Toluu

Ririan Project

A personal development blog with practical ideas on how to make important changes in your life, both big and small, so you can get your life on track and start living up to your true potential.

Think Positive!August 26

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. “

James Allen wrote that in his work, ” Above Life’s Turmoil “. It has always remained fixed in my mind, when I think about where my life is going and where I’d like my life to go. Are the two separate or in line with each other? Do I have any control over that? Can my thoughts really decide my future in such a way?

The answer is most definitely yes! You are in control of your life. Your thoughts do shape your future. So why is it that sometimes we feel as though we’re stuck in a rut? Because it’s what we think about. If you wake up in the morning and you’re depressed or unhappy and you dread the duties of the day, like having to go to work or having to pay the bills that you just know you’re going to find in the mail, well that’s how your life is going to be. But quiet your mind from all of the hassles, distractions and worries for just a moment and ask yourself, ” What if I woke up every morning and felt great, didn’t worry and loved stepping out my front door to meet the world? “. Would your life change, do you think?

Consider that when you’ve felt good and things are going right, it seems to come in a streak, doesn’t it? And likewise, whenever things are not going well they continue to happ

Effects of Reduced Training On FitnessAugust 22

Most fitness buffs share a fear of getting out of shape if they back off from their regular training schedule. That fear is not totally unwarranted. Studies have shown significant decreases in aerobic capacity and local muscular endurance following a complete layoff for as short a period of time as one to four weeks.

That’s a complete full stop. What about backing off the intensity of your workout only? What will the affect be? Studies have been launched to determine whether workouts of reduced length, intensity, or frequency can maintain aerobic capacity, strength and power. Twenty-four male swimmers, all competitive college athletes, all of whom had completed five months of intense training (averaging swimming 9,000 yards per day, six days a week) participated in one study focusing on this problem. Following the final competition at a championship meet, the swimmers were divided into three groups. Group one reduced their training routine to 3,000 yards per day, three days per week. Group two reduced their training routine to 3,000 yards per day, one day a week. Group three stopped swimming completely.

All of the swimmers were tested at the end of the five-month competition period (just before the beginning of the study) and then again during the study at the end of weeks one, two and four. Tests included the measurement of the swimmers’ strength in performing swimming motions (these were measured on dry land using a special resistance machine) swimmin

Is Weight Training Safe for Children?August 21

Weight training has become increasingly integrated into the workout routines of both competitive athletes and weekend warriors. Done properly, it is not only safe but decreases the likelihood of injury. There is no question that children benefit from being active. With child obesity reaching pandemic proportions, most sensible parents welcome their child’s interest in sports. Given the obvious benefits of weight training for athletes, the question is bound to arise: is it safe for child athletes to train with weights?

Heavy lifting puts considerable stress on still-growing muscles, bones and hearts. In a study performed by the Center for Sports Medicine and Health Fitness in Peoria, Illinois, eighteen boys, age seven to age nine, were placed on a fourteen week supervised weight training program. Ten more age-and-activity-matched boys did not undergo the training program and were used as a control group.

The weight training group performed three 45-minute training sessions a week, working eight upper body and seven lower body motions per workout on hydraulic machines. The boys who trained showed significant strength increases in all 15 motions compared to those who didn’t train. Additionally, the ones who trained showed significant increases in both flexibility and vertical jump.

A bone scan was done. It showed no damage to bone, muscle or growing bone end plates. A blood test for muscle damage also showed no damage. There were no significant chan

Strength Training and FlexibilityAugust 20

It’s a widely held belief in the fitness community that strength training causes a loss in flexibility. Martial artists, divers and dancers—people whose performance depends on flexibility—have thus tended to avoid strength training. Even athletes in sports that require less flexibility have tended to avoid strength training for fear of becoming “muscle-bound,” even though increased strength could improve their performance in their chosen sport.

There has been relatively little scientific research into the issue, and the concept of “muscle-boundness” had been left untested largely unchallenged until the late 1980s, when a study was published that shows strength training does not cause a loss of flexibility. If you’ve been following sports for a long time, you may have noticed the impact of this and other studies. While the notion might still be believed at your local gym, professional athletes ranging from basketball players to golfers and yes, even martial artists, divers and dancers—have taken to weight training to improve their performance. Compare, for example, the muscularity of today’s basketball players to those skinny guys in short-shorts from the 70s.

In the study, researchers tested 13 male college students for flexibility in shoulders, trunk and ankles, and for strength in all major muscle groups. The subjects then participated in an eleven week strength training program for all the major muscle groups. They were taught correct

Sugar and YouAugust 18

Sugar. So sweet yet… so controversial. The health implications of sugar are controversial. Some sugar critics consider it no better than a slow poison, like smoking. Some respected researchers (by respected researchers, I mean they’re independent and not in the industry’s back pocket) say the fear and criticisms are unfounded.

Sugar for purpose of this discussion is refined sugar. Sucrose. The stuff in the sugar bowl. We’re not talking about complex carbohydrates, which are merely long strings of sugars. We’re specifically talking about the kind of sugar you may put in your coffee or find on the label of your candy bar.

Sugar’s enemies say it causes all sorts of physical problems, and even emotional problems. They claim sugar contributes to glucose intolerance, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, coronary artery disease, behavior changes in both children and adults, problems in the central nervous system, obesity, increased likelihood of developing gallstones, lower bioavailability of vitamins and minerals, dietary deficiencies, cavities and even cancer.

The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition had a Sugar Task Force look into these claims. The task force reviewed the scientific research they reviewed supported only one of these claims, the one linking refined sugar to cavities. Their overall finding was that there is no conclusive evidence that sugar is a public health hazard at the levels at which it is currently cons