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Training the Brain’s Motivation Center

It will change your life! Read it carefully! Now you can achieve anything you want! Limitlessly! How? Just simply training regularly the brain centre responsible for motivation!

Work hard! Play hard! Dream even harder!!!!

Courtesy of https://rennickeassociates.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/training-the-brains-motivation-center/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Matthew A. Scult

Matthew Scult is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. More about his research and writing can be found at http://www.matthewscult.com or follow him on Twitter @NeuroMatt1

My heart pounds as I sprint to the finish line. Thousands of spectators cheer as a sense of elation washes over me. I savor the feeling. But then, the image slowly fades away and my true surroundings come into focus. I am lying in a dark room with my head held firmly in place, inside an MRI scanner. While this might typically be unpleasant, I am a willing research study participant and am eagerly anticipating what comes next. I hold my breath as I stare at the bar on the computer screen representing my brain activity. Then the bar jumps. My fantasy of winning a race had caused the “motivation center” of my brain to surge with activity.

I am participating in a study about neurofeedback, a diverse and fascinating area of research that combines neuroscience and technology to monitor and modulate brain activity in real time. My colleagues, Katie Dickerson and Jeff MacInnes, in the Adcock Lab at Duke University, are studying whether people can train themselves to increase brain activity in a tiny region of the brain called the VTA. Notably, the VTA is thought to be involved in motivation—the desire to get something that you want. For example, if I told you that by buying a lottery ticket you would be guaranteed to win $1,000,000, you would probably be very motivated to buy the ticket and would have a spike in brain activity in this region of your brain. But while studies have shown that motivation for external rewards (like money) activate the VTA, until now, we didn’t know whether people could internally generate a motivational state that would activate this brain region.

(But we definitely will not hurt ourselves trying. I, for instance, always practice 5-10 min of watching (do not read as it is my main activity during a day and it is useful to switch for something else) visual stimuli related to my dream achievements every 2-4 hours while work. It always gives me energy to carry on. Always! It just works. End of story! That’s why I can easily work 12-15 hours a day being inspired and motivated – (OMP editor’s comment)

To see if people can self-activate the VTA, my colleagues are using neurofeedback, which falls under the broader umbrella of biofeedback. Biofeedback uses technology to give people information about the functioning of their bodies so that they can try to change their physiology. Studies on using the technique to control heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, and skin temperature have been around since the 1960s, and these types of biofeedback are often used to help people reduce anxiety, chronic pain, or psychological disorders, with varying degrees of efficacy.

The latest iteration of biofeedback is neurofeedback, which provides a person with information on their brain activity milliseconds to seconds after it happens. Neurofeedback can use either an EEG machine, which records the electrical activity of the brain and is very fast, but not very specific, or it can use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which records changes in blood flow in the brain and can better target specific brain regions, but is slower. The fMRI version of the technology has been around since as early as 1995 and its potential is slowly being realized. Studies on rtfMRI (the rt stands for “real-time”), have found that giving people feedback on their brain activity might be able to help them to control that activity. These studies both help us to better understand the functioning of the brain and can be used for clinical purposes. Perhaps the most common use to date has been for chronic pain, where people learn to decrease activation in regions of the brain that process pain perception. [For more information about neurofeedback see “How Real-Time Brain Scanning Could Alleviate Pain,” by Heather Chapin and Sean Mackey; Scientific American Mind, March 1, 2013.]

The study I’m participating in is about using the technology to better understand the functioning of the VTA and its relationship with internally generated motivation, with potential for clinical applications down the road. In animal models, artificially affecting functioning of the VTA can affect how much an animal eats or drinks, and can even affect its emotional responses. If people could learn to activate their VTAs deliberately, it could have important applications to anything from helping someone stick to a diet to helping with psychological disorders.

Back in the fMRI, I lie on the uncomfortable scanner bed, looking up at the giant machine that reminds me of something I might encounter on a spaceship. Katie Dickerson’s voice comes over the intercom and gives me suggestions of ways to try and activate my VTA. She says I could try to think of phrases, like “you can do it!” or “increase that signal!” and says that it might help to think of the task as a fun game. So I think “I can do this!” but to my dismay the bar remains pretty flat. I think about winning $1,000,000, but don’t get much of a jump for that either. Then I picture myself running with a cheering crowd and music playing, and the bar goes through the roof.

For the study, participants were placed in one of four groups. All four groups started out by getting in the scanner and trying to activate their brains using motivation strategies, but first without receiving any feedback. After doing this for several minutes, people in the first group (like me) would try again, but this time would see a thermometer on the computer screen in front of them. When activity in the VTA went up, the bar on the thermometer would rise. When activity in the VTA went down, the thermometer would drop. The other groups either got feedback from a different brain region, got fake feedback, or were shown a visual distraction. These groups were used as comparisons to ensure that it really was the signal from the VTA that was being registered in the neurofeedback group. Afterward, all four groups tried one more time without the feedback (real or fake). At the end of the study, all participants were debriefed about their group assignment and the purpose of the study.

The results were published recently in the journal Neuron. It turns out that the strategies people tried initially did not activate their VTAs very much—the same experience I had. In other words, what people thought of as motivating did not match up with activity in what we consider to be the “motivation center” of the brain. How could that be? One possible explanation is that it can be difficult to get a sense of just how motivated we are to do something. Consider times when you might have thought you were highly motivated (“I know I am going to stick to my diet/exercise regimen this year”), and didn’t follow through. Another interpretation is that while we might have some sense of how motivated we are in a given moment, our subjective perceptions might not translate to VTA activation. There might not even be a clear feeling associated with the activation at all, explains MacInnes. That’s where the feedback came in.

The study found that, like me, people were better able to activate their VTAs, on average, once they got neurofeedback compared to people who got false feedback or no feedback. And the learning stuck—once people knew the strategies that worked for them, they were effective even once the feedback was taken away. Overall, different strategies worked for different people and some people in the control groups were still able to activate their VTAs even without the neurofeedback. The take-home message is that there is still a lot to learn.

Perhaps the biggest unanswered question is what could result from an ability to better activate one’s VTA. One possibility is that internally generated VTA activation could allow people to have the extra oomph to better meet their goals. So maybe when I need to do errands, but am really not in the mood, I can think about winning a race and it will give me the drive to go to the grocery store. For others, enhanced VTA activation might be able to help with studying. After all, studies have found VTA activation associated with better memory performance. And given other studies showing VTA signaling being related to eating and mood, it’s possible that it could help people with eating disorders or depression. Time will tell whether this method will be useful clinically, but for now I can say for certain that it can be a lot of fun getting to know your brain—and for me at least, it seems that having fun is one of the keys to activating my VTA.

What is the connection between Music and the Brain?

Music is a powerful tool for the brain. Classical music has been studied for many years for its influence in the brain. Scientists have come to a conclusion that music is a valuable therapy for many diseases.

Norman Doidge has talked about Mozart music therapy in his book. He says it is a very useful therapy for Autism. Other studies have proven that music therapy is helpful in stress reduction and improvement of literacy skills in children.

Music has a harmony and frequency. These two attributes are important for the brain. The brain likes to hear certain frequencies at certain moments. When we are happy we can hear loud music and enjoy it. When we are angry we only accept to hear certain frequencies. Experiments show that in angry moments we like to hear classical music as it calms the brain down. It is very interesting to see the brain scans before and after listening to music, and the way they change. In a brain scan the red areas are the ones with a higher blood circulation, that show more stress. When a person listens to music these areas are reduced.

In his book Norman Doidge says that Mozart music can improve the symptoms of Autistic children. He mentions a physician who uses Mozart music as a therapy for healing Autistic children. He changes the frequency of the music a bit to make it more approachable to his goal. The therapy lasts and in certain days children listen to a certain frequency.

The frequency that the brain likes to hear the most is 90Hz to 110Hz. Norman Doidge thinks this therapy can be used for many brain illnesses as anxiety or depression.

The music therapy helps to make the myelin cover in n axon thicker, which helps to improve the firing of neurons faster, and releasing all toxins. After the therapy the scans of the brain showed that there was small amount of stress and anxiety and the person’s brain was healthier.

In conclusion music is a therapy for the brain. It helps the brain be more efficient. It helps the literacy and auditory skills in children if they are exposed to music in early years of their life.

https://myscience94.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/what-is-the-connection-between-music-and-the-brain/

How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running

It is something of a cliché among runners, how the activity never fails to clear your head. Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering decisions? Go for a run. Are you feeling mildly mad, sad, or even just vaguely meh? Go for a run, go for a run, go for a run.

The author Joyce Carol Oates once wrote in a column for the New York Times that

in running the mind flees with the body … in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat told Runner’s World last fall that running is sometimes the only thing that gives him clarity of mind.

“Every major decision I’ve made in the last eight years has been prefaced by a run,”

he told the magazine. But I maybe like the way a runner named Monte Davis phrased it best, as quoted in the 1976 book The Joy of Running:

“It’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clear-headedness that follow a long run.”

A good run can sometimes make you feel like a brand-new person. And, in a way, that feeling may be literally true. About three decades of research in neuroscience have identified a robust link between aerobic exercise and subsequent cognitive clarity, and to many in this field the most exciting recent finding in this area is that of neurogenesis. Not so many years ago, the brightest minds in neuroscience thought that our brains got a set amount of neurons, and that by adulthood, no new neurons would be birthed. But this turned out not to be true. Studies in animal models have shown that new neurons are produced in the brain throughout the lifespan, and, so far, only one activity is known to trigger the birth of those new neurons: vigorous aerobic exercise, said Karen Postal, president of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the only trigger that we know about.”

The other fascinating thing here is where these new cells pop up: in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory. So this could help explain, at least partially, why so many studies have identified a link between aerobic exercise and improvement in memory.

If you are exercising so that you sweat — about 30 to 40 minutes — new brain cells are being born,

added Postal, who herself is a runner. “And it just happens to be in that memory area.”
Other post-run changes have been recorded in the brain’s frontal lobe, with increased activity seen in this region after people adopt a long-term habit of physical activity. This area of the brain — sometimes called the frontal executive network system — is located, obviously enough, at the very front: It’s right behind your forehead. After about 30 to 40 minutes of a vigorous aerobic workout – enough to make you sweat – studies have recorded increased blood flow to this region, which, incidentally, is associated with many of the attributes we associate with “clear thinking”: planning ahead, focus and concentration, goal-setting, time management.

But it’s this area that’s also been linked to emotion regulation, which may help explain the results of one recent study conducted by Harvard psychology professor Emily E. Bernstein. Like Postal, Bernstein is also a runner, and was curious about a pattern she saw in her own mind after a run.

I notice in myself that I just feel better when I’m active.

She started to become really interested in the intervention studies that have popped up in recent years that suggest if you can get people who are having trouble with mood or anxiety to exercise, it helps. “But why?” she wanted to know. “What is exercise actually doing?”

To find out, she did a version of a classic experiment among researchers who study emotion: She and her colleague — Richard J. McNally, also of Harvard — played a reliable tearjerker of a clip: the final scene of the 1979 film The Champ.

Before watching the film clip, some of the 80 participants were made to jog for 30 minutes; others just stretched for the same amount of time. Afterward, all of them filled out surveys to indicate how bummed out the film had made them. Bernstein kept them busy for about 15 minutes after that, and surveyed them again about how they were feeling. Those who’d done the 30-minute run were more likely to have recovered from the emotional gut-punch than those who’d just stretched — and, her results showed, the people who’d initially felt worse seemed to especially benefit from the run. Bernstein is currently doing a few follow-up research projects to determine exactly why this works the way it does.

But there’s another big mental benefit to gain from running, one that scientists haven’t quiet yet managed to pin down to poke at and study: the wonderful way your mind drifts here and there as the miles go by. Mindfulness, or being here now, is a wonderful thing, and there is a seemingly ever-growing stack of scientific evidence showing the good it can bring to your life. And yet mindlessness — daydreaming, or getting lost in your own weird thoughts — is important, too. Consider, for example, this argument, taken from a 2013 article by a trio of psychologists in the journal Frontiers in Psychology:

“We mind wander, by choice or by accident, because it produces tangible reward when measured against goals and aspirations that are personally meaningful. Having to reread a line of text three times because our attention has drifted away matters very little if that attention shift has allowed us to access a key insight, a precious memory or make sense of a troubling event. Pausing to reflect in the middle of telling a story is inconsequential if that pause allows us to retrieve a distant memory that makes the story more evocative and compelling. Losing a couple of minutes because we drove past our off ramp is a minor inconvenience if the attention lapse allowed us to finally understand why the boss was so upset by something we said in last week’s meeting. Arriving home from the store without the eggs that necessitated the trip is a mere annoyance when weighed against coming to a decision to ask for a raise, leave a job, or go back to school.

Just because the benefits of losing yourself in your own thoughts are not easily measured doesn’t mean they’re not of value, and there are few ways I know of that induce this state of mind more reliably than a long run. A handful of recent studies have tried to answer what every runner, whether pro or hobbyist, has no doubt been asked by friends and family: What on earth do you think about while you’re out there for so many miles? This, as the writer Haruki Murakami noted in his What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is almost beside the point. Sometimes he thinks while on the run; sometimes, he doesn’t. It doesn’t really matter.

I just run. I run in void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.

April 21, 2016 12:51 p.m.

By Melissa Dahl

https://madridjournal.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running/

How to postpone aging

I recently attended an all day event at the USC Campus, specifically at the USC Davis School of Gerontology to learn about the latest science on healthy aging from several of the world’s top aging experts. I feel inspired to share with you all what I learned. Many of you may have come across the information that I am about to share, but in case you have not, it’s never too late to learn something new!

1) One of the “hottest” question presented was “Does caloric restriction extend lifespan?” Answer: only sometimes. But if you compare a low fat diet versus a Mediterranean diet (which includes nuts and olive oil), the Mediterranean diet wins! It was shown to prevent cognitive decline and heart problems.

2) Sitting is the new smoking! Incredible to believe but the more hours you spend sitting on a daily basis decreases your health span. It is important to use your break time to get away from your workspace. And if you don’t get any breaks? Get up and take a walk to the bathroom every hour or two. Sitting can cause a multitude of heart problems, whereas smoking can cause lung problems/lung cancer. I guess you pick and choose your poison, or avoid them altogether.

3) Ovaries removed after normal menopause lessens a woman’s risk for dementia. Ovaries removed before normal menopause increases a woman’s risk for dementia.

4) A low protein, high carbohydrate diet is recommended for everyone below 65 years of age. Once you reach 65 and older, moderate (not low!) protein intake is recommended.

5) If you want to live longer and spend your later years without getting a disease or being disabled in any way, adhering to a plant based diet that includes high levels of legumes, vegetables and healthy fats (olive oil, other monounsaturated fats, nuts) is recommended. Waist goals for men to have should be less than 40 inches, and less than 35 inches for women.

6) Take care of your teeth! Get regular dental checkups! Edentulousness (having no teeth) is directly related to nutritional issues and health problems.

7) Watch the BBC video: The Men Who Made Us Fat.
8) Recommended weight loss programs are: weight watchers and TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly).

9) Create your own individualized diet/meal plan that takes into consideration your age, gender, weight, and activity levels.

http://foodhabitat.com/2016/04/24/healthy-aging/

What believing in God does to your brain

Humans suppress areas of the brain used for analytical thinking and engage the parts responsible for empathy in order to believe in god, research suggests.

They do the opposite when thinking about the physical world, according to the study.

“When there’s a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd,” said Professor Tony Jack, who led the research.

“But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight.

The countries in the world with the most “convinced atheists.” Countries in grey were not surveyed.

In an analysis of eight experiments, published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers also found people with faith were more empathetic than those without.
The researchers examined the relationship between the belief in god and measures of analytic thinking and moral concern in eight experiments, each using between 159 and 527 adult participants.
Although both spiritual belief and empathic concern were positively associated with frequency of prayer or meditation, neither were predicted by social contact – such as church dinners – associated with religious affilation.
In earlier research, Professor Jack’s Brain, Mind & Consciousness laboratory used an fMRI machine to show the brain has an analytical network of neurons that enables humans think critically and a social network to empathise.

“Because of the tension between networks, pushing aside a naturalistic world view enables you to delve deeper into the social/emotional side,”

Professor Jack explained.

“And that may be the key to why beliefs in the supernatural exist throughout the history of cultures. It appeals to an essentially nonmaterial way of understanding the world and our place in it.”

The researchers said the human brain explores the world using both networks. When presented with a physics problem or ethical dilemma, a healthy brain activates the appropriate network while suppressing the other.

Such suppression may lead to the conflict between science and religion, the researchers added.
“Because the networks suppress each other, they may create two extremes,” said Richard Boyatzis, professor of organisational behavior at Case Western Reserve University.

“Recognising that this is how the brain operates, maybe we can create more reason and balance in the national conversations involving science and religion.”

Source: Independent

https://scitechafrica.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/what-believing-in-god-does-to-your-brain/

Why you can not Get a Good Sleep in Someone Else’s Bed

Half of your brain may be staying awake to keep watch when you sleep in someone else’s bed…

Whether you’re staying in a hotel or having a sleepover, you never sleep quite as well on a bed that’s not your own.
That’s an observable fact. When scientists have people sleep in a lab for an experiment, they often toss out the first night of data because people sleep so poorly. But before now, they haven’t known why.
In a small new study published in Current Biology, researchers from Brown University found out what goes on in the brain when a person sleeps in an unfamiliar place. They measured brain activity during the deep sleep of 35 young, healthy people.

The researchers found evidence that something unique indeed goes on in the brain during the first night: one hemisphere of the brain, the left, shows wakefulness while the other shows sleep.

This alertness during sleep in half of the brain has been observed in other animals—including whales, dolphins and birds—and is thought to act as a kind of night watch.

“The environment is so new to us, we might need a surveillance system so we can monitor the surroundings and we can detect anything unusual,”

says Masako Tamaki, one of the authors of the study and research associate at the Laboratory for Cognitive and Perceptual Learning at Brown University.

We’re most vulnerable when we’re asleep, in other words, and by staying partially awake, our brains might be trying to protect us.

Our brain remain active when we sleep. researchers also found that when they outfitted the people in the study with earphones, the left side showed a larger brain response to high-pitched sounds than the right—suggesting more vigilance in that hemisphere.

The study raises a lot of unanswered questions; researchers don’t yet know why they saw this effect in the left hemisphere and not the right. But interestingly, both of these asymmetries only occurred on the first night—something to keep in mind the next time you can’t fall asleep in a strange place.

Source: Time

https://scitechafrica.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/reason-you-cannot-get-a-good-sleep-in-someone-elses-bed/

How to keep fit over 30

After we reach 30 we generally get more clarity about ourselves, other people and the world around us. We start leading a fuller life, and have deeper, more stable and enduring feelings… For many people, life assumes a different hue, and experiences are more colourful, and in a sense, more vivid – even more ‘real’. This concentration of the sense of being alive can be equated with a deliciously thick hot-chocolate or, if you prefer, sipping a wine of the finest vintage. Everything enters a new, more advanced stage. Everything, that is, aside from our physical selves.

It has been proven that thirty is the age at which all bodily processes begin to change. Before that time we can easily gain muscle, and be extremely lean without too much effort. After thirty, we gradually become aware of having to buy larger clothes sizes, and our first wrinkles and grey hairs begin to appear. Unfortunately our beach holidays can also become far less fun as a result. As we approach middle age we increasingly become what we ‘eat, do, and read’.

Sarcopenia (skeletal muscle degradation with age) is an inevitable process. Our body become limited in its protein synthesis and utilization abilities as soon as we cross the thirty-year threshold. According to Runners World research, once people reach thirty they lose, on average, about 15% of muscle mass every 10 years. Our metabolism naturally slows as well. Another important point is that the human body never really loses anything without some sort of compensation. Lost muscle tissue is replaced by fat. It is exactly for this reason that we become chubbier with age.

Fat gain and metabolic slowdown are the natural consequences of age, which brings us to a point where we have to run ‘twice as fast as we can’. Don’t panic though. Awareness is the first step toward success. “A healthy and active 60 year old can have the muscle mass of a 30-year old, while a sedentary middle-aged person who eats a primarily processed food diet and struggles with insulin resistance or diabetes may have the muscle quality of a 70-year old”, sais Dr. Mercola, a physician and blog contributor to Fitness Peak.

Here are a few tips on how to avoid age-related muscle degradation, and keep yourself energised, fit and healthy after the age of thirty, and for the rest of your natural life.

Hormones determine harmony

“Other factors, such as age-related changes in circulating levels of muscle anabolic hormones and growth factors, must also be considered as contributing mechanisms underlying the sarcopenic phenotype” – Alex Hatchinson, nutritionist and physician, and contributor to Runners World.

We primarily age as a result of hormonal and biochemical changes. Some endocrinologists believe that production of the human growth hormone (the hormone responsible for cell formation, regeneration, and general recovery) already starts to decline after the age of 25. Muscle loss and excessive fat formation could be the first symptoms of GH (somatotropin) deficiency. Somatotropin is a prescribed drug and available in any pharmacy. However, its use as a supplement requires extensive research, and should only be taken under medical guidance and supervision. But there is some good news. When taken together, widely available amino acids such as l-Arginine, l-Lysine, and l-Ornithine, act as GH’s precursors and theoretically increase natural somatotropin production. The right supplements in the correct dosages, taken with other requisite healthy nutrients, vitamins and minerals, could postpone aging and have a tremendously positive effect.

Estrogen and testosterone are two other important youth hormones. As long as the body can produce them in adequate quantities to support the reproductive process, youth and beauty will be maintained. When estrogen and testosterone production is suppressed by certain factors such as incorrect contraceptive methods, stress, overload, lack of sleep or irregular sex, malnutrition, and so on, the body’s aging processes accelerates. I am not going to cover this highly complex topic within this particular article as it worth looking at separately, and in more depth, another time. Perhaps only one tip can be given: be attentive to your wellbeing and private life. Sufficient rest, inner peace, regular physical activities, sex, and balanced nutrition are the key factors to maintain hormonal health and youth. Consult your physician and nutritionist if you have any pressing questions on the subject.

Build the body in advance of ageing

Anabolism (muscular development and maintenance) gets more complicated after thirty, reinforcing aging and resulting in metabolic slowdown and fat gain. However, a recent study by the National Center of Biotechnology Information showed that “(even) mobility-limited subjects between 70 and 85 managed to add an average of 1.3% to their lean mass after six months of high-intensity resistance training and protein supplementation”.

So, don’t miss the opportunity to start building your muscles as early as possible while your hormones are working at their peak and supporting high anabolic muscle response. Remember, the earlier you start the longer you last. Include 3-4 sessions of resistance training such as weights lifting, Pilates, TRX, pole dance, or body pump classes into your fitness routine. Don’t forget about taking supporting supplements to quicken your recovery, and to help create precious muscle tissue to overcompensate for inevitable aging muscle loss.

Magic youth bullets

First and foremost, I would like to say couple of words about whey protein (WP). I’m asked every day by my clients and friends if it is worth taking whey supplements. The answer is an unequivocal YES. I add 1 scoop of high-quality, vanilla-flavoured, whey protein into my morning oats and take two more after my evening workout, mixed with simple carbs such as fruit or maltodextrin and BCAA into my traditional post-workout shake. According to research conducted by the National Center of Biotechnology Information, “whey protein supplementation may augment resistance levels and boost exercise-induced increases in muscle strength and mass”. So don’t miss your shake. It will help you to recover more quickly and to retain your muscle mass.

Now, let me shed some light on whey manufacturing processes, as this question is very sensitive to a majority of health-conscious people. According to research conducted by the Imperial College MBA Group Consulting project for GST Nutrition, certified whey protein available on the US and the UK markets is made of the same best and cleanest MPC-80 (milk protein concentrate) and MPI-80 (milk protein isolate) as various high quality baby formulas (I personally took part in this research at the end of my MBA program). Also, the majority of premium WP’s are suitable for people with lactose intolerance and vegetarians.

Another beneficial substance massively helping to postpone aging muscle degradation is BCAA complex. Branch Chain Amino Acids is a combination of three naturally occurring essential amino acids Isoleucine, Leucine and Valine, that make up over 35% of overall amino acids concentration in muscle tissues. Research shown that under conditions of stress, injuries, intense exercise and after the age of thirty, the human body requires up to a four times higher consumption of BCAA to maintain positive nitrogen balance. For more detail, read: How much protein should be eaten.

The International Sport and Science Association recommends an intake of BCAA of up to 6 grams a day depending on a range of factors including the physical condition, age, body weight and composition, and gender, of the subject. The type and level of their physical activity is also important, as are their general lifestyle choices. It is also recommended that BCAA is taken 30 minutes before and directly after meals, and throughout the day together with meals, to maximize its value for the body.

One more important group of substances helping to postpone aging muscle sarcopenia and related derogative processes, are antioxidants. Vitamin E, Omega3, Selenium and Choline are just at the top of a long ‘must take’ list of antioxidants. Read about antioxidants in another upcoming article How to keep your fleeting youth (magic pills and herbal rhapsody) and consult your nutritionist to calculate best dosages for your needs.

Glucosamine Chondroitine is one more necessary ingredient in the process. Read How to keep the fleeting youth (magic pills and herbal rhapsody) for more details.

Smart cardio

Another suggestion in this topic of discussion is, surprisingly, don’t run! Stop crushing your joints and back bone, and torturing your veins. Moreover, long steady state cardio sessions exacerbate muscle degradation turning your body’s green light to sarcopenia even more. Everyday Health noted that “aside from the toll it (running) can take on your knees and joints, recent reports of things such as “runner’s face” and ‘dead butt syndrome’ could send some running devotees sprinting in the other direction”. Great alternatives to running could be light jogging, hiking, spinning, horse riding, skiing, water skiing or sprints (my personal second-favourite year-round activity, after the delights of seasonal skiing). If you are a gym lover, the rowing machine, curve, climbing ladder or lively aerobics/dance/body combat classes are all super solutions.

Do not forget to hydrate the body taking at least a glass of water 30 minutes before, during and after a session. Keep it sweaty, and have as much fun as you can.

Other factors

CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMMISSION MEDITERRANEAN DIET — Mediterranean diet

The statement “You are what you eat” is even more valid after you hit thirty. If before that your body was able to metabolize almost all the rubbish you consumed, after your thirtieth birthday the picture really changes. Now five minutes of food indulgence can stay permanently lodged in your tummy or thighs. So take care of your body, and do yourself a favour by hiring a competent nutrition advisor.

Flexibility is another area to focus on. Allocate 10-15 minutes for stretching after any fitness activity. It will increase the blood flow to your muscles and will help to reduce joint and ligament load.

Stress, overload and constant tissues hypoxia (lack of fresh air) are few other important factors that quicken the aging process. A good eight hours of sleep, regular holidays, meditation, 15 –minutes of active rest every 2-3 hours during the day, and decent fresh air exposure (at least 1 hour daily) will help tremendously in the tough fight to retain your youth. Read Dream and Walk the youth back.

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Sources used:

Gastely D., Hatfield F.C. Sport nutrition. 2013

Nature medicine. “Rejuvenation of the muscle stem cell population restores strength to injured aged muscles“

Northrup C. The female brain. 2006

http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness-pictures/weird-things-running-does-to-your-body.aspx

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2015/10/02/preventing-age-related-muscle-loss.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23114462

http://www.lifeextension.com/anti-aging

http://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/is-age-related-muscle-loss-reversible

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/sarcopenia-with-aging

Exploring the Myth of the Scientific vs. ArtisticMind

From Lifehacker Read the full article here-> http://ift.tt/1NE5ZB3

Exploring the myth of the Scientific vs. Artistic Mind
It’s a stereotype, but many of us have made the assumption that scientists are a bit rigid and less artistic than others. Artists, on the other hand, are often seen as being less rational than the rest of us. Sometimes described as the left side of the brain versus the right side–or simply logical thinking versus artistic creativity–the two are often seen as polar opposites.

Neuroscience has already shown that everyone uses both sides of the brain when performing any task. And while certain patterns of brain activity have sometimes been linked to artistic or logical thinking, it doesn’t really explain who is good at what–and why. That’s because the exact interplay of nature and nurture is notoriously difficult to tease out. But if we put the brain aside for a while and just focus on documented ability, is there any evidence to support the logic versus art stereotype?
Psychological research has approached this question by distinguishing between two styles of thinking: convergent and divergent. The emphasis in convergent thinking is on analytical and deductive reasoning, such as that measured in IQ tests. Divergent thinking, however, is more spontaneous and free-flowing. It focuses on novelty and is measured by tasks requiring us to generate multiple solutions for a problem. An example may be thinking of new, innovative uses for familiar objects.

Studies conducted during the 1960s suggested that convergent thinkers were more likely to be good at science subjects at school. Divergent thinking was shown to be more common in the arts and humanities.
However, we are increasingly learning that convergent and divergent thinking styles need not be mutually exclusive. In 2011, researchers assessed 116 final-year UK arts and science undergraduates on measures of convergent and divergent thinking and creative problem solving. The study found no difference in ability between the arts and science groups on any of these measures. Another study reported no significant difference in measures of divergent thinking between arts, natural science and social science undergraduates. Both arts and natural sciences students, however, rated themselves as being more creative than social sciences students did.

Going With the Flow

Studies have actually revealed considerable overlap in the cognitive processes supporting both scientific and artistic creativity. The psychological concept of “flow”, pioneered by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the 1990s, describes a state of consciousness where one is completely absorbed and energized while performing an activity. Flow experience has been strongly linked to peak performance in many artistic and creative domains.

There is also substantial overlap in the use of visualization and mental imagery during scientific and artistic thinking. Great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday and Nikola Tesla all reported that they used mental imagery when describing their thought processes. Studies have also found that mental imagery plays a central role during the construction and evaluation of many scientific “thought experiments”, in which a scientist mentally assesses the implications of a particular hypothesis.

Perhaps more obviously, such mental imagery also features strongly in musical composition, painting and architectural design.
The Power of Stereotyping

Convergent and divergent thinking abilities aren’t necessarily innate. A recent study on creative stereotypes asked individuals to complete a divergent thinking task while adopting the perspective of either an “eccentric poet” or a “rigid librarian”.

Those who imagined being an “eccentric poet” performed significantly better on the creative task than those who imagined being a “rigid librarian”, suggesting that the activation of stereotypical views on creative thinking can enhance or inhibit individuals’ performance.

Despite such preconceptions of the ways in which logical and unstructured thinking styles are related to creativity, it is not difficult to find examples of individuals who do not fit the stereotype. Albert Einstein was a keen musician who enjoyed playing the piano and violin while Nobel Prize-winner Richard Feynman worked as an artist using the pseudonym “Ofey”. Musicians Brian May, Brian Cox and Greg Graffin all completed science PhDs.

Case studies of scientists engaging in art and vice versa are often presented as being unusual. However, psychologists recently conducted a comprehensive review of the extent to which Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, members of the Royal Society and US National Academy of Sciences, and members of the US public reported engaging in arts and crafts-based pursuits. They found that members of the Royal Society and National Academy of Sciences were almost twice as likely to report engaging in arts and crafts pursuits as the general public. Eminent Nobel laureate scientists were almost three times more likely to report such activities.

These findings clearly show that the stereotypical view that scientists and other logical thinkers are less likely to be artistic or creative fall wide of the mark. As Einstein himself noted: “The greatest scientists are artists as well.”

Exploding the Myth of Scientific vs. Artistic Minds | The Conversation
David Pearson is Reader of Cognitive Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, having previously worked at the University of Aberdeen and the University of the Saarland in Germany. He is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a member of the Experimental Psychology Society. Image by Doggygraph (Shutterstock).
https://michellehunterart.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/brain-article-of-interest-exploring-the-myth-of-the-scientific-vs-artisticmind/

The Pyramid Of Muscle-Building

Courtesy of http://www.bodybuilding.com

Stack the most critical training and nutrition factors in your favor to optimize muscle growth. Learn to build a solid, sustainable approach to fitness—along with a stellar physique!

You’ve seen the food pyramid—now meet the muscle-building pyramid! This simple structure lays out the essentials of what you need to do to add lean mass to your frame, while also providing the structure you need to prioritize them.

Each level of the pyramid builds off the next. What does this mean? Leap to the upper tiers without establishing the bottom two, and you’ll end up sore, burned out, and confused. If you stick to the base, you can go a long way, but you’ll be left wondering about your true potential.

With help from EAS athlete Jason Wittrock, you can start at the base of the pyramid, and build your way—and yourself—up!

LEVEL 1 TRAINING

Muscle growth starts with quality training, so the base of the pyramid focuses on training variables linked to muscle-growth processes. These are the factors that allow you to construct an effective program and create the stimulus your body needs in order to change!

Favor free-weight, multijoint movements. Single-joint movements like leg extensions or cable cross-overs have their place, but they shouldn’t be the centerpiece of your mass-building routine. Multijoint movements (think bench and squat) recruit far more muscle mass and give your body a greater stimulus to grow. Moreover, the challenge of handling a free-weight version of an exercise improves anabolism over a machine.

Train at the right intensity. Exercise scientists have determined most people should train between 70-85 percent of their one-rep max to elicit an optimal hypertrophic response. Choose a weight that allows you to do 6-12 reps with good form before reaching failure.

Add volume. Higher-volume, multiple-set protocols have consistently been shown to be superior over single sets when it comes to building muscle. This is one reason why advanced lifters often follow a body-part split.

HIGHER-VOLUME, MULTIPLE-SET PROTOCOLS HAVE CONSISTENTLY BEEN SHOWN TO BE SUPERIOR OVER SINGLE SETS WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING MUSCLE. THIS IS ONE REASON WHY ADVANCED LIFTERS OFTEN FOLLOW A BODY-PART SPLIT.

Don’t build up volume simply by doing the same thing with different implements. Change angles, rep ranges, and types of weights.

Train to failure some of the time. Yes, you can grow without lifting to the point of failure, and certain movements don’t lend themselves well to it. But all things being equal, if you stop short of failure—especially on isolation moves for small body parts like arms and calves—you won’t get the same anabolic stimulus as if you pursue those last few challenging reps.

Contain rest periods. For bodybuilding purposes, moderate rest intervals of about 60-120 seconds between sets maximize the hypertrophic response. Resting too long has been shown to be counterproductive to muscle gains because it reduces overall accumulated metabolic stress, a marker of hypertrophy. The smaller the muscle and lighter the movement, the less you need to rest.

Lift with proper technique. Don’t take this for granted! It supports everything else on this level. An exercise won’t work the way you want it to if you’re not doing it right. Get feedback on your form if necessary.

LEVEL 2 NUTRITION

If you get the training variables down, you’re giving your body a great growth stimulus. But without proper nutrition, good luck turning it into muscle!

Eat enough. If your goal is to add mass, you need to eat more calories each day than you’re burning. It doesn’t have to be a lot more. You can shoot for 0.5-1.5 pounds of gain in mass each week—or about 2-6 pounds a month—without adding significant amounts of body fat. That comes to an increase of about 300-500 calories daily over and above your maintenance level of calories. Check the scale regularly to determine whether your body weight is increasing within your target range.

Eat enough protein. You’ll hear a million different versions of how much fat or carbs you need. So let’s focus on what can’t be disputed: You need adequate protein to grow! Protein is essential to building and repairing damaged muscle tissue during hard training. Recommendations vary, but a time-honored amount that also happens to be the easiest to remember is 1 gram per pound of body weight daily, split into meals of at least 20-30 grams.

EAT ENOUGH. IF YOUR GOAL IS TO ADD MASS, YOU NEED TO EAT MORE CALORIES EACH DAY THAN YOU’RE BURNING.

So, how are you going to get it? “The easiest way to increase your protein intake is to make it your highest nutritional priority—which means you must always be prepared,” says Jason Wittrock. “I prepare all of my protein sources in advance and always make sure I keep my whey protein with me. When I’m sitting down eating a meal, I’m already thinking about being prepared for the next one.”

Increase your meal frequency. Consuming a higher level of calories than you burn and getting, say, 180 grams of protein a day, is pretty tough on just three meals a day. Supplementing meals with protein shakes and protein-rich snacks every 3-4 hours will help to keep rates of protein synthesis elevated while reducing protein breakdown.

Manage your excesses. You don’t have to subscribe to the “cheat meal” approach to gain muscle. But let’s face it: It’s difficult to eat clean 24/7 and gain weight, simply because the foods you’ll be favoring are relatively low in calories, and you won’t always want to eat large amounts of them. It’s OK to loosen the reins at times! Just do it on a hard training day, and make you’re still hitting your protein benchmarks.

LEVEL 3 ADVANCED GROWTH TECHNIQUES

You’re training right and eating right. Great! You’re on your way. Let’s consider a few more factors that could make the difference between OK results and great ones.

Incorporate progressive overload. Progressive overload simply means continually challenging your body to new levels of performance as it adapts to previous marks you set before it. You can do it many ways: lifting more weight, doing more reps, resting less, performing different movements—the sky is the limit, really. The key is to never fall into a comfort zone and never stop pushing yourself.

“Chasing your full potential is a never-ending process,” says Wittrock. “The minute you get comfortable, you stop growing. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and always stay hungry for new information. The second I feel like I’m in a comfort zone, I re-evaluate my goals. If you don’t have a big enough goal, you’ll find yourself in a comfort zone very quickly.”

Use intensity techniques. These are all ways of training past the point of failure. We don’t recommend doing them all at once or on every set, but once you’ve put in your time becoming fundamentally sound and strong in a movement, they can definitely help you take it to the next level.

Forced reps: As you reach muscle failure, your partner steps in and provides with just enough assistance to keep the weight moving for another 2-3 reps.
Dropsets: Once you reach muscle failure, quickly reduce the poundage by about 25 percent, and immediately continue on with the set to a second point of muscle failure.
Negatives: Instead of lifting a weight, lower it slowly for 3-5 seconds. Your partner then lifts the weight back to the start position. This works because you’re stronger lowering a weight than lifting it.

USE SUPPLEMENTS THAT BOOST TRAINING QUALITY. CERTAIN SUPPLEMENTS HAVE WELL-DOCUMENTED MASS-BUILDING BENEFITS, OFTEN BECAUSE THEY HELP YOU TRAIN HARDER AND DELAY FATIGUE.

Use supplements that boost training quality. Certain supplements have well-documented mass-building benefits, often because they help you train harder and delay fatigue. Here are four rock-solid choices:

Creatine has been shown to boost strength and muscle mass when used in combination with strength training.
Caffeine can delay fatigue during all types of training.
Branched-chain amino acids have been shown to help speed up recovery after a tough workout.
Whey protein should be a staple of your supplement stack as well, as it’s been shown to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and lead to greater increases in muscle mass and strength.

Time your nutrient intake. When building muscle is the goal, the meals before and after your workout are the most important. Make sure both have adequate protein, but also carbs, which are going to help you power through an intense workout and jump-start the recovery process. Fats are less important at this meal, so focus on them at other times of day.

LEVEL 4 RECOVERY

Don’t let recovery’s location all the way up at the top convince you it’s not important! It’s crucial to keep you coming back to the gym, feeling good, and preventing your training from hitting the wall. Skimp here, and you’ll feel it!

Don’t shortchange your sleep. Sleep is far more than just rest. It’s the time when your body releases hormones that enable you to heal from training and grow stronger. Most people need seven hours of quality sleep each night. Make this one of your highest priorities.

Rest from exercise. Part of this is up to your programming, but part of it is up to you!

DON’T SHORTCHANGE YOUR SLEEP. SLEEP IS FAR MORE THAN JUST REST. IT’S THE TIME WHEN YOUR BODY RELEASES HORMONES THAT ENABLE YOU TO HEAL FROM TRAINING AND GROW STRONGER.

If you’re serious about building mass, but you also play intense intramural sports regularly, chances are you aren’t doing your muscle-building efforts any favors. It’s extremely difficult to maximize muscle gains when you’re pushing yourself in other physically demanding activities.

“In order to build muscle, you must tear it down and allow it to rebuild itself,” says Wittrock. “For this reason, rest is absolutely essential. I hate rest as much as anybody, but I know it’s necessary to continue building muscle.

Supplement for recovery. Experienced lifters often take a two-pronged approach to supplementation: those that boost workout intensity, and those that boost recovery. Make no mistake: The two go hand in hand. “My key recovery supplements are glutamine, a protein supplement with carbs, and BCAAs with electrolytes,” Wittrock says.

Cycle intensity. You shouldn’t shy away from challenging workouts or programs. But training full-bore without stop for months on end is likely to do as much harm as good. Cycle in periods of lower-intensity training, and even time off from the gym, both for your physical as well as mental health.

BUILD A NEW YOU FROM THE GROUND UP

Muscle growth requires a lot of hard work, but also a lot of forethought and strategy. Don’t negate all that quality training you’ve been doing by phoning in your nutrition or recovery. Establish a solid base, and you’ll quickly surprise yourself with what you can achieve.

By Bill Geiger

Last updated: Mar 02, 2016

Source: The Pyramid Of Muscle-Building

6 Fitness Myths That May Be Holding You Back!

Courtesy of http://www.bodybuiding.com

These 6 fitness myths have stalled the progress of many motivated lifters. Break through the mistruth and become a wiser, stronger you!

Fitness has its own share of tall tales. You’ve heard the ones about sculpting your six-pack with daily high-rep crunches, right? How about the little boy whose knees fell off after a single squat? Far too many of us have let our lives be steered by these yarns over the years, with nothing to show for it in the end. You deserve better!

To help separate myth from reality, we turned to two EAS athletes who have seen and heard all sorts of pumped-up fitness parables over the course of their careers: active duty Coast Guard member Steven Lopez and NPC bikini competitor Nikki Walter.

STEVEN LOPEZ

Current Residence: Washington, D.C.
Occupation: Active duty Coast Guard, Bodybuilding.com athlete, EAS athlete

NIKKI WALTER

Current Residence: Aberdeen, SD
Occupation: Personal trainer, Bodybuilding.com athlete, EAS athlete
Website: www.nikkiwalter.com

Here’s what they had to say about six of the most persistent legends passed down through generations of iron enthusiasts.

MYTH 1 CRUNCHES ARE NECESSARY FOR A SIX-PACK

We get it: crunches burn so much when you do them they simply must be building something, right? Alas, wrong. Even the best direct ab exercises only strengthen the muscles underneath the flab. That doesn’t mean they’re not useful, but rather that they’re only useful at certain times for certain goals.

“Listen, we all have ‘abs,’ regardless of how high our body-fat percentage is,” Lopez explains. “It’s when you diet and exercise the whole body that those muscles become more visible. The key to a chiseled six-pack is sticking to a good overall workout routine and clean diet.”

FRONT SQUATS TORCH YOUR SIX-PACK MUSCLES AND PLENTY MORE. ARE YOU DOING THEM?

Got that? The overall quality of your approach is far more important than any small part. This is what Bill Geiger was writing about when he described the EAS Muscle-Building Pyramid: Start with the big, and then work your way to the small.

“Yes, exercises that directly work the abdominals can make the muscles more detailed and defined,” Lopez points out. “But that effort will only pay off when you peel away the layer of body fat over them. So start there.”

Just to be clear, a crunch is also not unique in its ability to work the “six-pack muscles” of the rectus abdominus. All of the following absolutely scorch the rectus and every other ab muscle, creating core strength that can carry over to everything else you do in the gym.

MYTH 2 TONS OF CARDIO IS NECESSARY TO GET EVEN A LITTLE LEAN

Slow-and-low cardiovascular training is a great tool—in the right time, amount, and place. But if you want to lose fat, you probably need less of it than you think, unless you’re already lean and looking to get leaner.

“I’ve found that the average person trying to get lean can accomplish that with just a good weight workout routine and diet,” explains Lopez. “However, if you compete or are prepping for a shoot, cardio is necessary to get rid of those last few pounds of stubborn fat in the final weeks of prep.”

YES, YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU’RE TRANSFORMING IT. DON’T LET ANYONE CONVINCE YOU OTHERWISE!

Until then, you might get better results from blended cardio and bodyweight training—the type that EAS’s four “Transformed in 20” workouts contain in spades.

For guys, the most stubborn fatty areas are usually the love handles, lower abs, and lower back; for women, it’s usually the hips, butt, and thighs. “These areas have a high amount of alpha-receptors, which are more insulin sensitive and receive less blood flow,” Lopez says. “After being on prep for, say, 13-15 weeks, you might hit a fat-burning plateau and notice those areas are the last to get really lean. When that time comes, consider getting on the treadmill to help dial it in.”

MYTH 3 YOU MUST DISAPPEAR FROM LIFE IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT

There’s nothing like trying to transform your physique to make you start viewing the world starkly in terms of do’s and don’ts. Just watch the next time someone brings a cake into the office, and you’ll quickly notice two “teams” develop: those who partake, and those who don’t.

YOU MIGHT GET BETTER RESULTS FROM BLENDED CARDIO AND BODYWEIGHT TRAINING—THE TYPE THAT EAS’S FOUR “TRANSFORMED IN 20” WORKOUTS CONTAIN IN SPADES.

“Until I started competing and committed myself to a strict diet, I just wasn’t aware of how much of our social lives revolved around food and drinks,” Walter says. “I used to experience this working in an office, when others would bring in food to celebrate. Office settings are hard when co-workers want to bring treats in or go out to happy hour after work. No one wants to be the antisocial one.”

You want cake—but you want results, too. So what’s an aspiring athlete to do? As with training abs, you have to trust the overall approach to handle the big part of the results. If you’re confident in 90 percent of your nutritional approach—both the what and the why—it’s easier to say either “no thanks” or “just a bit” and really mean it.

“Go out and be social, but be prepared at work with your own snacks, or limit yourself to one treat a week—whatever will help you focus on the lifestyle change you’re aiming for,” Walter says.

MYTH 4 SQUATS ARE BAD FOR YOUR KNEES

This idea has many people scared squatless, as those fearful of injury have steered clear of what arguably is the most productive weight-training exercise ever devised. The squat, after all, works a multitude of muscles synergistically, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as the core and upper body.

It’s entirely possible that a lifetime of sitting (among many other factors) may have gotten in the way of your ability to squat deeply with good form. Squatting heavy before you can squat well is also a major culprit. But with patience and a focus on mobility, you can absolutely regain your squat!

And what’s more, you should. The lower reaches of the range of motion, as they stop short of going all the way down to where the thighs are parallel to the floor or below, are where some of the squat’s biggest benefits are to be found.

“If your knees are tracking out past your toes, start by widening up your stance a bit to allow you to at least go to parallel. Over time, work on getting better at full-ROM squats, and they’ll more than earn their place in your leg-day routine,” Lopez says.

In other words, don’t leap to a heavy quarter-squat at the expense of learning how to do a light full squat. Start practicing light (or bodyweight) full squats, and then slowly add weight. Exercises like the goblet squat can certainly help you get there. They teach great squat form without requiring you to get under a heavy load.

MYTH 5 MACHINES ARE SAFER THAN FREE WEIGHTS

Because you’re locked into a specific range of motion with the resistance tucked away on a weight stack versus being in hand via a dumbbell or barbell, many assume machines are naturally safer than free weights. But is this true?

The answer is a huge “it depends.” Yes, you may be less at risk of hurting your knee today doing some leg extensions than doing a poor-quality, overly heavy squat. But you’re also doing a lot less to strengthen your body as a whole, including all those tiny stabilizer muscles that make you feel as strong as you look.

MACHINES WORK BEST AS THE DESSERT AFTER THE MAIN COURSE OF BIG LIFTS. BUT IF YOUR GOAL IS BIGGER QUADS, THEY DEFINITELY HAVE THEIR PLACE!

The precise thing that makes a squat so difficult—namely, your body being forced to stabilize during a difficult movement—is what makes it valuable. A well-performed squat, even just with body weight, teaches your muscles to fire and work together. A machine just hammers a muscle or two. One is a symphony; the other is a solo.

“Of course, machines have their place in a workout routine,” Lopez says. “But they’re just one ingredient. As long as you check your ego at the door when it comes to weight selection and use proper form, machines, cables, free weights, and bodyweight exercises are all the same as far as safety goes. Each provide their own unique way of targeting a muscle group. Use them all for what they’re best at.”

MYTH 6 SUPPLEMENTS ARE ONLY USEFUL FOR MUSCLE BUILDING

There are two things that are about as timeless in the fitness industry as the dumbbell itself: the sound of a big guy in the weight room rattling a shaker cup, and the magazine ad of a ripped bodybuilder roaring into the camera.

We’ve all seen them both a million times by now. But their popularity comes with a downside: A generation of people have seemingly become convinced that supplements are only for people who either already have tons of muscle or who are desperately in pursuit of it.

As Nikki Walter found out when she wanted to transform her life, this just isn’t the case. “Supplements can be scary for someone who has never used them,” she says. “Had I known several years ago, back when I was a marathon runner, how much supplementation can assist with recovery and performance, I would have saved myself a lot of hassle.”

Ask any of the millions who have successfully completed the EAS Body for Life challenge over the last 20 years, and they’ll echo Walter’s conclusion. Yes, a protein shakeis helpful to meet your daily protein target, but it’s more helpful in its ability to fuel your recovery between workouts. Sure, a pre-workout is helpful for giving you energy, but only if that energy equals another rep, set, or movement you wouldn’t have done otherwise.

Think of it this way: Choosing to commit to a lifetime with such an intense, challenging hour in it every day isn’t easy. It isn’t normal—even though it should be—but it’s necessary. If a supplement can help you turn that daily ritual into something to be relished rather than feared or dreaded, well, that’s worth considering for any athlete.

“It’s worth your time to read reviews and embrace supplementation as an intellectual challenge,” Walter says. “Knowing not only what to take, but also when to take supplements and how they support your goals are all key to success.” Look for supplements that use transparent labeling, meaning you can see each ingredient and the exact dose used in the product, and carry third party certifications like GMP and NSF so that you know the product has been tested for safety and for banned substances.