Approximately 60 to 75 percent of the body is made up of water. However, that does not mean that you will not need to drink adequate water. An average adult will require 8 to 10 glasses of water every day to keep the system functioning properly and to smoothen the metabolic activities.

The Truth

85% of the human brain is made of water; 82% of the blood is water; 90%of the lungs contain water; 70% of the muscles contain water and 15% of the bones contain water.

Every diet plan and fitness program emphasizes on adequate water consumption as there are several properties of water that allows our system to function properly. Water is necessary for all human functions- from breathing to excretion.

Drinking Water

There are people who rely more on cold drinks, juices, tea and coffee than water. Although these are fluids, not as effective as water is. Caffeine in particular can dehydrate the body and make it impossible for the body to maintain sync. Hence, the answer is plain and simple – water.

Functions of water

There are quiet a number of reason why the human body needs water. Let us have a look at some of the vital points that you cannot miss out:

• Water transports essential oxygen and other nutrients into the cells
• Water moisturizes air in the lungs
• Water aids metabolism
• Water protects the vital organs
• Water helps all our organs to absorb the essential nutrients properly
• Water helps in detoxification
• Water protects and moisturizes the joints

Water and Weight Loss – What’s the Connection?

Drinking lots of water is the ultimate way to free yourself from the clutches of fats and increasing body weight. If you have not been drinking adequate water regularly, you are surely not going to lose weight.

Drink water to burn more calories

Research reveals that drinking water actually helps in burning calories. The process works by increasing metabolism- water consumption increases metabolism and that in turn helps you to burn calories. Drinking approximately 17 ounces of water everyday will help in burning as much as 30 percent calories more than usual.

Water keeps you Full

That’s true! Whenever you feel the need to munch something, just drink two glasses of water and you will feel fuller. This will prevent you from eating unhealthy snacks from time to time and will allow the body to flush out toxins and wastes as well. By doing so, you will be saving your calories and will prevent thirst as well. As you take care of your thirst, you actually save yourself from eating a lot of calories that prevents fat gain.

Research Speaks

Drinking water is extremely important when you are trying to lose weight, according to studies. It has been proved that the sensations of thirst and hunger triggers together. If a body is dehydrated, the thirst mechanism is likely to be mistaken for the sense of hunger. Hence, one might end up eating when the body is craving for some fluid.

Foods usually contain certain percentage of water; however, if you do not drink the right amount of water you will eat more subconsciously to complement for the shortage of water. This will result in rapid weight gain. Hence, if you drink water consciously, you will benefit from the same and will lose weight as well.

How much water must be drunk to lose weight?

For an average person, experts suggest that you should drink at least 64 ounces of water regularly- which is 8 standard size glasses. If you have been taking a diet that will help you to lose weight, you must drink adequate water to support your system throughout the day. However, if you have any underlying medical complications, you must consult your healthcare provider.

If you are exercising as a part of the weight loss program you will have to include more water in your diet plan. As you exercise, your body loses water in the form of sweat and might get dehydrated. If you drink water, you will be able to keep the level of energy up and this also helps in recovery post training.

Drink pure water, as much as you can, to keep yourself healthy and to lose weight fast and easy.

Sources:

http://myhealthislifeblog.com/2010/08/30/water-is-life/

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/10-reasons-to-drink-more-water.html

http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/benefit-of-drinking-water.html

http://www.womens-health-questions.com/how-much-water-to-lose-weight.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Lose-Water-Weight—5-Tips&id=742963

http://www.shapeupshop.com/weightloss/water-weight-loss.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4490527_lose-weight-drinking-water.html

http://www.weightlossforall.com/benefits-water-drinking.htm

I believe there is mounting evidence that would suggest a paradigm shift in the way we think, when it comes to exercise, especially in modern society, where time is at a great deficit. Like everything though exercise is a lifestyle change that you have to incorporate into your lifestyle, and it plays a vital role in NEWSTART. So without any further ado, lets get into it. I will go into a bit of depth analyzing the current mode of thinking, and what I think is a far more effective way to exercise. This is going to be a multi-series article.

Does aerobic exercise work?

A recent review by Dr. Edward Melanson published in Exercise and Sport Science reviews April 2009, was widely reported in the media as proof against the metabolism stimulating potential of exercise (1).  However, this study looked almost exclusively at moderate intensity aerobic exercise like jogging, biking or swimming.

What it showed was aerobic exercise of moderate intensity did not provide a metabolic advantage aside from the calories burned during activity.

A previous meta-analysis done over a 25-year period came to a similar conclusion (2).

This study analyzed the data from over 400 studies comparing:

1. Diet alone;
2. Aerobic exercise alone;
3. Diet plus aerobic exercise on weight loss.

The results showed that aerobic exercise did not provide a significant advantage to weight loss over diet by itself.

This information is shocking considering the prevalent belief among doctors and the exercising public that long duration moderate intensity aerobic exercise is a proven modality for effective weight loss.

Aerobic vs. Anaerobic exercise

While the ability of aerobic exercise to impact weight loss has been questioned, anaerobic exercise modalities like weight training and cardiovascular interval training have enjoyed increased interest.

Brief review of anaerobic and aerobic exercise

In very simple terms, aerobic metabolism takes place in the mitochondria and requires the use of oxygen.

Anaerobic metabolism proceeds through a different pathway and requires neither the involvement of mitochondria or oxygen. It is well known that as exercise intensity increases anaerobic metabolism dominates; unfortunately, the exact anaerobic contribution to energy production is exceedingly difficult to measure.

The standard way to approximate calorie expenditure and substrate utilization during exercise is through the measure of respiratory gases.

The ratio of carbon dioxide expelled to oxygen consumed can give a predictable evaluation of not only energy used, but also fuel utilization – glucose vs. fat.

However, this method is only valid at lower exercise intensities. At higher intensities the relationship is much less clear.

EPOC

To help address this error, researchers also measure EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).  This is a measure of the recovery energy expenditure after exercise and it has been thought to consist of anaerobic contributions to exercise as well.

There is some argument as to how meaningful this EPOC effect can be. Many researchers claim the impact does not last long, only several hours, and amounts to at best 15% of total calories burned.  However, these approximations come largely from studies with lower exercise intensities involving standard aerobic exercise protocols.

Studies utilizing highly anaerobic protocols including cardiovascular interval protocols and weight training show a much different picture.

Evidence

In  2001, Schuenke et. al. showed a circuit resistance training program utilizing heavy weights, short rest periods and lasting only thirty-one minutes was able to generate an EPOC that persisted for 48 hours (3).

The results showed that metabolism 24 hours and 48 hours after the exercise session was increased by 21% and 19% respectively.

The researchers point out that for a typical 180-pound individual “This equates to 773 calories expended post exercise”.

This is far from insignificant and greatly exceeds the 15% number many researchers quote for EPOC.

Similar findings have been shown in women using a similar resistance training protocol. In women the elevation in metabolic rate lasted 16 hours (4).

The same findings have been seen with interval training as well with significant EPOC values lasting up to 24 hours (5-6).

Exercise Burn and “After-burn”

Dr. Christopher Scott of the University of Southern Maine is a pioneer in attempting to understand the full contribution of energy from both anaerobic metabolism and EPOC.

He has published extensively in this area and is the author of one of the authoritative textbooks in this field entitled, A Primer for Exercise and Nutritional Sciences: Thermodynamics, Bioenergetics, and Metabolism (13).

In his works, Dr. Scott points out that EPOC does not fully explain anaerobic energy use and that the anaerobic contributions to exercise may be even greater than originally thought, especially where lactic acid production is concerned.

Dr. Scott emphasizes that to fully account for calories burned during exercise three components must be measured:

1. Calories burned aerobically during exercise
2. Calories burned aerobically after exercise (EPOC)
3. Anaerobic calories burned from exercise (7-11).

EPOC and the anaerobic lactic acid measurements for exercise are considered separate by Dr Scott.

In 2005 Dr. Scott published a paper entitled Misconceptions about Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Expenditure where he explains his argument and highlights one of his studies comparing :

3.5-minute aerobic exercise challenge;

with three work-equivalent 15-second sprints (7).

When he compared the aerobic calorie use during the exercise bouts he found the aerobic challenge burned 29 Kcal, while sprinting used only 4 Kcal.

However, when he added on the measure for EPOC the calorie comparison for the two exercise bouts became close to equal rising to 36 Kcal for the aerobic bout and 39 Kcal for the sprint exercise.

Finally, he added on the anaerobic contribution (blood lactate measure). At this point the numbers for the anaerobic sprint exercise rose significantly.

The final tally was 39 Kcal for the aerobic exercise compared with 65 Kcal for the sprint exercise.

By adding both EPOC and the direct lactate contribution to the original calorie total, the sprint exercise was shown to far surpass the aerobic exercise in calories burned.

This is striking when one considers the aerobic exercise session took over 4 times longer to complete (210 seconds vs. 45 seconds).

What is most compelling is that without including both EPOC and anaerobic expenditure from lactate, something 99% of studies on exercise fail to do, a full 94% of the calories used during sprinting would go uncounted!

Dr. Scott has demonstrated a similar underestimation of energy use in weight training.

In studies published in 2006 and 2009 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Dr. Scott quantified anaerobic energy use during weight lifting (7,11). Using his method of measuring and quantifying all three components of calorie burn (aerobic metabolism during exercise, EPOC, and anaerobic contributions by lactate) he was able to show that weight training exercise burns 70% more calories than originally predicted.

Final thoughts:

In light of this new understanding regarding exercise and weight loss, the caloric contribution for anaerobic exercise can be substantial. Given the much shorter durations of exercise required and the long exercise after-burn elicited, anaerobic exercise can make significant contributions towards creating caloric deficits for weight loss.

It seems wise for healthcare providers to adjust their weight loss recommendations regarding aerobic exercise to include anaerobic modalities as well.

A strong anaerobic exercise program involving both weight training and cardiovascular interval training would be a wise addition to aerobically centered weight loss programs.

This new understanding provides much needed tools in the battle against obesity related illnesses and their complications.

References:

Melanson, et. al. Exercise improves fat metabolism in muscle but does not increase 24-hr fat oxidation. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews. 2009;37(2):93-101.

Miller, et. al. A meta analysis of the past 25 years of weight loss research using diet, exercise or diet plus exercise intervention. International Journal of Obesity. 1997;21:941-947.

Schuenke, et. al. Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: Implicationsfor body mass management European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2002;86:411-417.

Osterberg, et. al. Effect of acute resistance exercise on postexercise oxygen consumption and resting metabolic rate in young women. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2000;10(1):71-81.

Tremblay, et. al. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism. 1994;43:814-818

Treuth, et. al. Effects of exercise intensity on 24-h energy expenditure and substrate oxidation. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. 1996;28:1138-1143

Scott, et. al. Misconceptions about aerobic and anaerobic energy expenditure. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2005;2:32-37.

Scott et. al. Estimating total energy expenditure for brief bouts of exercise with acute recovery.  Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism. 2006;31:144-149.

Scott, et. al. Contribution of blood lactate to the interpretation of total energy expenditure for weight lifting. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2006;20:21-28.

Scott et. al. Contributions of Anaerobic Energy Expenditure to Whole-body Thermogenesis. Nutrition and Metabolism. 2005;2:14.

Scott, et. al. Direct and indirect calorimetry of lactate oxidation: implications for whole-body energy expenditure. Journal of Sports Science. 2005;23:15-19.

Scott, et. al. Energy expenditure before during and after the bench press. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2009 Mar;23(2)611-618.

Scott CB, A Primer for Exercise and Nutritional Sciences: Thermodynamics, Bioenergetics, and Metabolism. Human Press. 2008

Thanks again to the guys and gals at http://metaboliceffect.wordpress.com/ for there thoughts and research.

Marlon Wambeek

In trying to achieve this, I am going to challenge your views on exercise and nutrition, a lot of elite athletes, models and celebrities follow pretty much what I am going to provide in the next few paragraphs. Ironically most of the things I am going to discuss are pretty much common sense.

Sprinter vs Marathon Runner

One of the key differences in what I am presenting is that the focus is on fat loss, not weight loss. It is important to understand you may be burning calories and losing weight, but you may or may not be burning or losing fat. Ironically, the things you do for weight loss (i.e., eat less and exercise more) can work against your fat burning physiology.

Consider the way elite sprinters look vs. elite long distance runners.  What is obvious to most people when they watch professional track and field events is how much more muscular sprinters are when compared to long distance runners.  What is less understood is that sprinters usually have less body fat as well. That is where most people become a little confused.

They are confused because they usually understand long distance athletes like marathon runners burn much greater amounts of calories. Keep in mind that long distance runners exercise for hours when training for and engaging in their sport.

Sprinters on the other hand exercise in short bursts lasting seconds to minutes and then have long periods of time where they rest and recover before they repeat. The calorie comparison is not even close.

So, the idea that you can exercise less and still develop a lean muscular physique is something that is revealed in the example of these two athletes.

Caloric weight loss vs hormonal fat loss

The question then becomes why?  If it is not calories that are making the sprinters more muscular and leaner, then what is it? It is hormones. Where “weight loss exercise” is about burning calories, “fat loss exercise” is about changing hormones.

Hormones

When I say hormones, most people will think of the sex steroids including estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.  But, there are other hormones that impact hunger (ghrelin, leptin, CCK), brain chemistry and mood (serotonin, dopamine), as well as fat storage (insulin, glucagon, adrenaline, human growth hormone).

The fact that hormones impact fat storage is easily demonstrated by looking at the fat distribution of men vs. women.  Women store their body fat in hips, thighs, and butt while men store fat in the middle.  Hormones determine whether you burn mostly sugar or fat and where on the body that fat may be burned (belly vs butt).

Chicken or Doughnut?

Consider a doughnut and a chicken breast. Which has more calories?  A Dunkin Doughnut and a chicken breast with the skin on each have 250 calories.

The doughnut is high in fat and sugar and very low in protein.

The chicken breast is high protein, has moderate fat, and very little sugar.

If you eat a doughnut for breakfast vs a chicken breast which is going to keep you full, balanced in energy and free from cravings before lunch?

The chicken will win every time.  Not because of calories, but because for the hormonal signal induced by the protein/carb/fat ratio present in each food. Another interesting thing to consider; most people can easily eat  5, 6 or more doughnuts.  On the other hand, it is very difficult to overeat chicken breast, or wholesome food. Most people would be lucky to get down two.

To illustrate further how powerful hormones are consider 2 meals.

Meal 1: 2 cups Kashi Go Lean Cereal, Skim Milk, and a large glass of OJ.

Meal 2: 8 egg white omelet stuffed with 1 cup each of mushrooms, spinach, tomato. 1 large apple and a cup of blueberries on the side.

Many people would be surprised to know meal 1 has more calories. But, it is obvious meal 2 contains much more food. Before you think we are simply reverting back to talking about calories, consider what meal 2 does.

• The large volume of food causes the food transit to slow, increases the stretch of the stomach (called gastric distention) and leads to a balance of hunger hormones.
• This results in the feeling of being full and satisfied much earlier in the meal.
• In addition, the after effects of the meal result in a balanced insulin response (decreased fat storage) and enhanced glucagon response (enhanced fat burning).
• This is due to the amount of fiber and protein in meal 2 relative to the sugar/starch in the meal.

Another key distinction of weight loss compared to  fat loss is the impact on shape and tone of the body.  If you play the weight loss game, you will shrink in size, but remain the same shape.  If you are an apple shape, you will end up being a smaller apple shape.

Likewise, many people who focus on weight loss loose muscle making their bodies saggy and soft.  It is healthy to lose the weight if you are overweight, but it is not fat loss.  Fat loss is not only healthier, but only fat loss results in the body changing its contour an increasing its tone.

Eating meals like meal 1, may be considered “healthy” but they will do little to help you burn fat.

If you have any questions on what you are eating, feel free to write to me and I will try my best to assist. I shall be releasing some meals that you might consider preparing that are both delicious and will help assist you in your goals in reducing fat!!

Sources

http://metaboliceffect.wordpress.com/

However there are a few rules of thumbs, when it comes to getting the full benefit of exercising in this manner. It would be best to AVOID all sugar and fruit juice for two hours after your workout, otherwise you will obliterate the growth hormone response or after burn effect  and ruin the major benefit of the workout, which is to increase your growth hormone level. Remember that after age 35, your growth hormone levels radically decrease, I will deal with growth hormones in another article.

The reason why restricting these carbs after exercise works is that they will prevent the production of the hormone somatostatin. One of the primary purposes of this hormone is to inhibit the production of human growth hormone.

Cardio Exercise – Non-effective

Virtually all exercises, certainly nearly all cardio or standard aerobics, fail miserably when it comes to increasing growth hormone. So if you decide to use the only type of exercise that will increase growth hormone, then it would be a shame to make a foolish food choice that would wipe out most of the benefit from doing these amazing types of exercise.

When you break your exercise session into intervals like this — short segments that alternate high intensity with a rest period in-between – you can dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities in a fraction of the time.

Logic

This makes logical sense when you consider that, historically, long-duration exercise isn’t “natural.” Our ancient ancestors never ran for mile after mile without rest or recovery. Their exercise was primarily hunting — short bursts of exertion, followed by periods of rest.

By exercising in short bursts, followed by periods of recovery, you recreate exactly what your body needs for optimum health, and that includes both the production of growth hormones and the burning of excess body fat.

Main Purpose is fat loss and HGH increase naturally

Please understand that the sugar and juice restriction are really intended for nearly everyone reading this whose primary purpose is to increase human growth hormone naturally, through exercise, to improve their health.

There is a very small group of elite and professional athletes who are actively competing, where increasing growth hormone is not their primary goal. For these athletes, consuming some carbs, preferably dextrose-based, in the recovery period is probably a good idea to improve their recovery time, as they are competing and not so concerned about long-term growth hormone levels.

It is also important to understand that the two hour post workout sugar restriction is for high intensity interval training exercises NOT for strength training or, if you choose to, aerobic exercises. Since neither of these exercises increases growth hormone, there is not an issue with the sugar restriction within the bounds of replacing needs generated from the exercise.

Sources

http://www.mercola.com/

The question however at hand is, can I get a strong body, that is lean and healthy to match a movie star, using NEWSTART.

I believe you can. Having a healthy fit body, takes a number of factors, all of which are included in NEWSTART program.

Let me illustrate:

Nutrition – Proper nutrition, balance of meals, timing and knowing what to eat before and after exercising, will go a long way towards assisting you to achieve overall vitality and health.

Exercise – Learn how to release the fountain of youth within you, get stronger and leaner, with more effective and focused exercise.

Water – Stronger and bigger muscles are fuelled by water, 75% of lean muscle tissue are made up of water. More muscle equates to more fat been burnt even while you sleep.

Sunshine – Why did Roman and Greek soldiers in ancient history train in the sun? Because they knew the massive immune system and strength gains they could achieve.

Temperance – Alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling, internet surfing, computer games, movies, television or any other addictive behaviour, takes away from you valuable time and energy that you could better dedicate to improving your health and wellbeing.

Air – Fresh air invigorates and boosts your health. Did you also know, with correct breathing techniques it can also boost your strength?

Rest – One of the most neglected, yet most important things is rest and its role in repair, and growth. It is also one of the keys to releasing Human growth hormones, which are essential to gaining a leaner, stronger body.

Time out/Time with God – Stress is close to the number one killer these days, it releases a hormone into your body called cortisol, many tests have shown the adverse effects of cortisol on weight gain, and other impacts on your immune system.

This is going to take a series of articles to complete, covering closely all the related points and there effects. I will discuss all the factors and try to be as comprehensive and objective in my demonstration of how I have been basically experimenting on myself to achieve the above statement. I am not sure I can match the looks of a movie star, however shall try my best to demonstrate good overall health and vitality.

As always my suggestion is to take your eyes off watching the scales and focus on the issues that caused an overall detriment in your health and eventually led to a weight increase. Please feel free to always comment and ask further questions. I also encourage you to take up the challenge of NEWSTART, you won’t regret it. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Take care

Marlon Wambeek

Some of the many benefits of kettle bells are :

1.      Improved co-ordination and agility

2.      One of the most effective means of strength development and “a new era in the development of human strength-potential” (soviet armed forces manual)

3.      Great for your heart – A study of 75 experienced gireviks (Russian for a kettle bell lifter), showed a long term decrease in the heart rate and blood pressure. The girevik’s has what Russians call “cosmonaut’s blood pressure”: 110/70 in summer and 114/74 in the winter. They had an average resting heart rate of 56 beats per minute, which is the equivalent of a professional athlete.

4.      Kettle bells properly used are very safe

5.      Kettle bell training improves body composition, ie quickest way to lose excess fat

6.      Enhances normal body movements

What kettle bell should I get?

Without going into too much detail here, I would suggest the following:

• Men – Start on a 16 kg kettlebell, and work your way up from there
• Women – An 8kg kettlebell will suffice and then slowly work your way up

24kg kettlebell is widely used in military special forces and makes up part of the master training for special forces around the world. Part of their gruelling final fitness program includes snatching a 24kg non-stop for 10 minutes, apparently it is handy to have a bucket for the 10 minute mark, I’ll let you work out what that’s for.

Things you should be aware before training with a Kettle Bell

1. Check with your doctor before you start any training, let alone kettle bells. Training with a kettle bell is very intense, and it really pumps your heart, hence the reason it is so good for you. So its really important to get a tick from your doctor before proceeding

2. Always be aware of your surroundings, ie give yourself plenty of room, this is common sense, if it’s a beautiful day outside, go in the sunshine and enjoy the fresh air, however if it is raining and you have to exercise indoors, make sure you have plenty of room.

Things to look out for:

• Flat surface
• Never face downhill, invites back and knee problems
• Make sure there is no one close to you, you don’t want to hurt someone
• Make sure there is nothing to trip over
• Slippery surface, no need for explanations

3. Wear good shoes, or no shoes preferably, none of these fancy footwear. Just something flat, no cushions.

4. Never contest for space with a kettle bell, if it wants to fall, just guide it, don’t fight it, its a good rule to follow, never train to fatigue, as this will end up causing you more injuries, and also lead you to be more careless.

5. Practise safety, until the kettle bell is put safely down on the ground, always think safety. Most people hurt themselves when they relax, or think they can cheat, please don’t do this. Always be aware of the piece of metal in your hands, and be careful with it, not only for your health, but for others around you.

6. Keep moving once your heart rate is high, if you stop dead after a kettle bell drill, it puts an amazing amount of strain on your heart, so walk around, shadow box, or just jump up and down. But don’t just fall to the ground and gasp for breathe, even though that’s what you feel like doing. Your body is in a state of severe oxygen debt, and moving around will greatly assist pushing the blood back to your heart.

7. Build up your training gradually, I have stated this over and over, always listen to your body, when you are tired, stop, progress gradually, it took you years to get to your level of unfitness, it will take the same time to get back to your peak. Trying to do more than you can will only lead to injury, which will set you back even more.

8. Everything said and done, use your common sense and good judgement as with everything.

Conclusion

I hope this will give you a starting point in terms of choosing a kettle bell and the basic safety information required to use a kettle bell.

Also upon reading this article have a read of this routine, this should be a good starting point. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask.

Thanks

Marlon Wambeek

One thing about kettle bells is that it promotes biomotor (life movements) abilities required for functional human movement. Kettlebell exercises mimic the way that our bodies should move in everyday situations. This type of training teaches our bodies correct movement skills.

Equipment Required

Males – 16kg Kettlebell

Female – 8kg Kettlebell

Stopwatch – Use the one on your phone if you don’t have one, I use my iphone

Routine

Time – 20minutes is your goal

Aim – Anaerobic/Aerobic/Core/Strength

Kettle Bell Swings – Make sure you watch the following video closely:

Kettle Bell Instructions

Just do the following :

1. 30 seconds of kettle bell swings then 60 seconds rest

2. Rinse and repeat

This is a beginners routine so try doing the following and build yourself up to 20mins

Week 1-3 – 5 minutes

Week 3-6 – 10 minutes

Week 6-10 – 15 minutes

Week 10-14 – 20 minutes

This is a gradual build up, Rome wasn’t built in a day, always listen to your body, if you can’t hold your body strong and tense, through the whole motion, then stop. Anytime you find yourself jerking your body, STOP!! Make sure you have enough space around you, if the kettle bell wants to drop, let it go, don’t try to control it, it will only end up hurting you. Use common sense, build yourself up slowly.

Proper technique is invaluable, learn it, study it. Don’t count reps, make sure your technique is right, reps aren’t the issue, when you are learning, or for that matter when you are advanced in the use of kettle bells. Keep alert and tense till your kettle bell is safely on the ground.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to ask me.

Thanks,

Marlon

The benefits are exceptionally good:

1.      All over exercise, assuming you spend about 30-60 minutes tending  and improving your garden

2.      Organic Vegetables  or fruits, great for those smoothies and salads

3.      Fresh air

4.      Sunshine

5.      A positive sense of achievement

6.      Something you do with family or children

7.      Form of relaxation and unwinding

8.      Save some money, fresh vegetables are getting pretty costly these days

The articles will be written by Tracy Hodgert, who owns and works in a nursery, alongside her parents. She has many years experience in gardening and offers us her unique insights and views on running a successful home garden and nursery.

As the articles progress, I invite people to comment and let us know if you have implemented the guidelines set out in your garden, and what success you have had.

• Do I want my garden bed in a particular spot or;
• Do I want to grow particular vegetables?

This is important because you either grow vegetables to suit the position you want the garden bed in OR you put the garden bed in a position to suit the vegetables you want to grow. I would suggest the best option is “b”, because you will have healthier, stronger, more nutritious, pest and disease resistant plants, if you do. It is much more difficult to maintain a garden where the plants are struggling to get what they need out of the environment (light, water, space, support, air, nutrients).

When choosing a position that your plants need be sure to keep in mind the following aspects:

• Light requirements of plants
• Seasonal changes that affect the lighting (autumn trees, shade in different direction summer/winter etc)
• Access to bed – digging equipment, wheelbarrows, getting soil in, water, your ability to reach across garden bed for weeding/planting, height of bed for ease of gardening, animals/pets getting into and destroying or toileting, wild animals birds/bats, don’t forget underground pipes or overhead wires.
• Aspect – plants will enjoy an even distribution of light, so it may be better to run garden beds in a North/South direction so that both sides of plants get light. This will encourage plants to grow evenly and fruit on both sides.
• Containers (costly, limited space, tend to dry out or be over watered)
• Raised Beds (requires construction and bedding media)
• In-Ground (heavy work load, must test soil and condition and improve)
• No Dig Garden (expensive, uses allot of ingredients, need to know what you’re doing)

The next decision is how you will construct you garden bed. There are endless options. The four main ones are:

For a permanent garden I suggest the Raised Bed as the best because it is less work to establish, you don’t have to worry about conditioning or improving your soil, you can use recycled materials to construct, it enables good drainage, a little more protection from crawling pests and better access being off the ground.

Raised Beds

When constructing a bed try and use recycled materials, especially those that you have on hand. Be creative.

I did the following :

• Old pieces of timber for the sides.
• Metal piping cut down made perfect supports to hold the timber in place.
• Don’t make the beds more than double your arms length (if you’ll have access from both sides of the bed – one arms length if not). This is for later when you are planting, picking, spraying or weeding, so that you do not have to step into the bed, thereby compacting your soil.
• Once the frame is constructed fill it with media.
• You can use soil (not recommended as already mentioned), clean fill, garden mix (from local supplier). I have used old potting mix. Only fill the bed ¾ full.
• This allows room for you to add compost, manures (chicken, sheep, cow, mushroom compost) and fertilisers (small amount of slow release, blood and bone etc).
• Dig these in well, your media level should be just higher than the edges of your bed (mounded – higher in middle). This is because over the next few weeks the level will settle and shrink.
• Do not plant anything for 2 weeks as the manures will be too strong and burn young roots.
• Now the bed is full water in the fertilisers and manures this will activate them and encourage microorganism activity.
• Next apply a layer of mulch (lucerne hay, sugar cane mulch etc) about two inches thick and water it in too. This will stop it blowing away.
• Don’t forget to periodically water your empty garden bed to stop it drying out and keep those organisms happy. Trying to re-wet dry media can be hard and if you have this problem you may need to use a Wetting Agent to remoisten it.

When choosing seedlings think about the following:

If you want a cheaper way to start your vegetables I recommend you sow some seeds. You should do this close to or just before completing your bed, because it will take about 4 weeks for the seedlings to germinate and grow enough to plant.

• Is it worth growing? It may be cheaper or less work to buy (i.e. potatoes) it might take too much space to grow (i.e. vines like pumpkin) etc
• Chose varieties that grow in your area (i.e. mangoes/bananas in Melbourne)
• Think about not planting in rows, this may help reduce pests ability to recognise plant varieties
• Buy companion plants. I use basil in-between my tomatoes, helps reduce pests
• Try different species. This year I planted purple cabbage and the cabbage moths haven’t touched it as compared to the sugar loaf which they loved last year.
• Think about the plants needs feeding, staking, pruning, watering etc and how that compliments or aggravates the other plants in your bed
• Crop rotation. Don’t plant the same things in the same spot, especially root vegetables. This encourages soil pests. Another aspect is that different plants take or add different nutrients to the soil (i.e. leaf plants use more nitrogen)
• Think about the heights and the way you will place seedlings in the beds. This will affect the light that other plants get (access to sun and the shadows cast by tall plants). It will also affect your access when picking time comes.
• Mass planting. Things like corn will need to be planted together so that the pollen from the top of the plants will fall onto the silks of the cobs below.
• Season. Plant only seedlings that are suited to the current season. Plan ahead. You should be sowing seeds about six weeks ahead of the next season, it’s usually too late to be sowing seeds once the season has started, you’ll miss the growing time and only get short plants, reduced fruiting and second rate fruit. If you miss this don’t panic buy germinated seedlings to catch up.

Remember if you have happy plants you are doing yourself a big favour. You will have strong, healthy plants that will fruit well, be tastier, more nutritious and actually reduce your need to maintain the garden because they will discourage pests, diseases and weeds, when planted well.

I hope you have enjoyed this article, please feel free to leave any feedback, comments and questions.

Thanks,

Tracy Hodgert

Whether it is money spent on junk food, alcohol, smoking, medicals bills, days lost in your business, impacts on your relationship due to bad health, etc, etc. Look the benefits are exponential, and you really don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work it out.

I couldn’t resist, so I thought I would do a bit of bean counting(the old accountant in me).

So what does it cost to be a part of NEWSTART?

Nothing you wouldn’t spend normally, let me illustrate

NEWSTART

1. Nutrition - well in this section probably you will save money, or break even, if you are smart about it. Stop buying junk food, and costly processed foods. Instead go back to cooking and making healthy foods, now that you have more time, this should be somewhat easier to achieve. I plan to have a section in here full of recipe ideas for you by categories like Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks, and Drinks.

2. Exercise - Walking costs nothing really, and using your own body weight for strength. If you wish to go further and get yourself a chin up bar, or a kettle bell, they cost a heck of a lot less than some costly gym machine that really doesn’t do much for you.

3. Water - This is usually free, but not always freely available in every part of the world. I will try and source a cheap, but good water filter, but there are many in the market that aren’t terribly costly, and for the benefit, I wouldn’t compromise on your health. For argument sake maybe you might be out of pocket $300 AUD the most on a one off basis, and then $100 AUD per year for filters. What’s a can of coke cost $2, most people have one a day at least, that’s around $730 a year. Other than the fact that it’s good for cleaning your toilet, and its taste is addictive, it is horrible stuff. I might write an article about it, but really this blog isn’t about ripping off products.

4. Sunshine - Free, I don’t really need to say much about this, other than you need to get yourself out there, and catch some rays, maybe 10-15mins of your time. Which I guess is a cost, but the benefits sure do outweigh the cost.

5. Temperance -  Smoking a packet costs around $15-18 a day right. So a pack a day smoker spends $105, using the lower number. Yearly that’s around $5,460, pretty nice vacation huh. A 40 year old, who quit smoking, and put that money in a compound interest (8%) account, by the age of 70 would have $644,163.18. That’s staggering isn’t it? Just interchange any bad habit you have really and do the math.

6. Air - Go out a bit, the stuff is free, walk on beach, climb a mountain, now that you have more time, plan for things, and get out there, its free and awesome

7. Rest - The benefit of rest on your productivity and attitude is probably the biggest cost saving to you on a personal level, and probably has a great improvement on your pocket as well. Its free guys, no excuses.

8. Time with God/Time out – Costs your nothing, gain everything, enough said really.

Total Cost to be a part of NEWSTART

Conclusion

Your total cost is possibly around $500 startup, and then $100 extra per year, in contrast to spending $1000′s per year on a continuous basis and damaging your health irreparably. US consensus reports the following medical bills as you get older – 50 to 55% of older adults in households with incomes under $40,000 spent 5% or more of their income on out-of-pocket healthcare costs and premiums, and more than one-third spent 10% or more.

This might come to you as a bit of a shock and it is very obvious without me even having to sell you this idea, but you will actually make money by improving your health. So it truly pays to be healthy.