Justin G. Walls, Certified Personal Athletic Trainer

Enjoy the foods you already like to eat! It's about taking things you would normally have and use them more effectively 1 Start using butter again! Butter has gotten a bad reputation for over a generation as being a leading cause of heart disease related to its saturated fat content. Studies and books have been recently published challenging the idea that saturated fat only has a downside. When properly incorporated into your diet, foods like butter, cream, sour cream and cheese can contribute to a greater feeling of satiety than low fat foods full of fillers and sugar 2 Try to have fish, meat, or chicken with your meals.  Animal proteins have the highest amount of protein per serving, and that helps you feel more full when eating a meal. You'll want to eat about a fist size of food to get enough protein for your body to build lean muscle, and that can help manage your metabolism and burn calories all day long.  Photo courtesy: Guard your Health ...

  Do you know what you could be doing better? Here's some resources on men's health: 1. Men’s Health Network –  www.menshealthnetwork.org 2. MHN YouTube –  www.youtube.com/user/MHNMedia 3. Men’s Health Resource Center –  www.menshealthresourcecenter.com 4. Show Us Your Blue –  www.twibbon.com/Support/mens-health-awareness Here's a few great outdoor ideas for June: Out and around the DMV (DC MD VA) C&O Canal Trails  http://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/park-brochures-and-site-bulletins.htm Great Falls Park VA  http://www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm Georgetown Waterfront Park  http://www.georgetownwaterfrontpark.org/ WB&A Trail  http://www.pgparks.com/Your_Parks/Trails/Washington__Baltimore___Annapolis_htm.htm (note: the link to download the map is actually on the right)

It's Not Just For Your Home Here's a few simple changes you can make starting tomorrow Thanks to the wonderful snowstorm today, I've had the opportunity to make over my blog to better serve you guys. So it got me thinking: what are a few things I could do better for you, and, more globally, what are things we could do better for ourselves as spring hopefully approaches (swiftly!) Firstly: I've added a page where you can go look at all of these products I mention on this blog. You can check it out here . This way, when I add a new workout for a BOSU or recommend a foam rolling position, you can just go look at one and then order it if you'd like. Secondly, I've simplified the layout so it's easier to find my older posts Finally, I've added an easy way to sign up via email. It was impossible to locate before. We will lose the sleek and dynamic layout in favor of functionality for now. And now- on to a few quick tips to get read...

Sometimes I hear people complaining about their inability to hop right out of bed in the morning, or at least get up when the alarm goes off. I have heard (and experienced) of varied challenges ranging from difficulty sitting up, tight lower or upper back muscles, disorientation when arising, and a few others. Not feeling it today... The problem with this is that it makes it even morechallenging to get your day started when it's not starting off correctly. Let's try to examine the most obvious issues: How old is your mattress and is it sinking or sagging? What is your sleep position? Where is the pain? If your mattress is 10 years old, then it's probably a good time to go shopping. When the mattress starts to sag, you will start dragging at opposing muscles and perhaps even alter your sleep position. The sagging is the worst thing that can happen. If your not ready to buy a new bed, just try rolling a towel or yoga mat and slide it either under your lower back...

Today I am going to give you instructions on strengthening some of the upper back muscles that get hyper extended from our overly hunched daily routine. A friend of mine did some aid work in Haiti after their recent earthquake. Something he noticed was the excellent muscle tone of the back muscles amongst every age group, especially the elderly. He mentioned that they were quite adept at carrying things without much difficulty, even though he was there to treat the many other ailments they were suffering after the quake. The point is that they had excellent tone in their upper back from shoulder to shoulder, and as a result were not suffering from some of the common ailments of American society, where 10-15% of adults experience neck pain.. One exercise effective at improving tone is the overhead shoulder raise. The overhead shoulder raise involves holding a medicine ball or other weight in front of your body and then simply raising it overhead. Front Shoulder Raise Here are the...

Understanding the Zombie Teen's Body Clock - WSJ.com Hey everyone, since we talked about it a few weeks ago, I thought I would share another article on sleep. Sleep is so important for normal metabolic function. I can tell you that I am guilty of not getting enough sleep too. It's something all of us should work on. This article focuses on its affect for teens and how sleep rhythms affect performance during the day. The study is eye-opening.We'll be back next week with a new workout and some health tips. In the mean time, get some rest!

The Washington Post  quotes a survey that many people, for various reasons, are reporting trouble with getting a good night's sleep. Sleep is an important part of normal biological function, helps with recovery, and contributes to proper metabolic function. Not sleeping enough at night can impact a person's ability to think clearly, perform tasks efficiently, affects focus and attention, and it makes you yawn an awful lot! Sleep- it's good for you! A excellent research project of the NIH in its Sport's Medicine journal chronicals many of the issues related to interupted sleep patterns as a result of shift work ( link for article ). Some negative affects of altered behavioral patterns, such as eating at night (mentioned in section 2.2) have links to obesity because of the low metabolic trends during the night hours. As the paper does note, there was some difficulty in gaining access to enough participants to fully study the effects of nocturnal workers versus th...