ROD

Monday, 06Jun11

 

Monday Classic Static

40 seconds work/20 seconds rest for 5 rounds

• Squat hold w/med ball
• Bent over row hold w kb or db
• Superman hold (thumbs up)
• Seated (legs locked out together) over head hold w/kb or db
• Plank hold w opposite arm & leg extended (left arm straight, right leg off ground)

We’ll rest for one minute between rounds.

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Weight Loss Supplements: Good and BadWritten

The only way to really lose weight is with a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Very few of the overhyped supplements on the market are actually effective. However, a few of them are and might be a good addition to your dieting strategy.

The Good

A few good weight loss supplements include apple cider vinegar and green tea. Now, green tea probably doesn’t actually contribute much in actual amount of fat loss. It is often hyped as a way to lose weight, and it’s true that it increases metabolism, but the effect is very slight. However, it might still be a useful addition to a weight loss plan because of its cholesterol lowering effects, and because even a slight increase in metabolism, safely, as this supplement does, will help in its own small way.

Apple cider vinegar, on the other hand, might actually help you lose weight. This is a bit surprising, as ACV has often been touted as a remedy for all sorts of stuff and so seems an unlikely candidate for anything actually useful. But scientific research on both animals and people has shown support for the fact that it can, in fact, contribute to the amount of weight you lose while dieting. With apple cider vinegar, weight loss is a benefit as well as lowered cholesterol, just like with green tea.

Another supplement that may actually work is Alli (generic drug name is orlistat), an over the counter drug (in the US) that has been shown to be effective in causing a slight amount of weight loss over control subjects.

That’s about it for stuff that actually works. Now…

The Bad

One popular weight loss treatment is a pregnancy hormone (the one used in pregnancy tests) called hCG (human corionic gonadotropin). This has been popular for fifty years as a way to suppress appetite and increase the amount of fat lost while on a very low calorie diet. The problem with it is that it hasn’t been shown to be effective in research studies, and most doctors will not prescribe it for weight loss. So hCG weight loss might be ineffective and is difficult to get, not to mention you have to eat a very small number of calories so it certainly isn’t anything magical.

Hoodia is an herbal supplement that might help suppress appetite, but there are a few problems with it. Not many studies have been done on it, so the jury is still out as to its effectiveness and long term safety. Also, there is some evidence that the active chemical in it might not be in concentrations large enough to have any effect in most supplements on the market.