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Exercise Spotlight: Standing Plate-Loaded Shrugs

We are continuing our series of exercise spotlights with today’s version of a shrug! A lot of people shy away from shrugs because they think that their traps will flame up Hulk-style. In reality, building your traps gives you a strong-looking frame to compliment the rest of your shoulders, arms, and back. Remember, it’s important to continue to add different exercises to your knowledge base so that your body doesn’t get used to anything. Let’s learn about the standing plate-loaded shrug. 

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Friday Fitness Comics

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Back when we had our promotions for the new year, one of my personal training staff sent me this. I’m not sure who put it together, but if you let me know I will certainly give credit where credit is due. This individual also worked the floor of the fitness facility, which is challenging because you’re dealing with other staff, members, and equipment that all have their need for your services. This speaks volumes to the environment.

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Whole-Wheat Lemon “Cakes”

We’ve got another recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, A Feast of Ice and Fire. My last two (one from the Wall and one from the South) were great hits and this one brings us right to King’s Landing with a spin on Sansa’s favorite lemon cakes. However, my spin, as it usually is makes these a bit healthier. I used mostly whole-wheat flour to add some fiber and make it better for our blood sugar spiking as well as using a little less sugar and using mostly honey. These are delectable little bites of yum without all the guilt that normal lemon cakes would carry. 

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Getting Fit(ter) for the Wedding

Weddings usually have a lot of fitness circulating them. Well, more so, that the pair preparing to get married want to look good and so they get super healthy beforehand. In fact, a lot of bloggers start out this way: blogging their fitness and healthy eating up to the special date. Hungry and I are pretty good about working out regularly, it’s something we enjoy and so we do it often. However, when it comes to food, we have our ups and downs. We can be off or on. Usually, we’re fairly healthy (not like we pig out at McD’s or anything ever). However, we pretty much eat what we want. I’ve decided to embark on a 2-month program to help touch up my health a bit. 

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H&F Shorts on YouTube

We recently mentioned that we’d be stepping up our YouTube game (again!) and this time (with the help of Iron Fortitude’s Juan), we’re  actually off to a good start. We set a goal to release four videos this month and if you follow this link, then you’ll see we already have 3. Obviously, if you watched those, they’re only 15 seconds each since they’re just “shorts,” but we plan on using these to promote longer videos and to get everyone just a little more excited about it. 

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Exercise Spotlight: Standing Dumbbell Curl

So in addition to doing more videos and projects, we will also be bringing you new types of posts! Introducing Exercise Spotlight and Food Spotlight! These will be to-the-point posts where we focus on a certain exercise or certain food item to showcase its value. We believe a key to staying hungry and fit is constantly expanding your repertoire of knowledge and sharpening what you already know. We’re starting off with a fairly simple exercise: the dumbbell curl.

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Body Composition Scan Review (BodySpec)

 As we move further into the twenty-first century, there is a continuous flow of innovative ideas and products that challenge the consumer’s ability to judge right from wrong. Amongst the sea of marketing and media, it’s hard to tell what is the right product for you. In the fitness and supplement industry, there are hundreds of versions of a product, but each one claims to achieve the exact same result. How could you possibly tell right from wrong?

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Try Being Grateful

This title could be perceived as offhanded. However, imagine the tone as one of gentle nudging rather than being snootily rude. I’m not trying to throw in your face that you’re a brat, but just that each of us could–instead of complaining or being bitter–try instead to be grateful. I must confess, this was brought on by watching the very last episode of our beloved Downton Abbey (which I thought was a lovely ending). Reflecting on the life of the servants and such, I realized that, though fictional they are, there are plenty of people like them who are grateful despite a hardworking, have-little life. I found it to be a good lesson.

Instead of sourness and a generally negative attitude, let us try supplementing gratefulness first. The power of gratitude is enormous, be you a Lord or servant (or in these days, someone powerful or someone on the bottom of the ladder). Gratitude can pull someone from depression, from anger, from feeling lost. If being grateful to you is an impassive thing that you’ve never really thought about, try doing so now.

What are you grateful for?

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