Are you hardwired to deal with more pain than most?

robin General Health

Believe it or not, your body – and your mind – may be hardwired to feel pain more than most other people.

Researchers at Northwestern University in the United States, as well as those working throughout the United Kingdom, recently conducted a five-year study that paid close attention to the brain scans of individuals that complained of chronic back injuries and chronic back pain.

After comparing these brain scans to the brain scans of people that had successfully a laminated all of the pain stemming from an initial back injury of the researchers uncovered the fact that some people simply have brains that are more hardwired to deal with pain more efficiently and more effectively – and some people are hardwired to feel more significant pain than others.

After the five-year study concluded a note or group in Australia decided to push the research even further – and 85% of all of their brain scans showed the same abnormalities haunting people that reported feeling significant back pain over a six month block of time after their initial injury.

This is both good news and bad news.

The bad news – There isn’t much you’re ever going to be able to do to change the way your body and your mind is hardwired for pain

Though you can (and probably should) take advantage of over-the-counter pain pills and prescription painkillers if you are living with debilitating pain and can’t seem to kick it any other way, the truth of the matter is those that have hardwired connections that force them to feel pain more frequently than others aren’t going to be able to ever do much to change the situation.

You just can’t take around with the body and the brain and expect any real or lasting long-term results.

The good news – You can “trick” your brain into feeling less pain

As the same time, it is possible for those hardwired to feel pain more significantly to fool their brain into ignoring these pain signals in the same way that elite level athletes are able to bounce back from injury faster than those that do not have millions and millions on the line.

All you have to do is convince yourself that you are healing faster (through the use of placebo pills or painkillers), meditation, hypnosis, or even just listening to up-tempo music and watching your favorite comedy shows. Of course, those of us who are not blessed with pain resistance will, need to control pain the old fashioned way with painkillers like codeine etc. – lots more info on painkillers here.

Mind over matter is a very real and scientifically proven phenomenon, and it works wonders to help you kick pain to the curb once and for all.

What Are the Top Diets that Really Work for Men?

robin General Health

While it is an unconfirmed fact, men and women lose weight differently. To make matters worse, men usually lose weight faster than women. This does not help the battle of the sexes in any way.

timthumbThere is always a new diet that is trending and a diet book that is in the top 10 list of the New York Times best sellers. There is calorie counting, group meetings, vegan diets, low carb diets, cave men diets, the cookie diet, liquid diets, nothing but smoothies diets, plus many, many, more. In fact it seems that the more we know the fatter we are all getting. How do you know which diet is the best one for you to go on to lose those unwanted pounds?

Here are some of the top diet trends that have produced documented results that show they work.

  1. Atkins

This diet plan has been around since the 1960s. It has evolved and the different stages have changed over the years, but the one thing that has remained consistent is the fact that it is a low carbohydrate eating plan. It became popular when it first came out because it was completely contrary to how we were taught to do to lose weight. People were eating bacon and eggs, steaks and burgers, and salads with plenty of blue cheese. Healthier versions have come about but lowering your carb count will definitely start your weight loss plan with the least amount of pain.

  1. The Paleo Diet

Similar to the Atkins diet this plan goes one step further by incorporating grass-fed beef to the plan. The diet was fashioned after the foods that the cavemen ate before the introduction of grain (complex carbs) to our daily menu. It basically consists of meats, seafood, poultry, eggs, fats, nuts, low carb vegetables, and a few fruits. Dairy, sugar, flour, and most complex carbohydrates are not allowed. It works if you can afford it and stay on it.

  1. Calorie counting

There are many websites that will calculate your daily calorie intake and balance it against your physical activities to help you see what you need to do to lose weight. This is good for people who like to do their own program and have enough discipline to follow a regular exercise routine or who belong to a gym (and actually use their membership!).

  1. Diet foods delivered to your door

There are a number of companies that will send you a week’s worth of meals in advance so you don’t have to count calories or even cook. You make your selections, receive your food, and you are on your way. Main players include Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem.

  1. Diet Bet

Here is a cool plan where you find a group to join, put up the minimum amount required (usually around $25), then you have a certain amount of time to lose a specific amount of weight. All who end up losing weight split the pot so you could lose weight and pick up a few bucks.

Staying slim, keeping fit, and maintaining a healthy weight can help your sex life too.

Muscle building secrets from Hollywood superstars

robin Muscle building

Some of the biggest celebrities in film have to completely and totally transform their body in record time to portray incredibly fit and athletic people onscreen, and they are capable of these amazing transformations because they have access to insider information and resources that most “common people” simply do not.

But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to share this inside information with folks that are looking to transform their bodies, and many of them are “spilling the beans” on the how they pull off these breathtaking transformations as quickly as they do.

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We have collected some of their insider secrets to share with you below and you’ll want to try and put them into play just as soon as you get the opportunity to do so. You might not be able to build a body like Thor in about six weeks, but you’ll definitely be able to get ready for beach season in record time!

Your body is made in the kitchen

The most important thing you can realize about any body transformation journey is that the overwhelming majority of the work and effort that you put in that will pay off significantly occurs in the kitchen and not in the gym.

Most folks are under the impression that they have to work out forever to achieve the kinds of amazing results these men and women achieve all the time, but the reality is that they don’t spend any more time at the gym than most people – they just feel the nutritional aspect of the transformation and that’s why they see much faster results.

Focus on cleaning up your diet and you’ll be able to achieve the almost impossible as well!

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Compound lifts are always more valuable

Though they aren’t as “sexy” as newfangled exercises that are printed up in muscle magazines every month for public consumption, compound lifts – you’re dead lift, your squats, your bench press, etc. – are always going to be far more valuable to transforming your body than anything else.

These compound this impact multiple large muscle groups at a time and they are able to recruit a lot more activity in the central nervous system along the way.

This is going to trigger a cascade of biochemical reactions about your body, and you’ll be able to regenerate more muscle mass across a heavily impacted area than you would have with isolated lifts that target smaller muscle groups.

Mistakes made by doctors may be the third leading cause of death around the world

robin Doctors

People make mistakes.

It’s just part of human nature. However, you aren’t going to find too terribly many patients that walk into their doctor’s office or enter a hospital visiting a surgeon expecting them to make a mistake while they are on the operating table.

Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens all the time – with more than 250,000 people killed by in the United States alone each and every single year.

According to information published by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine accidents just may be medical professionals may be third leading cause of death around the world. This is a pretty frightening statistic, and you’ll want to do absolutely everything you can to make sure that you don’t fall victim to these dangerous.

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Thankfully, there are a handful of different things you’ll be able to do to really manage and mitigate these issues and eliminate as much of the risk factors as humanly possible. Here are just a few tips and tricks you’re going to want to remember moving forward.

ALWAYS get a second opinion

One of the biggest mistakes that medical experts make all the time has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the actual actions that the tank while treating their patients, but instead absolutely everything to do with misdiagnosing a condition and prescribing the wrong treatment.

An unnecessary surgery is going to invite all kinds of headache and hassle (not to mention incredible trauma and risk of infection), which is why you always want to get a second opinion.

Don’t be shy about becoming a bit of a pest

You are going to want to be sure that you know EVERYTHING about every medication you were given, every test you are having conducted, and every reason behind why these things are being done in your specific situation.

Becoming a bit of the pest can be trouble for those that kind of want to go with the flow, but when your health – and your very life – is at risk you can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.

Stick to your post operation recovery program religiously

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At the end of the day, sticking to your post operation recovery program is going to go a long way towards letting you know if something went wrong during the procedure. If you notice anything and all that doesn’t seem right reach out to your doctor or mental or another doctor) and get started resulting these issues.

Is Your General Health Getting Worse?

robin General Health

If you don’t feel as healthy as you used to, you should definitely talk to your doctor about it. Sometimes, a decline in general health is a signal of an underlying health problem. At other times, it’s a sign that your lifestyle needs some tweaking, with a mind to making it healthier.

A doctor is the best person to talk to about why you don’t feel as good as you used to. This is why we encourage you to reach out to a family physician today. Doctors are there to listen and they have the power to diagnose or exclude a range of illnesses.

Since there are so many symptoms and so many health issues, only a licensed physician will have the skills and training to accurately diagnose you if something is wrong.

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You May Need Medication

Doctors are able to prescribe medications which help their patients to feel better. While you may not be crazy about the idea of taking medication, it may be necessary and beneficial. Sometimes, mental health issues, such as depression or bipolar disorder, also play a role in how we feel. Whether your symptoms are physical or emotional, a doctor will be able to help.

In addition to talking to a doctor, you may want to ask yourself some questions about your health. For example, are you eating poorly, compared to how you ate when you felt better? Did you used to get regular exercise and then stop? Are you drinking a lot of water daily or skipping the water bottle and swilling coffee instead? Do you have any bad habits, such as smoking or drinking?

Has Your Lifestyle Changed?

If you don’t have an underlying illness, your lifestyle is probably part of the problem. Fixing what’s wrong by eating better, getting exercise, drinking a lot of water and giving up bad habits will be great for you. While it’s hard to clean up a diet, lace up sneakers and start walking and get used to drinking eight glasses of water daily (not to mention giving up the really bad habits), these simple and healthy changes may be enough to boost your general health fast.

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Sticking to a healthy lifestyle pays big dividends. It offers cumulative benefits!

Now is a great time to make changes. So, why not book an appointment with your doctor and create a new lifestyle plan which supports better health and wellness?

Three simple steps to help you avoid overtraining in the gym

robin Gym

One of the most – if not THE most – significant challenges that men and women working to create the body of their dreams face on a daily basis is the challenge of overtraining.

We live in a world where over training isn’t seen as a disastrous setback but instead seen as something to aspire to and almost celebrate. This leads to a lot of individuals over training their body and really stopping any progress they would have enjoyed otherwise, crippling their bodies ability to transform the way that people hoped without them even realizing it’s happening in the first place.

Thankfully though, more and more people all over the world are learning that there are real and significant dangers to training too much, too often, and at too high of an intensity. Overtraining Syndrome is a very real and chronic condition that can lead to serious fatigue, burn out, and a plateau where results don’t come nearly as effortlessly as they should have.

On top of that you risk significant injury if you push too far into the overtraining range too often.

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But by arming yourself with the inside information below you should be able to pretty easily and almost effortlessly avoid over training altogether. Your results will come much faster, your results will come much more reliably, and at the end of the day you will be able to build the body you’ve always wanted without any setbacks or dangers along the way.

Cleanup your diet ASAP

The first thing that you were going to want to do is also probably the most obvious, as it will provide the most significant amount of dividends when it comes to losing weight and building muscle.

You’ll want to throw out as many “junk foods” as possible and instead replace those poor food options with dietary choices that are much cleaner, much healthier, and capable of helping you reach your body transformation goals.

Hydrate more than you think you need to

It’s also going to be very advantageous for you to flood your body with significantly more water – and we mean water, not other beverages – so that your body has access to enough fluid to push past fatigue, to energize your muscles, and to make sure that biochemical cascade of reactions caused by exercising doesn’t create any havoc with your major bodily systems.

Never work out more than three days in a row

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Finally, you’ll want to be sure that you are getting plenty of rest so that you can recover from your exercises as fast as possible. Stick to a three-day on, one-day off program and you’ll never have to worry about overtraining but will instead be able to give your body every opportunity to rest before you get right back at it.

Mental tricks that help you push through every workout

robin Workout

Just trying to hit the gym on a regular basis can be one of the most significant challenges that anyone has to face, which is why you’re going to want to utilize every mental trick you can get your hands to improve your commitment and your consistency when working out.

We’ve included a couple of brief effective mental tricks that will boost your motivation, improve your commitment, and generally help you get in much more effective workouts within you would have been able to before.

Visualize your entire routine

The first thing that you want to do (and you’ll want to do so before you hit the gym and before every lift) is visualize yourself pushing through the exercise and achieving the goal that you sent out for yourself.

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Elite level athletes around the world take advantage of these kinds of visualization exercises, and science has proven that you’ll be able to get 80% of the results you would have through physical practice by unleashing deeply focused visualization.

Do not skip this trick.

Prepare for tomorrow’s workout today

Secondly, you’ll want to make sure that you are able to hammer out your workouts with extreme focus, and that means that you are going to want to prepare for tomorrow’s workout today.

This allows you to get right down to business with everything you need to get the job done right. You won’t have to worry about forgetting things at home, and you won’t be distracted when it comes time to crush it in the gym.

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Load up on motivation

Make sure that you fill up your phone with as many motivational tracks as humanly possible and maybe even switch your phone’s wallpaper to something just as motivation so that you are always striving to achieve something truly special.

Enjoy rest days as much as possible

When it comes time to rest make sure that that’s actually what you are doing.

There is a world of difference between resting and recuperating and cutting back a little bit on your regularly planned exercise, and if you are going to enjoy any real results whatsoever you need to make sure that you don’t ever cross into the line of over exerting yourself when you should be repairing your body through rest and recovery.

Set small and regular goals you can constantly achieve

It’s always a good idea to set goals to achieve any results you’re looking for (especially goals that you can measure your progress towards), but when you’re working out you’ll want to set small and regularly achievable goals to keep your motivational fires burning red hot.