What Are The 3 Critical Exercise Routine Success Factors?

 

by: Jeremy Markum

The 'Rule Of 3' Meets Pareto's '80/20'--And You Get Fit Faster As A Result!

Everybody likes simple lists.

Everybody likes Rules Of Thumb.

And as far as I can tell, everyone wants tighter abs and more energy.

So, naturally, we all look for the “best” diets and the “best” training routines to bring us closer to that six-pack...ideally, in the least amount of time possible…

...Oh yeah--and we don’t want to think too hard either!

The Old Way:

Counting calories? Fuh-ged-a-bow-dit!

Getting a bodyfat measurement each week? No way!

Calculating our new “estimated 1-rep max” for 27 different exercises? Puh-leeze.

So what’s the solution?

Well, if you don’t mind limiting our example to exercise for the moment, I think I have a few things that can help you in your endless search for the most efficient use of your fitness time…

(which is like, what? about 45 minutes a day 3-4 times a week if you’re lucky?) ...It’s OK--you’re human! I do this stuff for a living, and I don’t spend much more time than that myself.

Introducing: “The Rule Of 3-80/20 (Principle)"

Any activity of importance (like exercise) can be broken down into three, and only three Critical Success Factors. Furthermore, one of these critical success factors should account for 80% of your efforts. And the other two, on average, just 10% of your time, energy, and effort (that is, of course, if you actually want to get anything done).

Thus sayeth The Fitness Sage (that’s me).

And you should listen to me when it comes to getting things done, because I have a Masters Degree *and* ADD! (attention deficit disorder). Without principles like the above, I would be hocking blackmarket Pi-Tae-Boga-Lates tapes to out-of-work actors in LA...

Yeah, so I’m ripping off the Pareto Principle and the Rule Of 3--but you’ll forgive me real quick when you see how this applies to your exercise routine.

Now that I’ve circumnavigated my point a few times, here it is real simple, in 3 (surprise, surprise) easy steps:

The Three Critical Exercise Routine Success Factors

1. Consistent Progression: Needs 80% of your time and attention.

2. Sufficient Intensity: Needs 15% of your time and attention.

3. Intelligent Evolution: Needs 5% of your time and attention.

Simple huh?

But maybe you need some clarification, so here goes…

Consistent Progression Explained:

There are really just 3-4 workout parameters that even matter to the average Jane or Joe who wants a good body and excellent health: Rest Period, Load, Reps-Per-Set, and Total # Of Sets.

So your job is to simply pick one of these, hold all the rest constant, and improve your chosen workout parameter from week-to-week, workout-to-workout until you can no longer do so (just remember to hold everything else constant! especially total workout duration).

When you can’t improve on your chosen parameter, pick a different one and repeat.

That’s it. It really is that simple. Tools needed: 1 pocket-sized notebook and a stopwatch.

Of course, you might want some proven, superior methods to “improve on your chosen parameter.” At the bottom of this article, you'll get your wish! But first...

Sufficient Intensity Explained:

Make sure you’re doing resistance training folks. Not aerobics. Not LSD (long slow distance cardio). Or any other fitness fad that makes your lungs burn more than your muscles. If you’re consistently getting 20+ reps on all your exercises, then you need to choose more difficult exercises. Period.

Cardio and aerobics have health benefits no doubt, but if you’re really looking for “bang-for-your-fitness-buck”, and you’re short on time, then stick with resistance training. It’s the only kind of exercise that builds muscle and boosts your metabolism permanently--not just during your workout.

Shoot for exercises that are so difficult, you can only perform between 1 and 15 reps. This could be weightlifting (if you lack the creativity and sophistication of a "Tao Of Functional Fitness" devotee who relies solely on portable exercise equipment--like Fitness Bands--and their own bodyweight), but it doesn’t have to be. If you know how to manipulate leverage, even bodyweight only exercises can be made difficult enough.

Why just 15% of your time worrying about this? Because all you have to do is make sure most of your exercise (excluding a proper warmup of course) falls within this rep range. Not exactly rocket-science. Nuff said.

Intelligent Evolution:

This is just another term for “periodization” or “cyclic training.” Basically it means that you need a strategy for changing your exercise routine over the long haul as you get stronger and closer to realizing your goals. Most of the time the Consistent Progression rule takes care of this, hence the paltry 5% of your noggin that’s required to intelligently evolve.

But over the long haul, you sometimes need to dramatically change your workout protocol. There’s not space here to explore all the ins-and-outs of doing this, but a simplified recommendation would be to cycle between phases where you focus on increasing the Average Load you handle during your workouts, and phases where you’re more concerned with the Amount Of Work Per Unit Time you perform (i.e. “Strength” vs. “Density").

Conclusion

Consistent Progression (80%) + Sufficient Intensity (15%) + Intelligent Evolution (5%).

Find an exercise routine that gives you that, and you’re on to something!

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About the author:
Jeremy Markum (The Fitness Sage) is an author and fitness consultant based in San Diego, California. He can help you incinerate fat, & sculpt lean, sexy muscle... *without* going to the gym, and *without* calorie counting or endless cardio! Get your FREE tips about this profound new approach to fitness right now at: http://www.JeremyMarkum.com

Where to Buy HGH -

 

by: Kristy Annely There are hundreds of new Human Growth Hormone (HGH) supplements on the market today due to their explosive popularity. A quick Internet search turns up thousands of sites offering "incredible deals" and "limited time offers" on everything from sprays to lozenges to effervescent tablets. However, because of the sudden market saturation of HGH supplements it can be difficult to know where to shop for the safest, most effective products. One helpful resource is a respected online directory, such as the Open Directory Project, also known as “DMOZ.” The directory is available in many different languages so almost anyone can access this wealth of information. A search for Human Growth Hormone on DMOZ turns up about twenty Web sites where purchase information can be found about many different HGH products. Another good resource for HGH products is the television. Many home shopping channels offer special programs that focus on health products. These programs often feature HGH products as part of their inventory. These television programs sometimes offer deeply discounted prices on the products they sell and it is possible to get two-for-one deals on some brands of HGH supplements. Advertisements for HGH supplements can also be found in many fitness and bodybuilding magazines, along with dozens of other nutritional supplements. HGH is commonly used by bodybuilders to drop body fat and gain lean muscle mass. A quick review of some of the most popular fitness magazines should yield several options for purchasing HGH. Many nutrition stores also offer HGH supplements. A search in the local yellow pages should offer a number of nutrition stores to choose from. These stores often offer a variety of HGH supplements to their customers who want to lose body fat and gain muscle mass as part of their fitness program. About the author: HGH Info provides detailed information about HGH products, injections and side effects, where to buy HGH, and reviews of best HGH sprays, supplements, vitamins, and more. HGH Info is the sister site of Hyaluronic Acid Web.

Why you Absolutely Must Take Control of Your Subconscious for Permanent Weight loss

 

by: Kelly Burris

From the moment of birth your first emotional experiences establish your subconscious perceptions of the world. There is not a moment of the day or night that you are not affected by your emotions. More often than not it is your programmed emotional states, not logic that control your behavior. Therefore in order to apply the process of Burris MIND/FITNESS you must first understand how your subconscious mind works.

Your subconscious mind flawlessly records everything you have ever seen, felt, smelled, heard, or tasted. Unfortunately it is not capable of interpreting the true meaning of the information it records. It simply takes the information it accumulates, and organizes it into individual programs that determine how you will respond to recurring circumstances in your daily life. Once your subconscious mind has taken certain information and formed it into a program, it will devote its considerable power to the continuation of that program behavior or habit, regardless of the consequences.

Your subconscious programming can be useful. This is what allows you to do things automatically like drive a car, type a letter, or use a computer. If the subconscious did not store this information for you in the form of a program, you would not be able to do these things automatically. The disadvantage to this is that there are some subconscious programs that simply do not work.

At some point in your life you may have been programmed to eat poorly or to respond poorly to a certain situation or to link pleasure to things like smoking, drugs or alcohol. The dilemma later in life is how to change the behaviors that do not work for you.

The bottom line is that there are two subconscious components that activate an emotional state, which in turn determines your behavior.

1) You must talk to yourself which usually begins with a question and

2) By asking yourself a question your subconscious mind will always give you an answer, which in turn produces a correlating picture.

It is from this subconscious picture that your emotional state is determined and in turn determines your behavior. A good example of this process is when a person is overweight; they constantly ask themselves negative questions like: “Why am I so fat?” or “How did I get so fat?” or “Why can’t I lose this weight???”

By asking yourself these types of negative questions, your subconscious mind will produce negative answers such as: You are fat because you overeat or you overeat because you are stressed and for each of these negative answers the subconscious mind will produce a correlating picture of you as a fat person.

The mind now interprets these subconscious pictures, as how you should look, and devotes its tremendous power toward maintaining this body image. So you see, every time you ask yourself a question there is a correlating subconscious picture, which determines your emotional response. Through the process of Burris MIND/FITNESS you will learn how to Recognize, Access and Change these two subconscious components.

Unlike your conscious mind, your subconscious mind is always active, it never sleeps. An example of this is when you ask yourself the question: What is that person’s name? For the life of you, you cannot think of their name and then maybe an hour or two later or even the next day their picture and name pop into your mind. The reason for this is your subconscious mind was continuously working on the name, even though you had consciously given up.

If the subconscious does not already have a stored answer for a question, it will search through all of its available information until it formulates one. This is why you need to ask yourself any question you think may move you toward your weight goal because the subconscious will always find an answer.

It is estimated that your subconscious mind generates over 60 thousand thoughts per day. We refer to this thought process as talking to ourselves. The reason your subconscious mind is capable of generating over 60 thousand thoughts per day is because your inner voice continuously speaks to you at a rate of one thousand to twelve hundred words per minute. You can only speak however at about two to three hundred words per minute. This means your inner voice runs at a rate of about four times faster than you can speak and produces a correlating picture for each of these thoughts. In other words if your mind was the world, your conscious mind might take up the space of LA or New York but your subconscious mind would take up the space and activity of the rest of the world.

Regardless of weather your goal is a change in diet for weight loss, an increase in your fitness program or to take control of an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. In the end the question you need to ask yourself is…Am I completely happy with the mind running itself or do I need to take control of it? If your answer is I need to take control of it, then Burris MIND/FITNESS is the answer.

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About the author:
Kelly Burris is the author of “Reprogramming the Overweight Mind: 7 Steps to Taking Control of Your Subconscious.” You can read the first two chapters, or become a “Certified Burris MIND/FITNESS Consultant” by going to http://www.KellyBurris.com

Why you do not have "killer abs" or that "6 pack" Abdominal Muscles?

 

by: Chris Chew

Ask any woman what is the most attractive part of a male body and most of the time, they will tell you it's the six pack abs meaning that your abdominal muscles showing up with beautiful definition. The abs is considered by many as a sexy muscle and is a symbol of a fit and healthy man. Women are instinctively drawn towards a man brimming with health and fitness because it is a primitive indication that the man is strong enough to protect her and her brood.

A rippling six pack abs is one such indication. So is it any wonder that in every gym, you will see men of all ages doing crunches, leg raisers and sit ups religiously in the hope of obtaining the much coveted killer abs? Unfortunately, most men will never get to see their abdominal muscle in its glorious splendor. Why? The following fitness tips will show you why.

You may not like what I am going to give to you straight in the face here. But I will give it to you anyway. So here it goes. Listen up carefully. You may do a zillion crunches a day, then another another million leg raisers, but as long as there is a layer of fat covering your tummy, you will never see your abs because it is covered by the blubber of fat. In fact, your waistline will become bigger because you are adding muscles underneath the fats! So instead of having a slim waistline and showing off your rippling abdominal muscle, you will have a bigger waistline and thicker love handles. Now get this straight. There is no such thing as spot reduction! Once the fats are off, your 6 pack abs will show. That I promise you. It is just that simple to display your abs. Lose fat! That's all.

Late night TV commercials or magazines has been telling you that you can have well defined abs by using this gadget or that electronic gizmo. Do you really believe it is really that simple? If it is so, then everyone will have that rippling washboard six pack abs in no time, won't they? Then why isn't that so? Because it doesn't work that way. To lose fat effectively and permanently for your abdominal muscles to show, you must include a mildly deficit calorie restriction diet, frequent cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscle so as to raise your metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Build muscles to burn fat permanently as muscles use up more calories from your food for energy. Lifting weights will also give you a well toned body and help your abs to show. Forget about any fad diets or popping slimming pills . These may work initially but in the long run, they are bound to fail.

So if you want to build an attractive and desirable abdominal muscle, start a mildly caloric deficit diet and put on your running shoes and in no time you can strut confidently displaying your abdominal muscles proudly. You won't ever want to put on your shirt again.

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About the author:
Chris Chew is a personal trainer and count actors, pageant winners, models and other celebrities as his clients. He runs a fitness training school in Singapore at http://www.sgfitnessonline.comand is the author of "Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast." See his books at http://www.sgfitness.com

You Don't Have to Strain for Cardio Fitness Gains

 

by: Rita Jenkins

Quantity may beat quality when it comes to exercise and heart health. Adults who engage in mild exercise -- such as walking briskly for 12 miles or exercising moderately for 125-200 minutes over the course of a week -- can improve their aerobic fitness significantly and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a study published in Chest.

"The classic exercise regimen has a component of intensity up to 80 percent of someone's maximum for health benefits," says lead author Brian D. Duscha of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

"Our study demonstrates that you can exercise at an intensity much less than that and still achieve fitness benefits," he notes.

"People find exercise 'hard' and few people want to exercise at an intensity higher than they have to. Walking briskly for 12 miles a week per week is realistic and does not require anyone to incorporate a hardcore training regimen. Increasing your mileage or intensity will give you even greater health benefits," Duscha says.

Improved Oxygen Consumption

A Duke Medical Center research team examined the effects of different exercise training regimens on 133 patients aged 40 to 65 years. All were sedentary, overweight nonsmokers who had abnormal levels of fat in their blood.

The participants were divided into four exercise groups:

- high-amount/high-intensity (HAHI), the equivalent of jogging 20 miles per week at 65 to 80 percent peak Vo2 (maximum oxygen consumption);

- low-amount/high-intensity (LAHI), the equivalent of jogging/walking up an inclined treadmill approximately 12 miles per week at 65 to 80 percent peak Vo2;

- low-amount/moderate intensity (LAMI), the equivalent of walking approximately 12 miles per week at 40 to 55 percent peak Vo2; and

- a control group of nonexercising patients.

All patients underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing twice at baseline and after seven to nine months of exercise training.

All exercise groups significantly improved their absolute and relative peak oxygen consumption and time to exhaustion (TTE) compared to baselines scores.

Increasing Intensity May Help Too

Although the HAHI group showed the greatest improvements in peak Vo2 overall, increasing exercise intensity from 40 to 55 percent to 65 to 80 percent (at a controlled amount of 12 miles/week) did not significantly improve peak oxygen consumption. However, increasing the amount of exercise did produce improvements.

An increase in exercise amount also demonstrated a graded increase in TTE between groups, although data were not statistically significant.

"Although our results did point toward amount being more important, it is very likely fitness levels can be improved by increasing either amount or intensity," says Duscha.

"This is illustrated by the tiered effect the exercise dose had on fitness improvements across our groups. We believe with more people in the study, increasing intensity would also have been significant," he explains.

Losing Weight Not Essential

Body mass index (BMI) was reduced in the LAHI and HAHI, groups but remained unchanged in the LAMI group. All exercise groups lost an average of 2.87 pounds after exercise. Baseline characteristics of age, BMI, weight, peak and relative Vo2, and TTE were not different between the groups.

"A second very important message is that subjects enjoyed fitness benefits in the absence of weight loss. Many people exercise with the purpose of losing weight. When they do not lose weight, they do not think the exercise is benefiting them and they stop exercising," notes Duscha.

"The truth is, you can improve your cardiovascular fitness and reduce your risk for heart disease by exercising without losing weight. Even if individuals do not lose weight, it is likely that they will lose body fat and increase lean muscle mass while reducing other risk factors," he points out.

12 Miles a Week

Adherence to exercise requires motivation and making exercise a priority, the researchers stress. They advise those who are beginning an exercise regimen to start slowly, choose an enjoyable activity, and make exercise a social activity. Individuals with medical problems should consult a physician before starting an exercise program.

"If you distill our results down, the public health message is: You only need to walk briskly for 12 miles per week or for approximately 125 to 200 minutes per week to improve your health. This sheds more light on the question, 'What is the minimum amount of exercise I need to do to get a health benefit?'" says Duscha.

"Regular exercise is an important part of a well-balanced lifestyle," adds Paul A. Kvale, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. "Physicians and other healthcare providers should encourage their patients to engage in regular exercise in order to obtain pulmonary and cardiovascular benefits."

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About the author:
Rita Jenkins is a health journalist for Daily News Central, an online publication that delivers breaking news and reliable health information to consumers, healthcare providers and industry professionals: http://www.dailynewscentral.com

You may have found the latest and accurate advice with reference to personal trainer.

 

by: Tom

When you're after the best advice about personal trainer, it'll be complex extricating superior advice from unprofessional personal trainer proposals and guidance so it is wise to know ways of moderating the information presented to you.

Ideal Body Fitness Personal Training

Personal trainers help individuals get to new physical and mental heights by individually tailored workouts. Offers strength training, kick boxing, and body sculpting.

Here are several tips that you should make use of when you're searching for information regarding personal trainer. You need to understand that the help we tender is only applicable to internet advice about personal trainer. We do not give you any advice or guidance when you are also conducting research offline.

Professional Fitness Institute

Become a licensed massage therapist or certified personal trainer. At Professional Fitness Institute you can complete your training in just six months. Complete form for info.

A great tip to pursue when you are presented with information or advice on a personal trainer article would be to determine who owns the site. This may divulge who is behind the site personal trainer credibility The easiest way to reveal who owns the personal trainer website is to look on the 'about' page or 'contact' page.

All reliable sites providing content on personal trainer, will nearly always have a 'contact', or an 'about', page which will provide you with the owner's details. The details should disclose major points regarding the owner's proficency and credentials. This means you can conduct an appraisal about the vendor's education and practical knowledge, to offer help regarding personal trainer.

About the author:

Richard Jones is the webmaster for http://www.personal-trainer-review.info

Your Body Building Workout Routine Not Working For You Anymore?

 

by: Tony Farrell

When you come up with your Body Building

Workout Routine, you generally stick with that

routine for quite some time. You'll find that, at first,

your body building workout routine is great and you seem to be getting a lot out of it. Therefore

progress is being made.

When it comes to bodybuilding - No. I got that

wrong, when it comes to any form of fitness the

progress slows down. As you increase your muscle size, fitness level or body tone, you seem to get to

a stage where progress is minimal. And

sometimes at a standstill.

You may think to yourself...

"This is a useless body building workout routine. I

feel downhearted. Maybe it's time to pack it in"

All I can say to you is... DON'T.

The problem is that initial gains from a starting a

workout routine are tremendous. But you can only

go so far. You can't keep progressing at super

giant leaps, as you did at the start. So whether

you're body building, increasing fitness aerobically

or seeking out overall body tone... don't despair.

Keep at it.

Having said all that, there is a solution.

Yep, there sure is. And it's pretty simple too.

You see, the body gets used to doing things. It

adapts to change. So when you initially began your

body building workout routine, you made

significant progress for two reasons:

1. You may not have been fit in the first place.

Therefore at this point, your body building workout

routine would have had a major impact at first.

2. Your body adapts to your routine. It becomes

used to the exercises that you perform. Therefore

making them less effective.

The Solution -

Change your body building workout routine.

That's the solution. Pretty simple, huh.

See, when a new exercise is introduced to you

workout routine, your body building progress

increases. Why?

Because the body hasn't learned to adapt to your

new exercise yet, Therefore making that new part

of your workout more effective. This results in an

increase in strength and size, or fitness and

overall body tone, depending on your goals in the

first place.

That's all there is to it. Change the exercise.

But wait --

Don't change the whole workout routine if it's not

necessary. The reason is that out of the whole

regime, there may still be some exercises that you

feel produce the results you require. If this is the

case, don't change that exercise if it's working. The

only change, in that case, is to increase the

challenge of that exercise. Maybe increase the

weight being used.

Only change an exercise if you reckon that you're

not making any progress on. Work a new exercise

into your body building workout routine. Check the

results and keep it there if it continues to work.

Eventually all your exercises will change, and not

just once. This will be a continuous process.

Months later, the exercise that didn't work back

then, may work now.

Essentially, keep the initial exercises for about five

to eight weeks. At that stage if your progress is

good, keep on doing that routine. After a while, if

you haven't already, your progress will reduce.

At that stage, change the appropriate exercises

where you feel that progress is diminishing. Keep

a constant eye on your body building workout

routine. And keep adapting and changing,

adapting and changing, regularly.

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About the author:
Tony Farrell makes it easier for you to achieve your muscle and fitness goals. Learn the essential 3 keys to paving the way to your goals. Get your free mini-course now. http://www.think-and-grow-muscle-and-fitness.com

exercise

by: Tim Frady

 

America is getting more obese every year. Even our children are becoming dangerously obese, even though we are more self conscious over our appearance. So what's the magic bullet to getting trim and fit. Well, I'll be honest, there isn't any. First, we are all limited by our heredity. If your father has a spare tire, you're probably going to be predisposed to have one yourself if your a man. If you're a woman, you are going to have fight off your mother's big hips. Today Americans have more money than they ever have before. No matter what people say about the economy, gradually over the years, Americans have become richer, and they eat to prove it. Even poor families eat more than middle class families of previous generations. Poor families often find it even harder to lose weight because junk food is cheaper, and they don't have enough money, or as much time to be active, other than working.

If your job requires you to sit all day, you are in a world of hurt as well. You are not going to burn very many calories sitting all day. Plus boredom tends to create a desire to eat more.

So what am I suggesting? Here are some thoughts you might want to consider. First of all, you really have to want to be in shape if you are going to have a prayer of losing weight. It's not easy. You've got to want it. Second, you have to make a decision in your life to live healthier. Eat moderately all the time. Don't starve yourself and set yourself up for failure later. Your metabolism is just going to slow down anyway.

Most of the time people just eat too large of portions. Keep your portions moderately sized, and eat more times a day. Stop eating when you are full. There is no need to stuff yourself every meal. And, contrary to what your mother may have taught you, you don't have to eat everything that is on your plate. The smaller your portions and the more times you eat the faster your metabolism is going to be. Here is the biggest thing people don't want to do. You have to exercise. Moderate exercise can bring you from obese to a much healthier size. Find activities you like to do, and do it. The more you enjoy it, the more you'll be able to stick with it.

No excuses. There really is no reason not to attempt to get into shape. I heard something from a preacher's sermon that really makes sense. He basically said that some men work half of their lives to make money, and then give away the same money the other half of their lives to try and regain the health they lost gaining the money in the first place. The idea is don't put work in front of health. Health costs are getting worse all the time. Unless your health insurance is great, you can't make enough money to overcome the health costs you are going to have if you don't take care of yourself now. If your excuse is that you are too out of shape to do anything, or you just can't cut back on your food because of depression, boredom, etc. Then see your doctor and ask what you can do to start heading towards physical fitness. You've got one life to live. So don't waste it.

The biggest problem we face in America today is laziness. Pure and simple. Did you know that working out helps you when you are depressed or having problems with anxiety. The more you lay around, the more discouraged you are going to get. It's a terrible cycle. People say they are too tired from working. I can understand that, but even 30 minutes a day can make a big difference. Work out during the commercials while you watch television. If you've got kids take them outside and play with them. Kids are doing nothing, but watching TV and playing video games. If you play with your kids your helping yourself and them at the same time.

It's a lot easier to keep it off than it is to lose it after you gain it. So even if you think you are in great shape, don't stop working out. It's a lot easier to keep up a steady routine than to have to burn off extra fat. Your body tends to fight you when your losing weight by giving you cravings for food. Just remember your body is more important than your big screen. Don't just sit back watching football all day. Go play some football. Live life don't just be a spectator.

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About the author:
webmaster of several site and weight lifter. check out these health and fitness magazines for great exercise tips http://www.subscribe-to-magazines.us/health_fitness_magazine.htm