by Mike Arnold Iron Magazine

Getting started in BB’ing can be an overwhelming experience, especially if the individual has minimal education in the areas of training & nutrition. Without proper guidance, the beginner is sure to make numerous progress-halting mistakes. Many aspiring BB’rs waste years of effort on ineffective training programs and unless a concerted attempt is made to educate oneself, most individuals will continue to engage in inferior routines to their own detriment.

While BB’ing may be a rather simple pursuit in comparison to becoming proficient in something like neurosurgery, acquiring the education necessary to reap maximum results from one’s efforts is no small undertaking. In fact, the amount of knowledge applicable to all the different aspects of the bodybuilding experience could not be learned in a lifetime. This makes getting started difficult, as the BB’r must first navigate through vast amounts of information, in order to find and learn the basic principles central to gaining muscle mass and/or strength, before moving onto more advanced material. The learning process is made even more difficult by the large amount of conflicting information which presents itself on almost every subject, making the initial sifting process even more laborious.

In light of the challenges facing the beginning BB’r, having wise counsel available for guidance and direction can prove invaluable. In this article, we will specifically address the training process and how to go about constructing a program which applies the necessary principles for making consistent gains in size & strength.

Almost everyone who starts training will make progress in the beginning stages of their bodybuilding program. The body has never before been exposed to the stresses of weight training and will respond with an almost immediate increase in strength & size. Program set-up matters little during this phase of one’s BB’ing journey, but after a short time, a more well thought out program will be required if one wants to ensure continued progress. It is at this juncture that many BB’rs start to spin their wheels, noticing little return for their efforts. Typically, the BB’r corrects the problem and continues moving forward at an acceptable rate, or he doesn’t and gains come at a snail’s pace, leading to eventual dissatisfaction and loss of motivation to continue training. A small percentage of steadfast individuals will keep on grinding it out under these less than fortunate circumstances, but they are the rarity.

Generally, the first step in putting together a bodybuilding program is deciding on which training split to follow. While there are many different training splits which can be used with success, the novice should stick with those which have been proven effective in helping the largest percentage of beginning lifters. One’s training split will be determined by what days the BB’r chooses to train each body part. See an the example of a 3-Day Training Split below:

3-Day Traditional Split
Monday: Chest, Biceps, Triceps
Wednesday: Legs
Friday: Back, Delts

The 3-Day training split seen above is one of the more effective programs a beginner can utilize for gaining significant amounts of muscle and strength. The program is characterized by lower volume, ample recovery time, and reliance on the basic mass-building exercises. We are getting a little ahead of ourselves here, so let’s slow down and focus on why this spilt is so effective. While this 3 day routine may be considered too streamlined by some standards, most individuals with extensive experience will testify to the effectiveness of this training spilt.

With this split, each body part is trained only once per week and since we are relying primarily on the basic mass-builders, it allows the BB’r to train all his body parts over a 3 day period. By following these guidelines, the body’s ability to recover & grow is optimized. The basic mass-builders are titled as such for a reason…because they typically produce the largest gains in mass & strength in the shortest amount of time. When many other exercises are added into the BB’rs routine, his recovery ability is spread thin and instead of the body spending most of its resources growing, it ends up spending a larger portion of its resources recovering. Every exercise has its place and all can be useful at the right time, but as a beginner, the primary goal is the acquisition of muscle size & strength. Later on down the road, when weak points are being addressed, these other exercises can be of value, but for now the goal is to add as much overall mass as possible.

By sticking with the basics and being able to train all of our body parts over a 3-Day period, we are provided with plenty of days off from the gym. Since growth takes place when resting and not when we are working out, these off days of provide us with the opportunity to experience complete recovery and supercompensation (growth) week after week. BB’rs who make the mistake of thinking more is better and begin training 5-6 days per week, while employing every exercise in the book, will inevitably burn-out and fail to keep pace with their full growth potential.

We have been talking a lot about the “basic mass-building” exercises, but what are they? Below is a list of what are considered most of the “basics”. While not everyone will respond equally to each exercise, due to differences in physical structure, these are the exercises which have proven the most reliable for the largest percentage of trainers. Since the beginning BB’r will have difficulty feeling the mind-muscle connection (which we will get to later) he would do well to stick with only these basics for at least the first 6-8 months of training. By this point the individual should have established a significant mind-muscle connection with these exercises and therefore, he will be better able to use personal experience in order to determine which of these basics, if any, aren’t suitable for him. In the meantime, since the beginner lacks this ability, the following basics should form the core of his routine. * Note: While the BB’r will find greater value in isolation exercises and their variations as training progresses and weak points are addressed, the basics will always form the core of one’s program. They will remain responsible for the retention and continual build-up of additional muscle mass, making them an integral part of a BBr’s program forever.

One of the first questions to be asked when the BB’r finally gets to the gym is…“What order should my exercises performed in?” Generally, the BB’r should move from large to small. When saying one should move from “large to small”, it simply means that the BB’r should train a muscle by beginning with the heaviest, multi-joint exercises and afterwards move onto the lighter, single joint exercises. When performing the multi-joint exercises, they typically require the recruitment of both larger & smaller muscles at the same time. Since the smaller muscles will fatigue more quickly than the larger muscles when performing the multi-joint exercises, the BB’r should make sure the small muscles have all their strength before doing these multi-joint lifts. If the BB’r performs single-joint exercises first, the smaller muscles will already be tired by the time he gets to the multi-joint exercises. This will cause the smaller muscles to fatigue prematurely when doing the multi-joint exercises, preventing the larger muscles from working as hard as possible. An example of improper exercise order would be training triceps before chest. By training triceps before chest, the triceps will become prematurely fatigued and by the time chest is trained, the triceps will fail long before the chest has been worked adequately.

With this abbreviated 3-Day Split, exercise order is not as much of an issue as it might be with other training programs, as most of the exercises included in this program are multi-joint, compound exercises. Still, no routine can be complete without some isolation (single-joint) exercises, so those single-joint exercises which are included in this program should be performed after one has completed all their multi-joint exercises.

A huge mistake of most beginners is utilizing excess training volume. They believe that their level of exertion directly correlates with their progress. To this end, many lifters will employ set after set of various exercises. Since recovery ability is limited (especially for drug-free trainers, which includes most beginners), more frequently than not, this leads to premature stagnation. While enough sets of each exercise should be performed in order for the lifter to learn proper exercise mechanics, excess volume will hold the lifter back.

For this reason, I generally recommend that the lifter perform 3 working-sets of each exercise, which is preceded by an appropriate warm-up. This level of volume is high enough so that the lifter can learn proper exercise mechanics (the ability to perform the exercise correctly), while also being adequate in terms of muscular stress. A greater amount of sets is unlikely to lead to additional gains in muscle tissue or strength, but will impose greater demands on the body’s recovery ability.
When it comes to what rep-range should be employed, beginners should avoid extremes and stick with what has worked for generations of lifters. For the upper-body, this involves keeping the reps between 6-12, while the lower-body seems to respond best to a rep range of 8-15. Being a beginner at one time myself, I understand the desire to want to test one’s strength with lower reps. This OK, as long as the practice does not become a regular occurrence.

Let’s address the topic of rest between sets. While opinions vary significantly on this subject, it is my opinion that longer rest periods are superior for enhanced mass & strength, especially for the beginner, as they allow the individual to handle greater training weights from set to set and exercise to exercise. When rest-periods are too short, exercise failure will come by way of metabolic fatigue, not muscular exhaustion. Since the primary aim of the BB’r is to stress his muscular system and not the cardiovascular system, longer rest periods are a necessity in accomplishing this objective. Since training too quickly will reduce the poundage the BB’r is capable of training with, the result will be reduced muscular stress leading to less growth potential. When performing basic, multi-joint exercises, a rest period of 3-4 minutes is sufficient, while lighter single-joint exercises will only require about 2 or so minutes before it is time for the next set.

Lastly, but of great importance, is the topic of exercise mechanics and the mind-muscle connection. You could be doing everything else correctly, but if you screw-up these two components of the training process, you will badly cripple your results. While exercise mechanics & the mind-muscle connection are closely related, they are two very different things. Exercise mechanics refers to the manner in which you perform an exercise, also known as exercise “form”. The mind-muscle connection is the ability to feel the target muscles working as you perform an exercise.

In terms of inter-dependence, if your form is horrible, it is going to be difficult to develop a mind-muscle connection during training. On the flip side, if you aren’t able to feel a mind-muscle connection when performing an exercise, you will have trouble adjusting the mechanics of that exercise to best suit your own particular structure. Whenever you perform an exercise, it is absolutely vital that you develop a mind-muscle connection with that movement because if you can’t feel the target muscle working, you will not be able to place optimal amounts of stress on that muscle, reducing the potential for growth. With each rep, you should be able to feel the muscle stretch and contract throughout a full range of motion. BB’ing training is not about heaving a weight from point A to point B with as much weight as possible, while using momentum and calling assisting muscle groups into play. The weights are only a tool to achieve muscle growth; it is not about the weight itself.

Sacrificing exercise form just so the lifter can use additional weight is one of the most common beginner mistakes in the entire gym. The cause of this progress pitfall is the ego. Some BB’rs are simply more concerned with looking strong in front of their gym mates, than they are with building up their muscles. Whenever a BB’r uses so much weight that he can no longer feel his muscles working through a full range of motion and his exercise mechanics begin to suffer, he needs to ask himself what is more important to him. Would he rather use a bit less weight and build bigger muscles, or would he rather cheat up heavier weights and end up with smaller muscles?

If you apply the information you’ve found in this article, you will be well on your way to making your goal of increased muscle growth & strength a reality. Remember, consistency is one of the most important attributes you can have when it come to BB’ing and unfortunately, it’s also one of the most neglected. No program will furnish significant results without consistency of effort. The principles presented here will only work if you use them with regularity. Best of luck to you in your BB’ing journey.

Source: http://www.ironmagazine.com/2012/wei…-the-beginner/

When leucine was added to the small 6.25 gram whey dose, it made the total leucine content of these drinks equivalent to that of the 25-gram dose.

Results showed that all four post-workout drinks elevated muscle protein synthesis in near equal amounts, but only the 25-gram dose of whey maintained muscle protein synthesis at five hours after the workout. The two supplements with added leucine were more effective at enhancing protein synthesis than the 6.25 gram-dose of whey without leucine, indicating that leucine plays an important role in recovery.

Previous studies have shown that leucine activates a muscle signaling pathway that triggers tissue regeneration. In older individuals over age 50, research shows that this pathway (called the mTOR pathway) is only turned on if leucine is present in the body. This study shows that in these younger trainees, the pathway is better sustained for a longer period of leucine is present, although not as long as if a large dose of whey is ingested—something about the whey protein makes it most effective.

Researchers do not know the reason that only the large whey dose produced sustained recovery, but it may be due to the larger amount of non-essential amino acids (NEAAs) present in the 25-gram dose. There are 13 grams of NEAAs in 25 grams of whey, whereas there were only 3.3 grams in all the other doses.

Take away from this study that for best recovery and muscle building you should take a 25-gram dose of whey post-workout. Take branched-chain amino acids during your workout because they have been shown to prevent soreness from training by minimizing tissue damage. If you can’t take the large whey dose, a smaller dose with added EAAs that include leucine will still  support recovery, just not as much.  Although not tested in this study, consider dosing with more whey or EAAs a few hours after training.

References:
Churchward-Venne, T., Burd, N., et al. Supplementation of Suboptimal Protein Dose with Leucine or EAAs: Effects of Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis at Rest and Following Resistance Exercise in Men. Journal of Physiology, 2012. Published Ahead of Print.

Source: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/1125/Tip-327-Take-A-Large-Dose-of-Whey-Protein-Post-Workout-For-the-Best-Recovery.aspx

These two supersets were performed for 3 sets each, following 10 sets of incline dumbbell press supersetted with pulldowns (German Volume Training)

Chris Johnson, Advanced Genetics CEO

by Charles Poliquin Iron Man Magazine

Q: All your workouts seem to rely on supersets for fat loss. Is there any scientific research to back up your protocols?

A: Yes, and in fact one peer-reviewed study was published in the September 2011 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. It investigated the effects of eight weeks of two types of heavy weight-training workouts, one involving supersets and another using traditional strength-training protocols.

The 33 participants were divided into three groups: a traditional-training group, a circuit-training group and a control group. They were all about 22 years of age, and all had been performing resistance training for at least 12 months before the experiment.

At the start of the program the workouts consisted of a total of three sets of three reps per exercise; an additional set was added every two weeks, so that by the end of the experiment all the subjects were performing six sets of six reps. The biggest differences between the way the two training groups worked out were the exercise order and the rest intervals.

The traditional-training group performed three exercises, with three minutes between sets. Then they rested five minutes and performed the remaining three exercises, again with three minutes’ rest between sets. The circuit-training group performed a combination of three exercises in a circuit (a.k.a. tri-sets) with 35 seconds’ rest between sets, followed by a five-minute break. Then they performed the remaining three exercises, again in circuit-training fashion with 35 seconds’ rest between sets.

The traditional-training group did the exercises in the following order: leg curl, bench press, standing calf raise, lat pulldown, half squat and preacher curl. The circuit-training group did the leg curl, bench press and standing calf raise in the first tri-set and the lat pulldown, half squat and preacher curl in the second. I would have had the participants do the half squat in the first circuit and not do pulldowns and preacher curls in the same tri-set, but the point is that both groups did the same exercises and in relatively the same sequence.

The results? Both training groups were just as effective in improving strength, power, muscle endurance and lean mass; however, only the group that performed circuit training had significant drops in bodyfat. Another key factor is that the circuit-training group completed their workouts faster.

When performing three sets per exercise, the circuit-training group only took 55 minutes to finish their workouts vs. 105 minutes for the traditional group. When performing six sets, the circuit-training group took just 78 minutes compared to 125 minutes for the traditional-training group. In other words, the circuit-training method enabled the subjects to achieve nearly identical results in approximately half the training time and with greater bodyfat losses.

This study supports the concept of the German Body Comp training protocols for losing weight, which suggests that the short rest intervals increase the production of growth hormone. In fact, the results of this study further validate the way I have been designing workout programs for the past three decades, which is usually to focus on supersets.

Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the world’s most suc-cessful strength coaches, having coached Olympic med-alists in 12 different sports, including the U.S. women’s track-and-field team for the 2000 Olympics. He’s spent years researching European journals (he’s fluent in English, French and German) and speaking with other coaches and scientists in his quest to optimize training methods. For more on his books, seminars and methods, visit www.CharlesPoliquin.com. IM

Source: http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/site/…-for-fat-loss/

This shake is AMAZING!

Athlete’s Superfood now available.

Note: Yes, the cameraman has a heavy breathing problem, LOL

By Rob Clarke Driven Sports

It’s time to start a new ongoing series on psychological mind hacks that you can implement in order to make reaching your goals successfully. Since we are approaching the end of the first quarter for 2012 it makes sense to start with a dieting trick. For many of us, the quest for summer time abs is in full swing, and for some that means the cravings have already kicked in. What can be done about this to help keep you on track?

Without getting too technical on matters of psychology (hopefully) I’d like to discuss how creativity can help. For a complete explanation some background is required (yeah ok, so it will get a little bit technical) about how the brain processes short-term memory. In order to do this I need to rewind a few decades.

Working memory

In 1970’s two British psychologists (Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch) from the University of York proposed a new paradigm for short term memory that they dubbed “working memory”. Further work by Baddeley has since evolved the model, but the fundamental principle remains: two “slave systems” report to a higher “Central Executive”. Baddeley and Hitch called the slave systems the Phonological Loop and the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad.

Prior to this model, science assumed that memory was simply a passive storage depot where memories would “sit”. This is partly due to a lack of knowledge at the time, and the restrictions of limited technology available. In reality memories are an ever-active set of processes. Any programmers reading this can liken it to a series of threads in a program being active at any one time. These threads are controlled by the central executive, which is responsible for attention switching, determines which specific stimuli coming from your auditory and optical system that you need to or should focus on, and decides which current memories should be encoded and committed to long-term memory.

The Loop

The phonological loop is the temporary store of speech. When someone says something to you it is stored here before being sent for processing elsewhere in the brain. A sub-part of the loop is called the Articulatory Control Process, which is sometimes referred to as your ‘inner voice’. When you talk to yourself in your head the articulatory control process encodes it in such a way that it can be stored in the loop as if someone else had spoken to you. The loop is only a short-term store, however, so you help the encoding process by repeating to yourself over and over to ensure the information stays fresh. This is why repetitive chanting helps indoctrination (it is also thought to act as a thought-stopping technique so you focus less on what is actually being said and get more caught up in the elation or “the feeling” of the mood).

The loop is also limiting in how much it can store at any one time (estimated to be in the region of 7-9 items for most people). This is why your friends can be jackasses by saying random numbers or irrelevant phrases (officially known as Dynamic Visual Noise) when you’re trying to remember a number as it “overloads” your loop. It is also why many teachers and professors suggest avoiding listening to music with lyrics while studying.

The Sketchpad

The visuo-spatial sketchpad holds information coming from your visual field, and also information you mentally envisage with your ‘mind’s eye’. Like the loop, the sketchpad can also be overloaded. You may encounter something so visually stunning that it is hard to take everything in, like the first time you saw the Grand Canyon, or the first time you experienced the skyline of Manhattan in person. Likewise you may be in a situation that overwhelms your senses so much that you find it impossible to concentrate on any single thing. Alternatively you may focus so much on one single thing in that situation that you ignore other stimuli, which is interestingly (brief tangent approaching, folks) something that can make eyewitness accounts of crimes unreliable for various reasons.

Elaborated Intrusion Theory

Overloading the sketchpad can have interesting consequences for matters relating to desire, which is a little bit more to the point of this article. Desire, it has been stated by scientists, is mapped out by cognitive and emotional processes (the “associative processes”) that occur unconsciously which, when stimulated by external cues, lead to elaborated mental imagery (the “elaborated processes”) in the consciousness. These two processes, collectively, have been called the Elaborated Intrusion Theory. In other words, something that you have no conscious awareness of may trigger the memory of something else. You may hear a tune on the radio today that was used in a television commercial years ago for a certain breakfast cereal. Without piecing the information together consciously you may find yourself imagining a bowl of the stuff and suddenly craving it. Some new research has also suggested that this relationship between mental imagery and emotion may be bi-directional, so what you are imagining may also alter your emotional state.

Sketchpad Interference

The visuo-spatial sketchpad plays a key role in the elaborated intrusion model as it is the location where the elaborated processes breed. You’ll recall from earlier that there is a limited amount of information that can be stored on the sketchpad at any one time (I’m sure you may be seeing where I am going with this.) By introducing a new, neutral image to the sketchpad they joust for position, blurring your focus between the two, or if it is an interesting enough image, replacing the craving image altogether. This part isn’t simply just a theory either, as it has been demonstrated in human research and repeated on numerous occasions. Earlier studies have found that sketchpad interference via dynamic visual noise (DVN) can interrupt food and chocolate cravings in self-confessed chocolate cravers (aka the “chocoholics”). This has also been shown to work in people actually dieting (when cravings tend to be worse).

Positive Distraction

The simplest and cheapest way to generate sketchpad interference in the battle against cravings – for those that don’t have specialized computer programs that can generate DVN – has been suggested: get creative.

This is the take home message from the latest study to overload the visuo-spatial sketchpad, which achieved it through clay modelling. In the study, published in the journal Appetite, researchers managed to quell participants’ cravings for chocolate by allowing them to be artistic, sculpting shapes out of clay. The other aspects of the study tested, including mental arithmetic and simply “letting the mind wander” did not aid in suppressing the craving for chocolate. The mental arithmetic was used to assess whether overloading the phonological loop aids in reducing cravings, and once again the research showed that it did not.

So fundamentally, if you are battling cravings when you diet you need to get yourself a hobby that allows you to express your creative side. This creates the distraction that prevents you from desiring and craving the foods you are attempting to avoid. For many people dieting down, they are so busy with work, home chores, working out and other interests that they rarely have time available to allow cravings to come into play. They don’t require a creative distraction because their sketchpads are never clear to develop desire. For others, it is necessary to find something that occupies your focus that doesn’t involve food. Maybe it is time to pick up that old paintbrush again, or blow the dust off your guitar. Whatever you opt for, just make sure it is an outlet for your expressive and creative side.

Source: http://www.getds.com/20120326367/Blo…n+Sports+Blog)

By David Katz, M.D. HuffPost Healthy Living

I am, and have long been, on the masthead at Men’s Health magazine as an editorial advisor, with contributions focused principally on weight control. Proud of it, too.

I do note, in passing, that I don’t always agree with my good friends there. They seem to feel that a hefty dose of bacon can cure just about anything that may ail you, and I beg to differ. I submit as evidence in defense of my position a 50-year-old body (Well, 49; but who’s counting?) with an elusive “six-pack” — built and maintained on “mostly plants.” But I digress.

More relevant is that I am a father of five kids, and editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Childhood Obesity.

I am here to talk to my fellow fathers about kids. Paternity, posterity, peril, and promise if you will.

Dads, dudes, countrymen (and city men, for that matter) — lend me your ears! Manly middles, portly posteriors, and notoriously thick skulls can come along for the ride. I am talking to you, mano a mano. Ladies, please do listen in — if nothing else, you may want to print this out, roll it up, and smack some guy in the head with it when we’re done here.

Guys:

We know that women are the guardians of the family health. We know that women, wives, mothers tend to do the heavy lifting when it comes to medical care, preventive services and diet. We know, consequently, by process of elimination if nothing else, that men tend to stand idly by and watch the women in their lives do this heavy lifting mostly on their own. Not very chivalrous — but it is what it is. Men often turn up at their own medical appointments only because a wife or girlfriend “made them” do it. Pitiful!

This is even true regarding the health of kids we helped make. And it’s not acceptable.

I trust you’ve heard the familiar litany of bad news about the health of our kids. Childhood obesity is more prevalent in the U.S. than in virtually any other place on the globe, and more prevalent now than ever in history. The fattening of our children propels them to an ever greater burden of ever more dire chronic disease at ever younger ages.

The spread of Type 2 diabetes among children is already yesterday’s news. But yesterday — when I went to medical school — this disease was called “adult onset” diabetes to distinguish it from “juvenile onset.” On my watch — and yours — we have witnessed the transformation of a chronic disease of overweight, middle-aged, sedentary adults into a pediatric scourge.

Yesterday’s news is bad — a tragedy, in fact. And a travesty. A disease that should never occur in children has become routine among them, and our collective societal response was to change the name to make it ok.

Still, today’s news is even worse.

Today’s news is the proliferation of cardiac risk factors among children, and their growing need for treatments that until very recently were limited to adults, such as statin drugs and bariatric surgery. And even… coronary bypass. Today’s news is a 35 percent increase in the rate of stroke among 5- to 14-year-olds, with no smoking gun on the scene except epidemic childhood obesity to account for it.

What, I wonder, will tomorrow’s news be? I think, guys, that it’s partly up to us.

In a culture where real men don’t eat quiche, where salad is “the girl food,” and where a man’s man is tough and beefy, it may seem that eating well and being active to protect our health requires us to get in touch with our feminine sides. If so, it would likely do most of us some good — but it’s not required. There is another way entirely of looking at this scenario.

The wolves are at your door, fellas, and if you are like most guys, you aren’t doing a damn thing about it. You are NOT defending hearth and home. Very “un-guy” like.

The wolves are obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes and behavioral disorders — with heart disease, stroke and cancer to follow — stalking our children.

So… Grab your (proverbial) muskets, and defend hearth and home! That is what guys do. That is time honored “guy stuff.” In all too many cases, these wolves have already sunk their teeth into the tender flesh of our kids.

To cultivate the health of your children, you must cultivate your own. Even if you are too tough and manly to care about the minor inconveniences of open heart surgery or the occasional amputation — no guy gets “toughness” credit for failing to care about, or look out for, his kids.

If your kids love and respect you, they will do as you do. If eating well is too big a bother for you, it will be too big a bother for them. If worrying about health and nutrition is limited to “nutrition nannies” (like me, I suppose), then your children, like you, will roll their eyes at the very choices that could immunize them against a future of foreshortened joy and forestalled opportunity.

If you are too busy, too unconcerned, too manly to exercise, what will motivate your son to be otherwise? If physical activity is not instilled by you as a family value, what will inspire your daughter to seek and gain its incomparable benefits?

I have been taking care of patients for 20 years, so I have met a lot of you guys. If I hadn’t — if I were younger, more na�ve, or simply more hopeful — I might ask you to pursue health for your own sakes. But I have learned the hard way how thick the average guy’s skull is. (Ladies, don’t worry — if you do roll this up and hit a guy in the head with it, chances are he won’t feel a thing.) Most of my male patients get religion about their own health when staring up at the harsh ER ceiling lights from a gurney. Sometimes they get to come down from that gurney and try a new way forward. Sometimes, alas, that chance never comes. But either way, the timing leaves a lot to be desired.

For me, it’s a personal loss every time something bad happens to someone good who just couldn’t be bothered. Who only ever really cared about preventing a heart attack — or stroke or cancer — after the diagnosis. The unnecessary loss of years from life and life from years is the recurrent tragedy against which I channel my every effort. But you know what they say: You can lead a horse to water… So I fail all too often; the teachable moment comes after the calamity and the cycle of preventable loss and lamentation goes on.

So I pin little faith on talking you into taking better care of yourselves for your own sakes, but I think I can count on the sacred and inalienable bonds of fatherhood to call on you to do it for your children’s sake. Is avoidable loss and preventable lamentation something you can countenance paying forward to your daughter or son? No father worthy of the title could say “yes.”

Gentlemen: You are role models for your children. Like it or not, you are playing follow the leader — and you are the leader (or one of them). Lead toward health, your children will follow you there. Lead elsewhere, they will follow you elsewhere. They will do as you do. So do the right thing — for their sake. Eat well and be active — for their sake. Be part of their solution or you will be part of their problem.

The mission need not be complicated. Simply acknowledge health as a worthy goal and a priority. Let your kids know that you want them to eat well because you love them — because you want them to be healthy, and healthy people have more fun. Then, make a conscious effort to eat well, too. No need to make perfect the enemy of good — just some movement. I’m sure you know the basics of the route, but if not, you can always ask for directions, right?

Just by letting your kids know that you don’t want the growing body of a son or daughter that you love constructed out of junk, the mission will be advanced.

Physical activity is even easier. Just walk the literal walk. Be active with your kids. The older and more capable they become, the greater the options, but you can start when they’re still in the cradle.

Every aspect of stepping up and being a healthy role model for your children is part of a virtuous circle. By setting the example your kids need for the greatest likelihood of their own healthy future, you’ll be laying the groundwork for yours. Just as well, because when those kids grow up and have kids of their own, you may want to be around for it. You don’t want to be that guy seeing revelations among the overhead lights in the ER. By making health a shared pursuit, you’ll have things to talk to your kids about and things to do together.

As fathers, we are charged with no responsibility more sacred than protecting our children. So I am asking you, mano a mano, to protect yours. Their future vitality — their future joy or misery — will be determined in part by the choices you make.

For all the guys out there too tough to care about their own health until it’s too late, how about setting a healthy example to defend your kids? It’s classic, time-honored guy stuff. It’s got “Dad,” and “dude,’” written all over it.

It is, in a word, our duty. So let’s man up — and do it!

-fin

Dr. David L. Katz; www.davidkatzmd.com
www.turnthetidefoundation.org

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-…b_1339815.html