Of all of the questions that I get about medifast and other diets, people ask about the shakes most of all. I think that it’s very appealing to think that a product that’s so convenient and decent tasting can compose a large part of your diet plan and weight loss. I’m often asked about the differences between many of the popular diet shakes on the market. So, in the following article, I will compare three popular shakes (atkins, slim fast, and medifast) in terms of taste, calories, protein, carbs, and sugar.

Atkins Diet Shakes: First up, I’m going to look at the atkins shakes. I’m going to use the standard chocolate flavor for all of these products because I want to remain consistent. I’m looking at the advantage milk chocolate product. This shake contains 160 calories, 9 grams of fat, 4 grams of carbs, 1 gram of sugar, and 15 grams of protein. In terms of taste, I find this product to be a bit chalky and to have an almost artificial sweet taste. This product does have an impressive amount of protein, but it’s relatively high in calories and fat.

Slim Fast Weight Loss Shakes: When I went to do research for this article, I found that the slim fast shakes had recently been recalled. Still, the nutritional information was still available. I will be looking at the original slim fast milk chocolate shake. This shake checks in with a whopping 220 calories, but has only 3 grams of fat. It has a disturbing 30 grams of carbs and 34 grams of sugars. In its defense, it does have 10 grams of protein. Still, the fat, calories, and the high amount of carbs and sugars will probably run counter to this. And to make matters worse, the taste of this product is by far the chalkiest of all three shakes.

Medifast Weight Loss Shakes: Now, I’ll look at the medifast 55 dutch chocolate shake. This one has the least amount of calories – at only 90. There is only 1 gram of fat, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 8 sugars, and 11 grams of protein. This one has the lowest amount of calories and fat by far. And, I find that taste to be the best of the three. I do have to add some extra liquid to this product because I don’t like shakes that are too thick, but with that little modification made, this one is my opinion the best tasting of the bunch.

How These Shakes Fit Into A Plan Of Weight Loss Based Partly On Ketosis: Most of these shakes work under two principals. They want to save you calories on your meals and they want to save you sugars and carbs while giving you more protein. The goal here is to get your body into ketosis so that it’s able to burn fat instead of sugars and carbs. But to make this happen, you have to do your part by taking in enough protein and by taking in less calories and carbs.

I find it questionable that the slim fast shake would meet this criteria. There is simply too much sugars and calories. The atkins shake is better in this regard, but it still has significantly more calories and a whopping nine grams of fat, which I find pretty problematic. I might be biased because I regularly consume medifast shakes, but I find them to be the winner both in terms of nutrition and taste.

Now we all know that power is of vital importance for not only hitting the ball a long way, but also for injury prevention and consistency of swinging, but some people still just don’t get how important building strength is to developing power.

Strength is to power what the rendering is for a house. Without it, you can never build the house to its full potential, and even if you tried, you would fail. Strength is the foundation from which to build power.

It’s because of this reason that we value the building of strength so highly in developing world class golfing athletes – because we know the strength level of an athlete directly correlates with their power output.

So without further ado, here is our list of exercises that will develop a solid base of strength for you.

1) Squat

Target Muscles – Quads, Glutes, Hamstring, Spinal Erectors

The squat has been called ‘The King Of All Exercises’. This is due to the unparalleled gains in strength and power that people have seen whilst using this exercise. Like all of the movements on this list, the squat is a compound movement, meaning that it uses multiple muscles at once (which is how the body was designed to function), and more importantly for golfers, provides us with a lot of improvements hip and leg strength/power.

Why is this important to golfers? Because your power in a golf swing is generated, through the ground, from the hips and legs first. This contradicts the widely spread belief that to increase swing power you need to develop strength in your arms so that you can ‘swing faster’.

Developing lower body strength, whilst still maintaining flexibility & mobility should be the primary aim for a golfer, and the squat will provide us with all of the above.

2) Deadlift

Target Muscles – Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads, Upper Back, Spinal Erectors

I love deadlifts. What’s not to love? With deadlifts you get a total body movement that you can load heavy, can’t cheat on (as you can in the squat), provides you with a lot of hip strength (something that almost everyone lacks), challenges your core, and develops grip strength and the thoracic musculature. All of this from this one exercise!

As an added bonus it doesn’t leave you extremely sore the day after a training session as it’s a mostly concentric-based movement.

Unfortunately to some the deadlift comes under the stigma of being ‘dangerous’. This is mostly due to the shearing stress they can cause on the spine. This heat is unfounded, in my opinion, because the truth is that if you coach a deadlift correctly, and take the time to learn proper lifting technique while progressing the weight lifted appropriately, there is no reason that the deadlift should cause any lower back pain.

Some people with pre-existing back conditions should definitely err on the cautious side with this exercise, however, and definitely consult a health professional prior to adding it to your routine. For those with healthy lower backs, either read up on good technique, or find a good coach to show you how to deadlift properly, and start to reap the rewards from getting good at this exercise!

3) Clean & Press

Target Muscles – Upper Back, Trapezius, Biceps, Shoulders, Triceps

The clean & press is another great total body movement. It’s unique of the squat and deadlift for a few reasons. First, it incorporates a higher element of speed in the movement as you need to pull the bar up faster from the floor in order to ‘catch’ it in the clean grip. It also has a higher demand on the core than the other two lifts because you need to get the bar above your head. Lastly, while the other two movements do involves the upper musculature (mostly in a support role), the clean & press has an active upper body movement when you’re pressing it over your head.

All of these factors combine to make this one great exercise, worthy of inclusion in any program.

4) Chin Up/Pull Up

Target Muscles – Upper Back, Biceps

The chin up/pull up is the true test of upper body strength. The ability to lift your own body weight for reps is a sign that you’ve advanced to a level of strength that most really do not have. The great benefit of this exercise is that you develop strength within the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder, which will aid in keeping them healthy whilst you’re out on the course.

Some people find it hard to develop strength in this exercise, so I’m going to provide with a quick tip that I want you to implement immediately. Step 1 is to figure out what your maximum number of repetitions is for the chin up (moving through a full range of motion). Once you have figured this out, Step 2 is to halve this amount. Step 3 is to perform 8 sets of this number at the start of 3 training sessions per week (ensuring you get at least a day’s rest in between sessions).

So, if you’re maximum number of reps was 8. We halve this amount (4), and then do 8 sets of 4, 3 times per week in Week 1. If you can easily make 8 sets of 4 reps over the entire week, then the next week do 8 sets of 5. If you fail to make 4 reps on the latter sets, however, stick with doing 8 sets of 4 again the next week, or until you begin to easily make the set/rep prescription.

A month of training may look like this –

Week 1 – 8 sets of 4 – failed to make 4 reps on sets 7 & 8

Week 2 – 8 sets of 4 – made 4 reps on all sets

Week 3 – 8 sets of 5 – failed to make 5 reps on sets 6, 7 & 8

Week 4 – 8 sets of 5 – made 5 reps on all sets

Give that a try – I’m sure you’ll find it works wonders.

5) Bent-over Barbell Row

Target Muscles – Upper Back, Biceps

Bent-over barbell rows are another big upper back builder, with a difference. Instead of being in the vertical plane (meaning doing the exercise up and down), as a chin up is, it works in the horizontal plane. This is an important distinction to make, as it is because of this that this exercise serves an important purpose. Given that most people have a tight chest and weak upper back, a lot of golfers have rounded forward shoulders. As well as making them more prone to shoulder or lower back injuries, this forward-shoulder position also ruins swing mechanics, result in inconsistency and loss of power.

The bent-over barbell row is an exercise that works to counter-act this forward-shoulder position, as well as providing us with a great foundation of strength to build explosive power from. It’s a great bang for buck exercise. Try it, your shoulders will thank you!

There you have it, our top 5 list of exercises that will build a great foundation of strength from which you can then develop great power!

Are you afraid of putting on a swimsuit? If so, maybe you don’t have a bikini body shape. But you don’t have to lose heart as we have some suggestions that can help you get that great shape.

Well, if you do your workouts on a regular basis, you can get amazing results. In fact, simple changes can help you make a big difference. For instance, you can reduce your dinner plate size so you can eat less. Here are out 5 tips to get a bikini body.

1. Size of the Meals Matters

You should eat 5 small meals instead of 2 or 3 big meals in a day. This will boost your metabolism rate. Ideally, you can go for small snacks between the major meals of the day. Your goal should be to get healthy fats, complex carbohydrates and lean protein. The reason you should go for small meals is that large meals will put extra burden on your stomach and this will slow down your digestion process. As a result, you won’t be able to lose weight faster.

2. Plan Your Meals

It is important that you schedule your workouts. Aside from this, you may also want to plan your meals. You can set aside an hour each week to put together a great meal plan as well as a grocery list. Another great idea is to head to the farmers markets as they are a great place for you if you want to purchase fresh veggies at discounted prices.

This will help you save money while getting fresh fruits and veggies at a lower price. Therefore, you should never underestimate the importance of planning your meals.

3. Exercise In The Morning

When you get up in the morning, spare a few minutes and do exercise. This will help you burn the extra fat in your body. When you go to sleep, you burn carbohydrates but when you wake up and do exercise on an empty stomach, you burn the fat stored in your body. With high intensity exercises, you can burn more calories.

4. Eat Your Breakfast

If you want to maintain an ideal body weight, you should eat a healthy breakfast. If you skip breakfast in order to save calories, you may end up overheating during the day. You may also end up snacking on something that is rich in fat or sugar. As a matter of fact, it’s breakfast that boosts your metabolism helping you lose fat.

5. Go For Body Boosters

Go for water instead of drinks that are full of sugar. This will help you cut calories, stay hydrated and save some money. You can buy a self-bronzer quality lotion at a store as this will boost your confidence.

Aside from this, you should get the most out of your time by planning homemade meals in order to reach your fitness goals and save good money.

So, these are a few tips that can help you get that bikini body shape in a short period. Hope this helps.

Are you ready for this? The best exercise for buttocks to add to your buttocks workout I mean? Do you really want to discover the very best exercise for buttocks that I know?

Yes, I’m sure you do. And I know that you want your butt to be more toned as well – because if it’s more toned, it will be rounder, sexier, and definitely give your buttocks a more defined and larger look and feel.

Sounds great doesn’t it? You could get a J-Lo bum or a Beyonce bum just from doing some really good bum toning exercises.

Well, have I a highly effective buttock exercise for you to discover! The very best – I’ve got one of the hardest, firmest butts around and it’s all because of my one secret weapon.

This secret weapon is amongst the most intensely toning, buttocks exercises – the very best buttocks exercise ever! It specifically targets the but. Exercises of the right kind can target exactly the right zone and because of this you will see the most amazing fast results.

The precise zone that you should be targeting, are the gluteal group of muscles – the maximus, medius and the minimus – and all of these muscles are in your buttocks.

I’ll start with a few things that you can do to target the buttocks, before I tell you of my secret weapon – my secret best buttocks exercise. Some of these things really don’t require too much effort either.

1. Walking is a really great form of exercise – but walking uphill is even better.

2. Hiking or hill walking is definitely one of the best exercise for buttocks and these are both great when the weather is good – so what are you waiting for?

3. Tensing your buttocks – extremely simple, but you can do this anywhere and absolutely anywhere. When you are standing, sitting – and even better, do it when you are walking, and even better still, when you are walking uphill! Just tense your buttocks and hold for a count of 5. You can work on increasing this time as your buttocks get stronger.

4. Got out for a bike ride – cycling is good, but it’s not the very best exercise for buttocks, unless you are cycling up hills. Not easy, but then you don’t get great results without putting any effort in.

5. Swimming is another good exercise for increasing the size of your bum, especially doing front crawl, or using a float or flutterboard and kicking your legs. These are particularly intensely toning, bum exercises! It is also great for toning other muscles in the legs, and generally all over the body.

6. Dancing – if you love dancing, then this is the best buttocks exercise for you! Dance the night away and tone your bum whilst having fun.

7. And finally, my secret weapon – my very best buttocks exercise ever – is the Bulgarian Split Squat.

For this buttocks exercise you will need either a bench or a chair placed behind you. Raise one leg out behind you and place the top of your foot down onto the bench or the chair.

Your front leg should be as far out in front of you as is comfortably possible. Then dip down until your back knee is just off the ground, making sure that your front knee doesn’t extend out past the toes of the same leg.

To make this buttocks exercise a little harder, you can take a small dumbbell in each hand. Try to perform this exercise for buttocks up to 15 repetitions, and up to 3 sets on each leg. This buttocks exercise will definitely tone the bum in precisely the right place.

To increase jumping ability takes time and effort.  Claims of how to increase jumping ability by 100% in 1 week are not realistic.  You must have the right training, techniques and workouts in order to stimulate the body to make the necessary changes.  If you use the wrong workout techniques, you may never increase jumping ability.  In this article, I will give you a few ideas that will help establish a good foundation to make you successful.

1. Increase jumping ability by progressively overloading your body so that it must make changes.  These changes will allow you improve efficiency, coordination, and finally strength.  You should always start a workout with a warm up that is specific to the activity that you are going to be doing.  If you are going for a run, start off with a light jog, if you are going to lift weights, start out with light weights and gradually increase the weight until you are at the workload you plan to use.  When doing exercises to increase jumping ability, you should start off with low level plyometric exercises (light jumping) such as jump rope, skipping or ankling jumps.  This will get your body ready for the high intensity jumping exercises that are really going to make the changes.

2. Plyometric drills will help to improve the muscle coordination that is necessary to increase jumping ability.  It’s no wonder that experts utilize the effectiveness of plyometric training to advance their athletes to the next level.  Basically, plyometric drills are jumping exercises.  You don’t need fancy equipment in order to reap the benefits you need.

3. Train fast, get fast! Jumping is a high speed movement.  In order to get stronger at high speeds, you need to train at high speeds.  One of my favorite sayings is: Train slow, get slow.  Train fast, get fast!  Muscles respond to the specific training that they are put through as well as the speed you use to train.  To increase jumping ability, you will need to train at high speeds.  Slow squats, dead lifts, and other traditional weight lifting exercises done at slow speeds are great exercises for strength.  However, they are not going to produce the rapid transition from deceleration to the powerful acceleration needed to increase jumping ability.  That is why plyometric training is so effective.

A great example of a sport that has a great vertical jumping ability is Olympic weightlifters.  Have you seen the type of movements that they make when training? All of their lifts are explosive.  They have an amazing vertical jumping ability and yet you probably wouldn’t even know it.

To increase jumping ability, you must establish a foundation that will help to make you successful at achieving the gains that you want.  Remember to progressively overload your muscles, use the effectiveness plyometric training, and finally, train fast.  If you follow these principles you will increase your jumping ability in no time.

I struggled for years to get rid of my fat belly and double chin. This is my story…

I lost my double chin and big fat beer belly after a near 6-year struggle. In the end the solution was easier than I expected. If only some could of told me right at the beginning I could have had 6 years of looking great and not wasting so much money on fads and enjoying the food I eat.

My fat belly made an appearance at the age of 26. I looked ridiculous with my big fat belly. Where did it come from? I did eat a lot of sausage rolls that Christmas, or maybe it was just turning 26. Whatever it was that fat belly was here to stay. Loosing weight was not something I had done before but I believed the answer was easy – eat less food and exercise. I was no expert but this simple formula seemed the most straightforward way to lose weight. It just had to be.

My fat belly motivated me to stop eating and get to the gym. I hit the gym with force. I skipped lunch to cut down on eating; I was sure this would eliminate my beer belly in a shot. After a few months of trying my best at the gym and almost starving myself I had defiantly lost weight; as much as 6kg – a good effort. But looking at my belly it didn’t look any smaller; in fact it might even be bigger. I had lost weight on every part of my body except my belly.

Doing too much exercise and not eating enough caused my body to burn muscle to get extra energy. What I had been doing was counter productive, I was reducing my muscles and increasing my fat storage. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Things were about to get worse now at the age of 28 a double chin. I was still at a total loss as to how I still managed to have the fat belly I had tried so hard to get rid of. I swapped weights for cardio – pushing myself for faster times on the bike and running further and further on the treadmill. After only a few weeks eating salad for lunch and hitting the treadmill every day I looked in the mirror and saw I had burned away almost all the muscle I had put on. I was back to square one.

A flyer came though my letterbox for a local gym that advertised body re-shaping by way of a special but sensible diet. I had never heard of Educogym but the flyer did seem intriguing. My own experience of weight loss had made me angry and cynical. But since I was getting married I would make one last attempt to sort my body out and I picked Educogym.

Gina at Educogym explained to me that we would be training every day for 12 days; only 20 minuets at a time but this would be high intensity. Gina then explained to me my new diet. Gina explained to me about a chemical called insulin. Insulin regulates blood sugar in the body and effects how the body burns energy. If your insulin is kept low then your body will burn fat and not muscle. To keep my insulin low I would need to eliminate one particular thing from my diet – SUGAR.

No sugar, and nothing made from flour. Starches such as bread and pasta will absorb itself into the blood and raise my insulin. Even natural sugars from fruit need to be kept to a minimum. Fats on the other hand do not raise your insulin.

Sugar is in so many of our daily foods; it’s only when you try to avoid it you realize how often you eat it. To my surprise milk is 40% sugar. No eating white bread, or any bread for that matter. I would have to train my body to burn fat and fat only. So from now on I will be eating only protein and fat. Something in me knew this was going to work.

Breakfast was Bacon and eggs every day, no toast or anything else. No milk in my tea or coffee; but I could use cream which I found very nice. Lunch was meat – beef, lamb, or pork (no chicken), preferably meat with a nice fat content, and some green vegetables. Dinner is more of the same. Adding some walnuts for additional fatty acids was beneficial.

After a few days my body was now in a state of ‘ketosis’. That is all the energy used by my body came from fat and not carbohydrates. The fats and protein diet had killed my hunger and prevented me getting sugar cravings for chocolate and other mid morning snacks. I was burning fat and only fat; if there was no fat in my stomach to be burned then it would have to come from that large fat deposit – my fat belly.

I started to notice the difference from day two. The flab around my belly was much softer. The diet was slightly tedious but bearable; I did really miss all those wonderful sugar hits from chocolate and other foods. On day 7 my wife looked at me while I was recovering on the sofa from my hard 20-minute workout and exclaimed, “your double chin has gone!” On day 12 my measurements concluded I had lost some 3% body fat, my double chin was gone and my beer belly was about half gone.

Success finally. After all these years it was a dream come true. My belly was still there but was significantly reduced but there was some work still to do but the trend had been broken. I now knew how to beat the fat.

Bodyweight exercises are one of my favorite type of exercises to build lean muscle mass and to become physically fit (inside and outside). When you become proficient and efficient on certain bodyweight exercises, you will be strong and solid. You will look strong because you are strong. This is one reason why I enjoy the Tacfit Commando System. It utilize various bodyweight exercises to develop and enhance your physical fitness.

Push-ups are one of the best upper body exercises. Rather than increasing your repetitions on these exercises, you can (and should) get into more compound and complex exercise movements. Once you get a solid core foundation of the basic push-up movement, you should try the scorpion push-up. You want to have a solid chest, shoulders, and triceps development that is strong and sturdy. Then (and only then), you can add another simple movement (the scorpion) to your push-up movement to create a compound movement. This will make your routine challenging which will develop your neurological and muscular system.

The scorpion push-up is done like a regular push-up. On the downward movement, you want to raise your right leg by bending your right knee (your bottom leg will look like a scorpion tail). Then, when you are at the bottom of the exercise movement, you have the right foot touch the floor on the left side. You want to keep your right knee bent at a right angle. Then, you will repeat this on the left side. Here is the breakdown of the scorpion push-up:

* You start off at the top of the push-up movement. Keep you hands and feet firmly planted and your core tight. As with most of these exercise movement, you want to keep the back straight (and not arched).

* We will start on the right side. As you go down, you raise bend the right knee which makes your right leg look like a scorpion tail.

* When you are the bottom of the movement, you want to have your right feet touch the left side. The side next to your left leg. It would seem that your right leg is “stinging” like the floor like a scorpion.

* As you contort your body to bring the right leg over, you want to shift your body weight a bit to the left side which means your left shoulder will be absorbing that extra weight.

* You want to keep the shoulders close to the body and your elbows close and compact. This will protect your shoulder and elbow joints.

This is the scorpion push-up. It is a compound movement of the push-up and the scorpion.

Fosomax and Tums

Osteoporosis, weak bones, and calcium deficiency has women supplementing their diet. Although calcium is essential for healthy bones – women should be careful to choose calcium supplements like Sugarfree Tums. Even with these sugarless tablets it is best to brush your teeth after chewing these tablets.

The Frequent Nibbler

This is the most common and most damaging style of dieting that we encounter. In an effort to control one’s appetite, the frequent nibbler has developed a very effective diet habit. Instead of having large portions of high fat foods, they will have many small crackers or even fruits throughout the day. Pregnant women who get nauseous when they eat large meals are forced to eat many small meals. On Weight Watchers, 6 Melba toast = 1 bread or 6 saltines = 1 bread. Many of our patients find it very satisfying to keep a pack of crackers or pretzels or other starchy snack in their pocketbook. This allows them to eat the crackers one at a time over a period of several hours. As far as their calorie count, they only had one 1 bread… As far as their teeth, they have given their teeth 6 separate meals. Each time they have one of these mini meals the bacteria converts the small meal into tooth-destroying acid and bone destroying toxins.

Coffee, Tea, Soda or Water with lemon

Another famous diet habit especially for men is the continuous consumption of coffee or tea with sugar. Realizing that regular soda is loaded with sugar, some of our patients drink diet soda all day! They don’t realize that diet soda is high in acid. A favorite aid for the serious dieter is hot or cold water with lemon. We have seen many of you with sever erosion of teeth. These acids are strong enough to melt away the hard enamel covering of your teeth forever. This erosion is not reversible. Once you’ve lost the enamel, it’s gone.

The Candy Man and the Candy Lady

Every 3-year-old that comes to our office will tell you – if you eat too much candy you get cavities. Unfortunately for many of our adult patients they forget that important rule. Many of our patients use sucking candies similar to the way that others use pretzels or crackers. They will keep a pack or handful in their purse or sports jacket. The candy companies are notorious for misleading you right into a ROOTCANAL. If you go into the candy shop you’ll find “Low Calorie – Anne Raskins”. Sorry! These candies are all sugar. It’s only because sugar is relatively low in calories that they can fool you. Another fooler are the “Seven Calorie Candies.” You guessed it, 100% sugar. Remember RICOLA Cough drops, Luden’s, Smith brothers and all the other “medicated” cough drops and “breath mints are all pure sugar!

It’s not only Gummy Bears that stick to your teeth

Things that stick to your teeth have more time to do damage. We have spoken to many “health-wise” mothers who send their children to school with raisins, dried fruit or “all natural” Fruit Leather. These snacks really stick. Starchy foods are also sticky in a different way. Because they are pasty, foods such as crackers, dry breakfast cereal, and other carbohydrates will stick to the biting surface and between the teeth.

We Like these ideas from the plans:

1. Stop eating by 7 PM or as early as possible in the evening. Many adults spend their entire evening “nibbling”.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, Eat lunch like a Queen, eat dinner like a Pauper.

3. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. In NYC the tap water is fluoridated. Fluoride is one of the main reasons that so many of the children we see are growing up without any cavities. In New Jersey where most of our patients drink only bottled water it is a good idea to supplement your fluoride. (Ask us.)

Some Diet Guidelines to save your teeth:

1. Control the frequency of snacking. Remember: Carbohydrates are O.K. It’s the frequency of nibbling that is doing the damage. If you must nibble… be sure to brush and floss afterwards.

2. Foods that stick to your teeth have more time to do damage. If you do eat these sticky or pasty foods such a s raisins, candies, crackers, pretzels, dry cereal, and other similar food try to clean your mouth afterwards.

3. Never go to bed without brushing and flossing (or using Rotopoints). The bacteria and the food stuck to your teeth causes much damage.

4. Don’t give your teeth a SUGAR BATH”. When you such on sucking candies you are bathing your teeth in sugar. For a candy treat, we like “People Pops” or “People Drops” because they taste good and really don’t promote tooth decay. Plus they have no Nutrasweet or Sorbitol.

5. Sugarless Gum really does work to reduce the acidity after you eat. It doesn’t have to be Trident. Any sugarless gum will effectively reduce the acidity after eating.

6. Don’t Fool yourself, read this article, get regular checkups, brush, floss and take your teeth seriously.

The 5 components of physical fitness are often used in our school systems, health clubs and fitness centers to gauge how good a shape we are truly in. The 5 components that make up total fitness are:

Total fitness can be defined by how well the body performs in each one of the components of physical fitness as a whole. It is not enough to be able to bench press your body weight. You also need to determine how well you can handle running a mile etc.

A closer look at the individual components:

Cardiovascular endurance is the ability of the heart and lungs to work together to provide the needed oxygen and fuel to the body during sustained workloads. Examples would be jogging, cycling and swimming. The Cooper Run is used most often to test cardiovascular endurance.

Muscular strength is the amount of force a muscle can produce. Examples would be the bench press, leg press or bicep curl. The push up test is most often used to test muscular strength.

Muscular endurance is the ability of the muscles to perform continuous without fatiguing. Examples would be cycling, step machines and elliptical machines. The sit up test is most often used to test muscular endurance.

Flexibility is the ability of each joint to move through the available range of motion for a specific joint. Examples would be stretching individual muscles or the ability to perform certain functional movements such as the lunge. The sit and reach test is most often used to test flexibility.

Body composition is the amount of fat mass compared to lean muscle mass, bone and organs. This can be measured using underwater weighing, Skinfold readings, and bioelectrical impedance. Underwater weighing is considered the “gold standard” for body fat measurement, however because of the size and expense of the equipment needed very few places are set up to do this kind of measurement.

Why the need for physical fitness testing?

As stated earlier the 5 components of physical fitness represent how fit and healthy the body is as a whole. When you have the battery of tests performed you will receive information on the specific areas you made need to work in. A very specific goal oriented fitness program can be developed from the test battery.

If body composition is of (higher fat compared to muscle mass) there are many health related diseases and illnesses you have a higher chance of contracting. It is important to combine healthy eating habits with your exercise program.

If you scored low on the cardiovascular test you would have a higher chance of being at risk for heart related illnesses and would not do well with activities that require longer times to complete. You would participate in things such as long bike rides, swimming and jogging for extended periods of time to correct this component.

The next three tests can have results that are isolated to specific joints and muscles of the body or affect the body as a whole.

If you score low on the flexibility tests, you have a greater chance of decreased performance in daily living activities/sports and a higher risk of injury. You may also experience low back pain. It would be important to included flexibility training into your workout everyday.

If you scored low on the muscular endurance test you fatigue early into the exercise or activities of daily living. Many exercises that require high reps and low weight would be implemented into your training program.

If you scored low on the muscle strength test you do not have enough strength to perform well in sports, resistance training and activities of daily living. Your fitness program would have a progressive strength training component added that would allow you to become stronger with little chance of injury over time.

Fitness testing has its limitations – while it gives you a good idea of where your body is, it does not paint the entire picture. As stated earlier some of the above tests are only testing specific body parts. Other important factors such as balance and agility are not tested. It also requires the ability to perform the tests. It would be dangerous for someone who is in poor condition and does not exercise to participate in fitness testing.

Before deciding to undergo fitness testing, make sure you know why they are being done and determine that it is safe for you to participate.

Today, most kids are very energetic. And because of this, they need to eat at least three times a day with a few snacks in between meals. They get the energy and other nutrients they need to face the day from all the food they eat and beverages they drink from morning to evening. And since food plays an important role in the growth and development of a child and their capacity to meet and overcome the challenges they face every day, it is crucial that they follow only healthy diets for children.

Experts in kids’ health advice ensuring your kids eat not only healthy food but also those with essential nutrients such as the following:

– Protein. Protein is a key nutrient everyone needs. However, this is a substance that is especially important for kids. Protein encourages healthy bones, brain development, and growth. This nutrient helps a child’s body build cells, break down food into energy, fight infection, and carry oxygen throughout their body. The usual sources of protein are lean meat, fish, eggs, poultry, beans, nuts, and dairy products including milk, cheese, and yoghurt.

– Fiber. Fiber encourages bowel regularity in both kids and adults. This nutrient also plays an active role in decreasing the chances of heart disease and cancer later in life. Fiber-rich foods include pineapple, berries, nuts, whole-grain cereals, lentils, and chickpeas.

– Vitamin A. This vitamin helps promote a child’s physical growth, prevent infection, keep skin healthy, and aid the eyes in adjusting to dim and bright lights. Carrots, squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and cabbage are some of the vegetables rich in vitamin A.

– Vitamin C. Aside from fighting off the common cold, vitamin C also helps the body heal wounds, holds the body’s cells together, strengthens the blood vessel walls, and aids in building strong bones and teeth. Some of the vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables are oranges, mangoes, melons, strawberries, tomatoes, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli.

– Calcium. This nutrient plays an important role in helping build a child’s healthy bones and teeth. Calcium is also essential for blood clotting and for nerve, muscle, and heart function. Good sources of calcium, which should be part of a child’s diet, include milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, eggs, broccoli, spinach, and tofu.

– Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are a body’s number one source of energy. This nutrient helps a child’s body use fat and protein for building and repairing tissue. The best forms of carbohydrates kids should be consuming are starches and fibers. Foods high in carbohydrates include cereals, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, and crackers.

Ensure your kids have these nutrients in their every day healthy diets. You can also check online for more about this.