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The following is a list of legitimate charities and organization in need of donations to help with the relief efforts underway in Haiti.
The links to their donation pages have been shortened to make them easy to re-post on twitter and other websites. If you know of additional organizations that should be listed, please email me at nick@itsjustlight.com
The list is constantly growing, so please check back often and continue to share
Don’t exercise with the opposite sex- This would be directed more towards someone in a relationship. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen “gym relationships” turn into more than that. Wisdom says be careful if you decide not to follow this friendly advice.” -unknown
Ok… let’s think about what it takes to be a good workout partner…reliable, trustworthy, knowledge, and fitness age. This is all good and can be found in many female/male workout partners. I personally have found female partners in the gym to workout with the same intensity as I do. Honestly, pound for pound they might be doing the same workout as me. Eventually my ego kicks in so I end up lifting more by the end of the day.
Our bodies are inherently different, and it’s a special kind of cross training to let your partner broaden your routine into something traditionally used by the opposite sex. I’ve tried yoga and pilates because of a female workout partner. I’ve also done weird things with big bouncing balls…don’t ask me what they are….lol. This is a different topic but Rusty at BlackBookFitness begs the question “Should Women Do the Same Type of Workouts as Men?
Let’s get dirty and talk about the intimacy of working out with the opposite sex.
Let’s start with spotting. Think squats… need I say more? Seriously to allow someone to touch you, hold you or grab you requires a lot of trust. This exchange of trust between members of the opposite sex is huge.
Now let’s move over to sweating. Pheromones are natural scents, which play an important role in sexual communication. Consciously we don’t attract to sweaty workout partners but what if subconsciously we do? It has been documented that male sweat can boost a females hormone levels. More so we can get real comfortable with each other in our own skin when we sweat especially around each other.
Another aspect of working out with the opposite sex is the grunting and stretching. Yes, I know this sounds weird but every possible sound and movement you can imagine the opposite sex in, happens during an intense workout. This might be a one sided view but watching an intense push and a shear desire to be better in itself is a turn on. Physicality aside motivation and drive are attractive traits, During one of my recent workouts I remember this one female say ” Interesting…I’ve never heard that sound come out of you before.”
Development- Typically, no matter what a woman’s size or shape is there are certain parts that are beautiful like shoulders, the lower back, arms and so forth. It’s not until you’re in an intimate situation, working out, with the opposite sex that you notice the beautiful parts about them. Again these parts are enhanced over time while working out…it only gets bigger and better. Then you start imaging the possiblities….
Finally, the idea that you can substitute sex for a good workout. Your’re in top shape and your workout partner is in top shape, so the only thing left is to test each others strength, flexibilty and stamina. A solid base, strong core, more power, double the stamina = wilder positions. Trust me, I used to date a track athlete …it is different.
The paparazzi are still on the lookout for embattled golfing superstar Tiger Woods after the sordid details of his extra-marital activities made headlines last month, but it seems Annie Leibovitz is the first (and possibly only) photographer to have snapped the 34-year-old legend.
Tiger will appear in and on the cover of the February issue of Vanity Fair magazine – which hits newsstands nationwide next Tuesday. The official word from the pop culture monthly is that the pictures will be of a “raw and unguarded” Tiger, which were taken before the news broke of his many mistresses.
“Tiger is an intensely competitive athlete – and quite serious about his sport,” Annie told VanityFair.com. “I wanted to reveal that in these photos. And to show his incredible focus and dedication.”
The cover shot shows a bare-chested Tiger lifting weights while wearing a black cap and stern look. While golfers aren’t the most ripped sportsmen Tiger definitely seems to have been taking good care of his physique – sex scandal or no sex scandal.
Approaching his 39th birthday, James Todd Smith, of course more famously known as LL Cool J, has every right to slow down, rest on his laurels, count his money and perhaps even call it quits. After all, contrary to the fact that many hip-hop artists have fairly short careers, LL has spent over two decades in the limelight, including two Grammy Awards, 11 platinum CDs, a hit TV show and more than 20 feature films. But instead of winding down, he just cut a new CD’s worth of tracks with 50 Cent as producer and he’s developing a CBS pilot with the creator of CSI. Also, reinforcing his status as one of Hollywood’s very fittest, he’s just come out with the book LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout, collaborating with Scooter Honig, his personal trainer of nearly 5 years.
“Working out is a huge investment in yourself, and it builds equity in your body,” says LL. “It helps in all your decisions. It helps you negotiate. It clears your mind. It gives you strength to overcome obstacles. It’s a deep thing, you know?”
His workout plan was born of necessity during concert tours. LL and Honig would hop off the bus in the middle of a desert for miles of roadwork, or scramble over the fence of a high-school football field to do wind sprints followed by pullups on a goalpost. Their superefficient, use-what-you-have approach, where not one single second is wasted, comes in handy during a time crunch, either LL’s or yours.
One of the reasons LL Cool J looks the way he does is that his trainer, Scooter Honig, combines old-school exercises like bench presses and curls with “cardio blasts” designed to produce maximum results in minimum time. LL’s book blends this unique “combination-platter” approach with free-weight bodybuilding, plyometrics, fighters’ moves, calisthenics and endurance training, all designed to build muscles while burning fat. The beauty is that the added muscle and staggered cardio can make you a fat-burning machine, even while sleeping. The net result? One day you might wake up looking like an LL Cool J version of yourself!
Below are excerpted examples of three of his explosive routines, both the workout schedule and explanations of the key moves.
Do this circuit plan once a week for a month, replacing your normal chest and biceps sessions. Try upping your poundage and cardio intensity a bit week to week. At the end of the month, go back to your normal training for chest and biceps and use circuits for another part of your body.
Before the workout, warm up for 5 to 10 minutes using a treadmill, a stationary bike, or some other cardio apparatus. Jumping jacks or running in place will also do the trick.
Lastly, when doing a circuit, don’t rest between exercises until you finish the last move. Rest for 1 1/2 minutes before doing the same circuit again. Perform both chest/cardio circuits two times each, and do the biceps/cardio circuit three times. Rest 1 1/2 minutes before moving on to the next circuit.
The Circuits
Chest/Cardio Circuit #1
(Perform two sets of each exercise, 10 – 12 reps each set) Barbell Bench Press
Explosive Pushup
Jump Rope (1 minute at 70% of max heart rate)
Chest/Cardio Circuit #2
(Perform two sets of each exercise, 10 – 12 reps each set) Barbell Bench Press
Cable Crossover
Treadmill Run (1 minute, 3% incline, at 70% of maximum heart rate)
Hanging Running Man
Bicep/Cardio Circuit
(Perform three sets of each exercise) Standing Barbell Curl (4 –6 reps)
Preacher Curl (12 – 15 reps)
Mountain Climber (1 minute at 90% of maximum heart rate)
Extra Body Blasting Tip: Hold the fifth or sixth rep of each exercise in the most difficult position for 5 seconds before continuing
I’m a Gold Card Member, if you need my code to get a head start on your vitamins and supplements…let me know. Remember these are tools nothing replaces hard work and commitment.
A new reality TV show aired last week on TLC called One Big Happy Family. It sounds like a sweet little show, right? But the title is actually a play on words. Each of the four members of the happy Cole family weighs more than 300 pounds. This six-episode documentary reveals the challenges of being morbidly obese, as well as the family’s attempts to lose weight on their own. The show’s creator, Mike Duffy, compares One Big Happy Family to Little People, Big World. He says, “Little People, Big Worldis about little people living in a big world. This [show] is about big people living in a little world — fat people living in a skinny world.” Watch the video clip for a taste of the show. Are these people going to made into coonery/boofonery material or will TLC (the ratings whore) step up and help one of the leading causes of death in the black community?
The family agreed to be taped, and the creators reassure us that the show isn’t exploitative, but how do you feel about broadcasting the lives of people who are overweight? Do you think this show will inspire other obese people to lose weight, or is TLC capitalizing on obesity and degrading those with weight issues? Since every one’s New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, it’s pretty convenient for TLC to market this show now….how nice?
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