. I won’t yap about this because I’m sure you already know all there is to know about protein. Good oils, like Olive oil for instance are also the muscle building skinny guy’s friend because they are precursors to the testosterone your body needs to produce for you to gain muscle. And TESTOSTERONE? That’s the muscle building skinny guy’s number 1 best friend.

Sleep right. There isn’t too much to this, but you grow when you sleep, so make sure you get around 8 hours of sleep a day. The best hours to get that sleep are just before midnight till around 8am because research has shown that at these times your body gets the best quality of sleep. Power naps are great additions too.

Finally, Working out harder? So many muscle building skinny guys fail because they go overboard with this. They overwork their muscles. Try to spend less than 75 minutes in the gym, because after that point your muscle supplies are depleted and you lose more muscle than is good for you. Make those 75 minutes intense though. Don’t go to the gym everyday either. As a muscle building skinny guy you should be doing maximum 3 days a week. and maybe a day of cardio. Yes. you heard me. Cardio. Contrary to what you’ve been told, cardio is actually very useful for muscle building skinny guys because it helps with hormone levels, your appetite and your fitness and endurance.

I hope that all muscle building skinny guys reading this article have a light going off in their heads. Eat right, sleep right, work out smarter, and when you work out push your body to its limits. Take Care my muscle building skinny friends. You’re going to get big so soon, it’s not even funny.

PS: the shock on people’s faces when they see the changes in your body makes buying a very expensive camera worth it.

One of the busiest times that people want to grow taller quickly is before the summer holidays so that they look taller on their holiday or during the summer so when they come back to education or back to work they are flooded with compliments of “oh have you got taller?”. This is understandable but if you want to reap the rewards then you are going to have to start now and you are going to have to be committed to put a lot of work and effort into this to get all the rewards. In this article discover how you can grow taller for your holiday or for when you return to your social life after summer.

Summer is a time where everyone wants their body to look the best, whether it is training hard at the gym to get their beach body or even working on their height so that they can be noticed. For those of us that are challenged vertically you will know that it is hard getting noticed by the opposite sex if you aren’t too tall and holiday is a great reason to kick start yourself into gear into making a change in yourself to get taller.

So to increase your height the first thing you will need to do is create an action plan. This is something you will follow everyday for a specific amount of time to achieve your SHORT TERM GOALS. You will typically have different actions plans at intervals (every 2/3 weeks) so that your body doesn’t get used to what you are doing (just like when you are working on building muscle).

With increasing your height what you will need to do is create an action plan that consists of exercises and stretches that you can follow every day. Normally a typical action plan will have your stretches in the morning when you wake up (these don’t take too long to do and in fact can be quick) and have your exercise following or later on in the day and then finishing off with stretches before you go back to bed.

All this will be accompanied by a diet plan that you are going to follow at the same time which you need to make sure you follow too. By following a diet plan you are giving your body the nutrients it needs to get bigger and stronger such as calcium for your bones and protein for the recovery of the body.

It will take you a while to create this and it is going to be some effort to get yourself started with it but if you are willing to go forth and put the time and effort into following then you will start to notice a lot of positive results in the mirror, not only will you be healthier but you will also notice that you are in fact getting taller and motivation like this will push you to work harder throughout the summer until you are ready to go back to education or work even more confident than before.

I’d like to take a moment to address the issue of hydroponics and, why, after 10 years of growing wheatgrass in soil, I have finally given in to the idea that hydroponics is not only a viable alternative but actually a smarter one for some growers, with no loss of product quality. I will agree that hydroponics has taken a bad rap over the years for producing less tasty, more watery fruits and vegetables, but that was when commercial hydroponics was in its infancy, and growers were essentially just experimenting. In more recent years, however, it has become clear that hydroponic growers are mastering their craft and producing fruits and vegetables that have surpassed the taste and quality of some of their soil-grown competitors. I now confess to choosing a particular type of tomato, basil, and salad green over all others at the grocery store, and (with great surprise!) they are all grown hydroponically. That got me to thinking. If these growers can produce such outstanding tomatoes, basil, and lettuce, couldn’t I produce an outstanding hydroponic wheatgrass?

While I am a strong proponent of soil-grown, it has caused me a fair number of infrastructure problems in my growing operation throughout the years. Soil definitely has its place, outdoors and in greenhouses, but for an indoor growing operation–in my case, a 300 square foot year-round, climate-controlled growing room akin to a laboratory setting–it wreaks havoc and has caused me innumerable problems in the way of soilborne pathogens, dust, odors, storage limitations, and physical injury. Even when one works as cleanly as possible, soil has a way of taxing indoor air cleaning systems, which can turn into hundreds and even thousands of dollars in maintenance costs when the system unexpectedly and prematurely fails because of fine dust buildup.

During the years when I was growing primarily in soil, I was also experimenting with soilless media for my floral wheatgrass crops. Call me crazy, but I just didn’t like the idea of putting soil on a fancy dinner table for the above-mentioned reasons: pathogens, dust, odors. Also, soil wasn’t the easiest thing for florists to work with when they needed to cut pieces to fit their decorating needs. So I began growing in coco coir (ground coconut husks), which turned out to be an exceptional growing medium. The simple fact that it is not soil is what makes it a hydroponic growing medium, and thus began my journey as a hydroponic grower. Coco coir looked and acted just like soil, only it was pathogen-free, retained water longer and more evenly, didn’t cast odors, and didn’t present the mold problems that soil seemed to present at times. Because it was packaged in dry compressed bricks, it was lighter than soil, took up less storage space, and eliminated the issue of frozen soil in winter. My only problem with coco coir was its nutritional value. Sure, it produced a nice looking short grass for floral use, but could it possibly provide the same nutritional benefits as soil for my juicing clients? If not, what did I need to do to bring this growing medium to a place where I could feel good about selling what I was growing to customers who valued product nutrition above all else?

First of all, let’s look at the nutritional needs of the wheat berry as it sprouts, produces shoots, and becomes the grass that is eventually harvested. Seeds generally do not require any nutritional amendments when they are just sprouting. That is true of wheat berries as much as it is true of any other seed. The nutrition a seed requires to sprout into a baby green essentially comes from the seed itself. It’s when a plant’s second set of leaves begin to emerge that it depends on its growing medium as a lifeline. At that point, all conscientious growers, whether they grow in soil, coco coir, water, or anything else, take measures to ensure that their growing medium is equipped to support the nutritional requirements of the plant.

After a great deal of experimentation, I have found that wheatgrass does fine in coco coir up until it is time to harvest and pretty much not a moment more. Sure, the entire tray doesn’t yellow all at once because not every single wheat berry sprouts at exactly the same time, but the moment each little shoot begins to require more nutrition for its next level of maturity (when the grass begins to form another blade), it no longer has what it needs to thrive in coco coir alone and begins to yellow, much more dramatically than when the grass is grown in soil. This predictable yellowing tells me that I am working with some sort of nutritional deficiency in the growing medium and that nutritional supplementation is required.

So, let us look at what types of nutrients coco coir has to offer, what types of nutrients wheat requires, and what our options are in terms of healthy organic supplementation to help get us to where we need to be on a nutritional level and feel good about our hydroponically-grown grass in a way that we have come to feel good about our soil-grown grass.

pH. First and foremost, let’s look at pH. Exceedingly important to keep that right. Without the proper soil/water pH, everything else goes out the window. Wheat grows best at a pH between 6.0 and 7.0, which is slightly acid. I have personally found that it grows best somewhere around 6.5. As mentioned in one of my previous articles, the slight soil acidity enables the plant to process all of the required micro and macronutrients most efficiently. I realize that is tough concept to swallow for some folks who are looking to alkalize their bodies using wheatgrass, but trust me on this one: soil alkalinity does not equal body alkalinity. At least not here. So if you are growing in soil, this means testing your soil supply periodically with a soil testing kit, and also testing your water with the proper metering device to make sure that you are not flooding your wheatgrass everyday with something that is either too acid or alkaline for your grass.

Coco coir itself does not need to be measured with a soil tester. Its pH is pretty stable at the correct level, between 6.0 and 6.5 straight out of the bag. It’s when you add that 7:1 ratio of water to your coco coir that everything has the potential to change, so having a meter that measures water pH is extremely important for hydroponic growers as well. I cannot stress that enough. My water tends to be very alkaline, close to 8.0, so I add a little bit of citric acid to my water bath before soaking the coco coir. It only takes a tiny bit to dramatically change the water pH. Citric acid is naturally derived from citrus fruits and provides a short-term correction to an alkaline growing medium. For a short-term crop like wheatgrass, citric acid works perfectly.

Macronutrients. Next, let’s look at the macronutrients. All plants need Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) to survive, each in varying quantities depending on the plant. For wheat, higher levels of Potassium are desired by farmers for higher protein content in the grain, but that potassium uptake is not even a factor until the heading stage, and it is irrelevant for the purposes of harvesting wheatgrass. Because wheatgrass is harvested as a baby green, technically halfway through its first stage of growth, it does not require heavy fertilization. Suffice it to say, unless your soil is entirely deficient in one of the three macronutrients, your wheatgrass should be just fine, but the only way to know exactly what you are working with is with a soil testing kit. A simple soil testing kit to tell you if your NPK ranges are high, medium or low is all you really need as a home grower or small business owner. A low reading on any of the three macronutrients calls for some sort of soil amendment to bring things into balance.

Coco coir, on the other hand, is a given. It is naturally high in Potassium, with lower levels of Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which means that the type of natural amendment we are looking for is one that provides Nitrogen (to help give a plant its proper green) and Phosphorous (for strong young root growth) but not as much Potassium (which, in excess, can actually inhibit nitrogen levels). What I have found to work best for my needs is the addition of spent coffee grounds to my coco coir mix, which gives a nice Nitrogen boost (solving the problem of yellow grass) and helps increase Phosphorous for strong root growth without also increasing Potassium too much. With the coco coir, I like to keep my amendments plant-based as this presents more immediately bioavailable nutrition for the roots of my short-term crop. Coffee grounds do not seem to present composting issues that can damage a baby crop, and contrary to popular belief, spent coffee grounds are not high in acid. The pH of spent coffee grounds measures with some variability in the 6.0 range, which is exactly where we want to be with wheatgrass. If you choose to use spent coffee grounds, be sure to refrigerate them until use.

Micronutrients. Coco coir, while not a micronutrient powerhouse, actually does carry with it an array of low-level micronutrients, including iron, magnesium, copper, and boron. It is not enough to really make a substantial difference in a maturing crop, however, so it is probably a good idea to supplement coco coir with a nice liquid organic fertilizer packed with micronutrients, like liquid kelp, which is immediately bioavailable to the roots of our short-term wheatgrass crop and can easily be added to the coir’s initial water bath. Remember that wheatgrass does not require a whole lot though, so pour judiciously. Remember, you just need enough to carry you through those last couple of days before harvest. Liquid kelp, while lacking in macronutrients, provides an ample supply of micronutrients, trace minerals, amino acids, and natural plant hormones to help stimulate growth and produce a nutritious baby green. Even folks who prefer to grow in soil find liquid kelp to be a wonderful soil amendment.

In summary, coco coir offers growers a sustainable growing medium that is pretty stable from package to package in terms of pH and nutrient analysis, making crop planning more controllable and predictable. Soil, on the other hand, can vary greatly depending on its source and needs to be tested with a soil tester and amended accordingly. Whether growing in soil or coco coir, water pH is a major factor. A device for measuring water pH is a must for any grower. If growing regularly within confined indoor growing areas year-round, coco coir offers many benefits in terms of cleanliness and storage. If growing in a greenhouse or outdoors, soil offers a more complex and an often-preferred nutrient base as well as that certain intangible “earth connection.” It also offers cost efficiency. Coco coir, unfortunately, requires a fair bit of price shopping. Slightly more expensive than bagged soil, the price of coco coir has come down considerably in recent years, however, and will probably equal that of bagged soil as demand continues to increase. It also offers the look and feel of soil for those who are just more comfortable growing in soil.

As a consumer, you should be aware that hydroponically-grown fruits and vegetables have been shown to nutritionally out-perform their soil-grown counterparts in European studies. In America, the USDA has determined there to be no nutritional difference between the two growing methods.

As to how you should grow and what you should consume, it’s all a matter of what is practical for the grower and what is preferred by the consumer. The better method, it appears, depends on the situation.

Isn’t it frustrating to not be able to wear your favorite shirt anymore because your fat stomach is looming from the seams just like Homer Simpson’s? Have you ever imagined yourself taking off your shirt one Sunday morning in the beach to show the world those Matthew McConaughey washboard abs?

Well, there isn’t any easy way to make these daydreams come into reality. Not with all those misconceptions propagated on the internet about a so-called wonder diet pill or ab belt that can flatten your tummy in a span of a few weeks. Nothing else can shed off those belly fats but your own efforts and determination to expose those chiseled abs hiding from within. Armed with the right information and confidence, you’ll surely get the six pack abs that are rightfully yours.

Six pack exercises should be done at least 3 times a week. If you want to tone your abdominal muscles, a routine of barbell roll-out, Swiss ball knee tuck, Swiss ball Russian twist, reverse crunch and knee raise with a drop performed 30 times each in four sets with 2-minute intervals will surely take you there.

But no matter how hard you train your abdominal muscles, they won’t show up unless you start getting rid of those layers of flab that are making them obscure. Doing ab-specific exercises or any other kind won’t burn your belly fats because the body chooses where fats will come off first. You should consider working out your whole body, not just the abs, to maintain your muscular mass. A good set of muscles will aid your body in burning fat-producing calories.

So throw away those plastic belts and wonder drugs and start working on your six packs the right way.

No two minds are alike. Two people, given the same creative brief, will produce vastly different campaigns. This is because ideas don’t materialise from thin air. They come from what has been read, experienced and observed everyday.

In addition, some people are more creative than others, because they exercise creative thinking more often. The creative power of the brain is like a muscle – the more it is flexed, the stronger it becomes and the faster the ideas come.

A lot of the techniques art directors and copywriters use to create ads are techniques borrowed from fiction writing, film and theatre. Books on these subjects make good background reading.

Having a healthy selection of art and industry advertising books in the office is a must. Pick up some copies of D&AD and specialty reads like Alastair Crompton’s Craft of Copyrighting.

Here are some techniques you can use to make your campaign creative stronger, improve brand awareness and the response rate of the campaign.

Keep it simple stupid

KISS. Keep it simple stupid. Express the idea in a small space. On a post-it note, on a napkin. If you can’t express your idea in concrete diagram or sentence, you probably don’t have an idea. At most, you may have several unrelated parts.

What many marketers find difficult to evaluate are ideas in their infancy. Without the idea rendered with finished images, they are not able to visualise how far the idea can go, or how campaignable an idea is. However, evaluating ideas without too much polish, is advantageous.

It allows concepts to surface, and good ideas to shine.

Cover territories – own spaces

The more ideas you can generate, the more areas or territories you can cover. Coming up with a few disparate ideas is no enough. Creatives instead map ideas to spaces or territories. They identify these territories from customer insights, research and plain intuition.

An idea may be good, but is it strategically placed in the right territory? Choosing the right campaign can be a matter of finding the right idea, in the most fertile territory.

Creatives hunt for new territories, or new ways of seeing existing territories. Otherwise their ideas are unoriginal and lack impact.

Make your idea a campaign

Creatives and clients loathe campaign ideas which cannot scale across different media. These require too much exposition, and too often only work in television.

Marketers should go for campaign ideas which can work not only in the richness of television, but also in small-space banner ads. Otherwise, they miss important touch points.

Turn it on its head

During brainstorming session, clients and agencies often complain they ‘get the same ideas’. This may be because the group is afraid to challenge thinking, or the group is suppressing ideas which sound absurd at face value.

Unless the group is prepared to take ‘untrodden’ paths, brainstorming sessions will yield the same results every time. Participants should let go of their fears and criticism, and turn their thinking on its head.

If car manufacturers always advertise their cars with four wheels, try an idea which features the car with no wheels. These are the kinds of ideas challenge consumers and give rise to free press coverage.

By incorporating a ‘what if’ exercise during brainstorming can boost the volume of ideas and the effectiveness of the group. Such that the sum of the parts contributed by the group is larger than any one contribution by one mind.

Straight headline, quirky visual

The basic ingredients of a print campaign is a headline and a visual. Creating an ad which shows a quirky visual, and a quirky headline, normally results in an ad which is too bizarre for an audience to interpret. Likewise, if the headline and visual are both straight, the add feels literal and provides no ‘ahhha’.

To get a right balance, it seems you need equal parts of the literal and the bizarre in the advertisement. It is worth mentioning that not every ad has both a headline or visual. Some are simply a visual, and some are just a headline.

Is the headline the same as the visual?

Junior creatives often make the mistake of creating ads with a headline and visuals which say the same thing. Beside is an example. This creative is not working very hard. Both the headline and visual say the same thing.

Instead, try placing an unrelated headline and visual together on the page. Separately they don’t mean much, but when put together, become a riddle for the audience to solve.

Clever? Or too clever?

The debate over ‘clever’ advertising never ceases. Clever ads the risk of their audience completely missing the point. Conversely, lame ads go unnoticed.

Both statements are correct. Lame ads lack impact. And being too clever isolate everyone but the judging panel at the awards. The medium, brand and creative, all have to be weighted to produce the desired effect.

For example, a piece for EPURON, designed to be a viral video, could be deemed as too clever. The idea works on multiple levels, personifying the wind and requiring the audience to watch it twice. You have to watch it to get it.

If this was a TVC, asking the audience to watch it twice is next to impossible. However, give the fact the creative was destined to be a viral YouTube video (so it can be played more than once), the witty element works in its favour to make it more viral.

Reference topical issues

Ads can leverage context from the public domain which is current. Sports, religion, politics, sex – these are all fertile places to leverage reference. Building an idea around a topical issue can be very powerful, and often sparks controversy.

Humour, gags, punch lines, pay-offs

Humour is the gag, the punch line, the payoff – these are good techniques to keep audiences reading. Realise that most advertising is interruptive. Compensating consumers by making them smile is the very least we can do for having interrupted them.

Ideas which feature gags that are genuinely funny can get a lot of love and mileage. In fact the funniest ones often offend some segment of society.

When deploying humour, make sure it is funny and is connected to the brand. Otherwise, the gag will be remembered, but the brand quickly forgotten.

Shock value

For some industries, like anti-tobacco smoking, featuring real people dying of smoking-related cancer is statistically proven to more impactful than other techniques.The problem with shock campaigns, is they get tired quickly. They lose shock-value. What was shocking today is mundane tomorrow.

This forces advertisers to go in pursuit of the next shocking visual or statistic. It is not easy to sustain these campaigns in the long run.

Puns and visual puns

These were once very popular techniques. There was a time when you could flick through a magazine, and almost every page featured a pun.

The smarter puns are not created as a headline, but expressed as a visual. These are called visual puns.Most creative people agree the use of puns should be avoided.

Puns are risky. At their heart there is often no core idea, and therefore they are a menace to campaign.

Puns are really a last resort.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is achieved when the two dipolar visuals are put together. Take for example the faces of two opposing football team coaches; or a cheap car and a luxury car. These are two extremes which share a common relationship, but are very different. Together they create a striking visual.Their extreme differences give birth to a new meaning when placed beside each other.

Juxtaposition can useful for challenging a stereotype, and changing opinions.

Metaphors and hyperbole

Metaphors are one of the most common storytelling techniques. It is no surprise advertisers use them so often. Metaphors borrow from a construct the audience understands, to explain another construct they have little knowledge about.

For example, power plugs could be a metaphor for sexuality.

Metaphors can be a hyperbole too. A hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for emotional effect. The effect is intentional, and the audience is not expected to interpret hyperbole literally.

Irony

Irony is a mode of expression that calls attention to discrepancy between two levels of knowledge. The definition of irony, in the simplest form, is the difference between what someone would reasonably expect to happen and what actually does. Meaning that something that happens that you would not even reasonably expect to happen is considered irony.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a series of repeated consonant sounds, occurring at the beginning of words or within words. Alliteration is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts. They appear in headlines, in taglines and campaign titles.

Alliteration makes a phrase sound a little catchier, and more memorable.

Sticky ideas

Sticky is normally what you get when one or a combination of the above, works really well. You end up with an advertisement which is talked and written about. An ad campaign that becomes sticky is viral. Without much intervention or media spend, the audience transmits and shares the idea, often modifying it and making it their own.

This recent TVC by Heineken, combined several techniques covered in this article, and nailed it.

Cues are simple, memorable and colorful words or expressions to help you teach proper technique for your boxing workouts. For example, Float Like a Butterfly. Cues are much better than technical jargon because they get the point across, on the fly. These cues will work for personal trainers and group trainers teaching boxing. They will also work for anyone holding punch mitts (focus pads) for their partner.

I – Float Like a Butterfly

What it means – For Ali, I think it meant to dance around the ring, which he did very well. However, for Fitness Boxing, it means to get up on the balls of the feet and move – whenever they are not punching.

When and Why to say it – Float like a butterfly helps students get up on their toes, burn more calories and work their legs. Tell students to do this between punches and combinations – not at the same time.

2. Put Out the Cigarette

What it means – This cue means to twist the ball of the foot, so the toe points toward the target, resulting in more hip and leg drive, and more powerful punches.

When and Why to say it – A good punch uses the core. By twisting the foot, like you are putting out a cigarette on the ground, the boxer / student will engage the Abs and core muscles. This cue works very well for the right cross punch.

3. Over the Brick Wall

What it means – This cue helps students keep their elbow nice and high for the left or right hook punch. They imagine there is a chest-high brick wall in front of them. The hook goes over the brick wall.

When and Why to say it – Say the cue as just before or even as they throw the hook. A high elbow helps prevent a wild swinging on the hook punch.

4. Eye of the Tiger

What it means – We’ve all heard the song, but to me eye of the tiger means to focus. A tiger keeps her eye on her prey, never looking away.

When and Why to say this – Students will look away or flinch at the moment they punch. Also, in real boxing they will look away when under attack. That is not the time to look away!

5. Corkscrew the Fist

What it means – This means twisting the fist, so it faces the ground, enabling the student to strike with the front two knuckles.

When and Why to say it – This cue works very well for both the left jab and right cross (or right jab and left cross for left handers). Tell them to twist their fist just before the moment of impact, and right through the punch mitt.

Try these 5 cues as you teach your boxing sessions. They will help your students remember and perform the technique tips that result in great punching and great fitness.

Men: Want to build a more masculine face and get masculine features? Then try face exercises for men!

In today’s society there are many men that apparently have no idea that they can build a masculine face using face exercises for men! There are plenty of face and neck exercises that can provide men some truly effective ways for helping to sculpt, tone and define all of your facial features. What’s more is that these face exercises you can sculpt a chiseled jawline and even help to define and enhance your cheekbones in only a matter of weeks!

You should try to think of face exercises in the same manner that body builders use bodybuilding techniques to help build practically any part of their bodies. I mean,there are over 56 muscles in the face. If you don’t think that you can build your facial muscles, then you are seriously mistaken!

Because the very same principles used in bodybuilding are also used in facial exercises. When used routinely, here’s what you can expect from face exercises for men:

*You can help to enhance your jawline! Face and neck exercises have been proven to help a man create a chiseled jawline through jawline exercises.

*You can even help to define your chin area. You can help the chin to get more developed through proper exercises.

*You can help to reduce a double chin. This one benefit alone had so many men jump on the men’s facial exercise bandwagon!

*You can help to eliminate bags under the eyes. Yes, you can even help to get rid of fatigue from under the eyes. This is the same type of fatigue that makes a man look much older than he actually is. This type of nagging condition can actually be decreased greatly by using proper facial exercise techniques!

Here are some tips you can try right NOW to help you get more masculine facial features right away!

1. Start by taking your middle finger and placing it on your chin.

2. Next, proceed to put your lips over both your upper and your lower teeth.

3. Then you just want to slightly open your mouth about half way, keeping it there in this position for about 20 to 40 seconds on each rep. Be sure to hold it in a strong hold, really feeling your jawline beginning to form more tightly.

4. That’s it!

This exercises will not only help you to achieve a more masculine,chiseled jawline, but it will also help you to develop and build a more masculine looking face!

I mean, you can even help to enhance your cheekbones greatly by performing these isometric facial exercises for men. This is great news for any man that wants to help better himself and ultimately wants to help himself look better.

And let’s face it, in today’s plastic surgery obsessed culture, men want to look their best no matter what. What’s more, there are many men these days that are turning to plastic surgery as a means to look better. But what many of them don’t realize are the risks and costs associated with plastic surgery. For example, an “eye” job alone can cost you at least $6000! Not to mention the risks if something goes horribly wrong! But with face exercises for men, not only is this cost eliminated, but also you avoid the risks of anything going horribly wrong with your face!

And the good news is that within 2 weeks of using these exercises for just 15 minutes a day you will start to notice and

So if you are looking for ways to help build a masculine face and get masculine features then you should definitely give face exercises for men a try!

Amaranth is nutritious and high in zinc, iron, and calcium. Amaranth has a nutty flavor and serves as a good complement to many bean dishes but it also makes a good main dish when combined with tasty vegetables as does the grain bulghur when turned into tabouli. The catch is that to get the most mineral value out of this food, we recommend soaking it overnight (or for eight to twelve hours) to reduce the mineral inhibitors native to the amaranth. All grains have these same inhibitors and so too benefit from this extensive soaking.

Amaranth is high in phytic acid, or phytates, a well-known mineral inhibitor. The phytic acid binds to minerals such as iron, magnesium, zinc, and calcium and inhibits your absoprtion of them. Although amaranth appears rich in minerals, the fact of the matter is that you cannot absorb all of them because of the phytic acid. The trick is to soak the amaranth to reduce the phytic acid. As a bonus, you will reduce your cooking time.

Rinse your amaranth and plan to soak it for eight to twelve hours. An overnight soak works well. Use two parts water for one part amaranth or the amount of water called for in your recipe. Soak the amaranth in warm water — above body temperature — and leave it in a warm spot. Cover the amaranth with a towel as it soaks. Some people add yogurt or a tablespoon or two of lemon juice to the mixture to improve the pH of the soaking water. Feel free to give that a try, but if the flavor seems off to you, a regular warm water soak works well too.

After soaking, transfer the amaranth to a pan and follow the cooking directions. The only exception is that the amaranth is likely to cook twice as fast, so sample it along the way to check if it is done. It is good practice to stir it regularly while it is cooking. You might try soaking the amaranth in a stainless steel pot you plan to cook it in. After soaking, simply pop it on the stove and cook it. Prepare amaranth as a breakfast cereal with honey, as a side dish (drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper), or as the center of your meal. Amaranth is nutty, versatile, and nutritious. Plan to soak it to reduce the phytic acid content and you will benefit more from its rich mineral content.