Busting Those Diets - Disproving those Diet Plans That Just Don't Succeed

By Josh Wintrop

Books for children and popular urban legends are not the only fountainhead of myths. Myths are also perpetuated by the weight loss industry and you can find them by reading some popular diet plans!

It's almost like some of these so-called diet books were really just fantasy books written about a big, magic diet weight loss granting genie. Don't get hooked on these fantasy stories and myths!

If you believe these myths, then you will not be able to lose fat. Worse, you are actually harming your body because some ineffective diet plans and programs do not have any scientific basis at all.

If you're interested in losing weight, here's some of the most popular weight lost lies that you need to keep away from. Don't get caught in these web of weight loss lies, just read through this list so you can avoid the fads and get on the right track to healthy living.

1) You need special, expensive equipment to exactly measure and meticulously prepare everything you eat or your diet won't be effective. Many people think you need to count calories, draw graphs, take averages and tailor your diet to your daily metabolism at every meal.

The truth however is much simpler. The simplest diet plan is the one that will work well. If you restrict your diet, then you are doomed to fail. The key to an effective diet plan is easy implementation. And what could be easier than a simple meal plan everyday.

Another myth that a lot of diet plans espouse is that you gain weight because of the things you're eating, as opposed to how much you're eating. This is probably caused by diet-fad-guru's twisted idea of how nutrition works.

The key to weight loss is to lose calories. You have to create a deficit in your calorie consumption in order not to accumulate fat. This means that if you consume more calories than you can burn, then you will become the heavyweight fat champion of the world. You need to burn calories. By doing so, you are not allowing the fats to stay in your body.

The third myth that fad diet's uphold is that you should never fast. Now, fasting can be harmful to you, yes. Starving yourself is not usually a good thing. But, there's a big difference between starving yourself, and simply not eating because you know that you're not really hungry.

Your brain will make you want food, whether or not you really need it, like an addiction. So even if you're full, when dinner time comes around you'll start wanting to eat. You're not hungry, you're just addicted to eating - conditioned to operate in a certain fashion.

When you develop techniques to control your food cravings you have gained powerful tools to fight against unwanted fat. A flexible fasting program helps you eliminate the cravings due to food addiction and better control your calorie intake.

Remember, there are lots of dieting myths out there. Keep track of which of these diets are chock full of nonsense and which give you real solid information so that you can start eating and living a healthier, happier life! - 17274

About the Author:

Do you want to now the most effective way of losing weight? Then read the Eat Stop Eat Diet so you can start living and stop dieting.

Special Shoes Can Help Your Back Pain And Trim Your Lower Body

By Fiona Saunders

Karl Muller, a Swiss engineer, noticed whilst walking barefoot through a rice field in Korea that his back pain, which he suffered with, was very much better. After a little further research he learned that the Masai tribesmen of Africa do not suffer from back pain. They also display excellent posture.

Muller deduced that walking barefoot on a yielding surface was much better for both your back and joints than walking on a firm surface. He resolved to develop footwear that would replicate the effect of walking on a soft surface such as sand or grass.

What he finally came up with was the Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) range of footwear. It is, according to the company website, so different to standard footwear that it deserves the title of "anti-shoe".

MBT shoes incorporate a specially developed curved sole without a heel, which produces a rolling action when your foot makes contact with the ground. It's just like walking on sand in your bare feet in fact. The use of materials of different densities also contributes to the effect by further lowering jarring and impact shock.

Independent trials have now proven that this is genuinely much better for your back and joints. There are additional proven benefits over and above improved posture. Whilst walking normally wearing MBT shoes for example, the wearer's muscles are active for a longer period of time (in comparison with normal walking wearing conventional shoes). The duration of muscle use is increased by around 16%. Wearers also tend to take shorter steps. Both of these effects maximize the amount of work carried out.

The end result of this is that every step you take wearing MBT shoes is providing you with additional exercise. It's a lower body workout while you walk. So, as well as alleviating back pain and improving posture, MBT shoes also help to tone your legs and trim your buttocks.

You would imagine that would be sufficient wouldn't you? Despite all these benefits some people find MBT shoes a little chunky and not very aesthetically pleasing. MBTs are a little more expensive than conventional shoes (but the benefits may make them great value for money). Fortunately there are now alternative offerings available which utilise the same basic design and are more cosmetically attractive. Both Skechers Shape Ups and Fitflops have similar curved soles which are specially engineered to increase the muscle activity duration and tone your legs and buttocks whilst engaged in normal, everyday walking activity.

Whichever brand of footwear you go for, the opportunity to reduce back pain and trim your lower body at the same time - all whilst doing nothing more energetic than walking normally - seems to be very attractive. - 17274

About the Author:

Check out MBT shoes or have a look at the Fitflops range.

Forced Reps: The Good and The Bad

By Klint Newton

So you just finished doing a set on the bench press. You did 6 reps of 150lbs. You were shooting for 8 reps, but you didn't have a spotter. You felt very tired after the sixth rep and decided to throw in the towel. You know that you could have done 7 or 8 reps with a spotter helping you a little, but you didn't have one, so you cut it off at 6 reps.

Enter the Forced Rep

This situation is the same. You are hurting on your sixth rep, but powered through. Your friend and spotter pushes you to do a seventh. You lower your weight and push six or seven inches off your chest and are powerless. If you didn't have your spotter you would be up a creek, but you do and he lifts about 15lbs of the weight and you blow through.

Then your spotter wants you to get an eighth rep. You slowly lower the weight, but its not going back up. You just can't lift the weight, by yourself. Your partner barely lifts the bar with you. He only lifts about 10-30lbs of the weight while you strain and give it everything you possibly have. After what seems to be an eternity, you finally get the bar up and the rep and set is over. That is a forced rep.

The true definition is: an extension of a particular set of repetitions in which your strength level at the beginning of the set has been reduced to a point of positive failure. This is the point at which you can't possibly move the weight by yourself. Your spotter steps in to barely help and you achieve maximum intensity. He only helps slightly but you are so tired that you feel like he's done all the work and you got nothing out of it. Trust me, you are the one who actually lifted that weight, he only helped.

The Good

The forced rep squeezes out every bit of intensity from your working muscles. When you are faced with a force rep, a physiological reaction occurs. When you are performing a rep and simply can not lift the weight, it's a scary feeling. There are only a few options, drop the weight on yourself or try to tilt the bar to make the weight fall off, or have your spotter help. Those are your mind's options, your body's options are DO or DIE. This releases a surge of adrenaline making you stronger and able to lift the rep. All in all, when one or two forced reps are used in an exercise, you will have no doubt that you have put in maximum intensity. You used all of the force that your muscles could produce at the time.

The Bad

When used in the right circumstanced forced reps are a good thing. It is very easy to get carried away. I use only one or two forced reps per exercise, not per set. Forced reps can lead to over training, and with every size gaining program you want to employ maximum intensity. When your body is performing a forced rep it is using it's maximum strength capacity, and when the intensity increases, duration must decrease. Pretty much if something is heavier and harder, you shouldn't be able to do more. Forced reps aren't bad, too many are.

Forced reps are an excellent way to get the absolute most of a set. They ensure maximum intensity because a forced rep is only used when the muscle is completely exhausted and can't complete the lift without a little help. That's a good thing, but taken to far, it's a bad thing. I recommend doing two forced reps at the end of your last set. Doing more forced reps at the end of a set, or for more sets, will lead to total muscular exhaustion and a decrease in size of the muscle. - 17274

About the Author:

Want to find out more about forced reps, then visit Klint Newton's site on how to choose the best training program for your body type.