Tag: Fitness

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Weight Loss Exercise

Olivia Wins Biggest Loser 11


Wow what a finale of Biggest Loser 11. Almost everyone came back for the weigh-in and by my count everyone lost more weight tonight. It was great to see all of the fanfare and excitement.

The finale of the Biggest Loser is always staged and it is crazy how setup it always looks but I always fall for the drama and stories. Tonight was no different.

Olivia Wins Biggest Loser 11

Olivia Ward Biggest Loser Winner

First the final four of Hannah Curlee, Olivia Ward, Irene Alvarado and Jay Jacobs was pared down to three. In the end America voted out Jay Jacobs and Irene Alvarado made it to the final three weight in…more on that later though.

As usual, on the Biggest Loser 11 finale, they trotted out each of the at home contestants and weighted them in. The winner was Deni Hill although she looked a little too thin for me as we often see from at least one of the finalists at the end (remember Ali when she won? She looked freaky thin).

The the final happened and with all the fanfare sisters Hannah Curlee and Olivia Ward were each up against each other and Irene Alvarado.

Olivia Ward Biggest Loser Winner

And the winner of Biggest Loser 11 is Olivia Ward. She looked really great, proportional and not scary skinny so I was pretty happy about it.

Next season we get Anna Kornikova as a new trainer and apparently the show with her and Bob Harper leading is going to be different. The creators of the show want to focus more on health than simply percentage weight loss so it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Looking forward to changes but also it was nice to watch the finale with Jillian Micheals leaving but still very gracious even though she never is as a trainer. I hope all the best for Jillian in the future and will have to write another article about her tomorrow. But tonight really belongs to the big winner Olivia Ward.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Atkins in bankruptsy


I am not a big fan of the Atkins diet although I do like the idea of increasing ones protein in your diet. I read a series of news articles today that talked about how the skeptics were wrong and the Atkins diet is a fad. I do not believe that this could possibly be true for several reasons. First, I hear as many people talking about Atkins and starting Atkins diets as I did 5 years ago. Secondly, a fad, especially with diets is not going to last more than one year tops and the Atkins diet has been around for twenty years at least. Thirdly I do not like the idea of Atkins being called a fad because most studies that I have seen show that people on the Atkins diet lose at least as much weight in the first six months as on any other diet…the problem seems to be that people have trouble staying on the diet as it seems to be artificial in what you eat, how long can you eat steak and fish and no carbs and feel to great.

The thing that the media loves is a company that is in the news going into bankruptcy but what we should really be looking at is what we can learn from the Atkins diet and looking to science as to why it seems to work at least in the short term. The reason that I am against the diet is that by it’s very nature it will be hard on your kidneys and over the long term even if the risk of heart disease is not increased there can not be any real health benefits besides some weight loss. I believe that a weight reduction diet should not just drop fat but make a person healthier as well that is why I always try to stress the importance of exercise.

Related Blogs

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Body Building At Home: Can It Be Done?


So can you do body building at home? That is, can you effectively work and build all of the necessary muscles to have a toned, sculpted and overall big muscular body without all of the specialized equipment that you will find at a gym?

Of course, you could set up a home gym with your own equipment and then there would be no problem following a routine for body building at home. But let’s assume that you do not and cannot have a fully equipped home gym. What are the bare essentials that you need for effective body building?

Unfortunately you are not going to be able to do body building at home successfully with no equipment at all. There is no way that you can hope to build serious muscle mass without some weights.

Dumbbells are cheap and easy to store in the smallest apartment or dorm room. If you really do not even have the money for those – for example if you are a teen with no job and a tiny allowance – then you could start out by using plastic water bottles, the kind that you can easily grip in the middle. However, you will soon want to move up in the weights, so plan on saving your allowance or asking for a set of dumbbells for your next birthday, Christmas or as a random gift from any family member who is feeling generous.

Hint: you will find that family members are much more likely to buy stuff for you if they can see that you are going to use it and get the value out of it. If you ask before you even start working out, they may say no automatically. If you ask after you have been working out regularly for a month, the answer may be very different.

The next thing that you will need is a flat/incline adjustable bench. This will cost you a little more and it takes up more storage space too but it greatly increases the number of exercises that you can do. The bottom line is that an adjustable bench is going to be essential if you plan on doing any serious body building at home.


Finally, a barbell with a set of barbell weights completes the basic equipment. You can manage with either dumbbells or a barbell, you do not strictly need both, but if you have the space and a few more dollars this can add variety to your workout.

Your workout can then include bench press exercises with and without weights, and the full range of dumbbell or barbell exercises (rows, curls, extensions and raises). Be sure to plan your routine so that you are covering different muscle groups each time. Do not work out every day but have two or three rest days in the week.

So how long will it take before you see results? It would be great if we could bulk up overnight, but that simply does not happen. Be patient, keep to your routine as you planned it for body building at home and you should start to see results in a couple of weeks.