Advantages of Upper Body Strength

Swimming is a rigorous sport so upper body strength exercises should be performed to ensure that the body is fit and healthy. In order for these training exercises to be effective, you should be consistent with your daily exercise regimen. The motivation to be good in swimming should be inculcated in your system. What exercise can be done daily to prepare the swimmer? The following are some of these:



1. Push ups

This should be done at least 100 times. Start gradually from 20 to 30 push ups and then upwards, but don't miss on this essential exercise. This builds up the abdominal area and strengthens the abdominal muscles, the chest and the triceps. These muscles are vital when swimming as they are the ones used to extend the swimmer's length and breadth of reach. The longer and wider it is, the faster a swimmer can swim.

2. Weight lifting

Applying load pressure to the muscle areas will develop endurance to fatigue and weariness. Loads could be started at 25 pounds and then could go higher to as much as 100 pounds, depending on the person's muscle mass and stamina. The exercise causes an isometric contraction and sometimes an isotonic contraction which would invariably create a stronger muscle mass and tone.

3. Hand grips

This strengthens hands and arms. It also tones muscles because of the contraction caused by the movement. They are easy to do whenever there is a chance; like during short work breaks.

4. Sit - ups

This hardens and strengthens the abdominal areas. The deltoid muscles, triceps and arms undergo contractions and relaxations that cause the muscles to expand and become bigger and stronger.

This is good also in flattening the abdomen and removing excess flab from that area. Sometimes sit-ups can be done together with push-ups.

5. Resistance bands

These bands could be used in areas where you would want to concentrate on. Since it is the upper chest and arms, the bands could be used up and down the back through continuous motions or even behind it as long as the movements are smooth to ensure liquidity of movement.

The swimming strokes could serve well as an exercise for swimming; breaststrokes and butterfly strokes are great upper chest and body training regimen.

These exercises should be done daily or 3 times a week, at the least. Superb athletes go without let-up. They train continuously, repeatedly and patiently. Great swimmers are not born, they are made. With persistence, patience and determination, swimmers are turned into awesome athletes; perhaps, someone who would prove to be an equal, even to 8- time gold medalist in swimming, Michael Phelps!

The Immeasurable Price of Gold

I have always wondered where the alleged Yamashita Gold treasures were really buried. For years, treasure hunters scaled mountains and dug deep into the ground in search for them. Almost everyone wants a share of this most touted gold supposed to be kept in places where the Second World War has taken place. Up to now, people are still searching for them. Some discovered minor treasures but not the gold bars allegedly buried by General Yamashita.

Why is there keen interest in gold? This is because gold prices are the basis of a nation’s economy. In times of peace and war, cash may not be honored but gold is honored anywhere in the world. Gold is worth more than cash.

Amidst economic recession in most countries of the world, gold is the most stable commodity because the gold price does not depreciate but appreciates even more as years pass by. People all around the globe recognize this fact.

Wouldn’t it be reassuring to have your own gold collection? You can use a free gold guide to select whatever you want to purchase whether an American buffalo, Australian gold nugget , gold Canadian maple leaf, American platinum eagle and many more types and designs. This is a gold spot that you can take advantage of. Have your own gold collections and rest assured you have a treasure that lasts forever.

The GoldFish

Research has proven that watching fishes in an aquarium calms nerves and de stresses a person. The goldfish is a pet that some people have in their aquariums. The best room for a goldfish is a well-ventilated and lighted room, which is situated near a window but not under direct sunlight, so when it comes to selecting the best room for a goldfish, it should be the well-lighted room.

REASONS WHY THE GOLDFISH THRIVES MORE IN LIGHT

A goldfish thrives more in well-lighted rooms than in the dark. This is because pigments, which interact with light, because its brilliant color, which is commonly bright orange. The ultraviolet property of light interacts with the pigments on the skin surface of the fish and produces its bright colors.

Although there are other colors like yellow orange, green and blue, the most common is the yellow-orange color.

Having your aquarium in a well-lighted room would accentuate also, the bright shimmering yellow color of the goldfish and would lend a jovial and sunny ambience to a room. Unlike when the aquarium is in a darkened room, its esthetic beauty could not be appreciated fully.

Be sure a good and proper filter is in place, as this would filter out microorganisms that could cause fish disease and fish death. Cover the aquarium adequately because the fish tends to jump and to prevent fish tank contamination from the outside.

Have sufficient supply of oxygen and clean water (at least 12 gallons) which should be changed daily or at regular intervals. The water's temperature should be constant to ensure the stability of the environment.

The pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the water should be above 7 or alkaline in nature. Adding corals could increase the water's alkalinity.

The goldfish should be preferably alone in a long aquarium for it to grow more. It should also have a lot of space. It can grow to as much as 15 inches and could live as long as 3-9 years.

Feeding the goldfish 2-3 X a day would be sufficient. There are pre-manufactured goldfish foods. Be sure to follow the instructions before feeding them.

A DARKENED ROOM

The goldfish needs the dark too, but not that often. This can be attained during the night when minimum light is left in the room. Very long exposures to the dark; however, is discouraged as this makes the fish unhealthy.

So if you are to buy a goldfish for your aquarium, be sure that you place it in a well-ventilated and sufficiently lighted room. This is not only so you could admire the beautiful, visual display of the colors of the goldfish, but also for its survival and proper growth environment.

photo by Andrew®

Tips on Choosing a Multivitamin

Choosing the appropriate multi-vitamin for a person is important so that its maximum benefits could be obtained. TDM (Therapeutic Drug Monitoring) usually does this when time permits and the person is willing to undergo the procedure. These are some tips on choosing a multivitamin.

In therapeutic drug monitoring, drugs are administered to a certain person and observed for its therapeutic effect. The drug dosage is adjusted until such time that the dosage is therapeutic and neither sub-therapeutic nor toxic to the person.

A more practical way is to take into account all of the factors that may affect the ingestion of the drug. In this process there are several factors that should be taken into consideration.
First and foremost is the physiologic make-up of the person. The "organ function" should be considered first. Does the person have a dysfunctional liver or heart? Is his excretory organ functionally well?

The vitamins for a person with a heart ailment should be one that has no side effects on his heart; likewise the vitamins of persons who have dysfunctional livers would have to have no toxic side-effects on his liver. Organs that are functioning normally would ensure that the purported boosting effects of the multi-vitamins would come about.

Second, the age of the person. Very young children and very old people usually have a slower body metabolism. Young people in their teenage years have the strongest. That is why vitamins are not commonly given at birth but only after 2 months. For geriatric (old) patients, the same principle applies too. The easily metabolized vitamin is a good choice.

Third, is the weight or body mass of the person. The higher the weight and body mass, the stronger would be the dosage. There are vitamins which have a higher concentration than others. These maybe selected for optimum results for those with higher body mass.

Fourth, the economic status of the person. The question: "Could he afford the prolonged maintenance of the multi-vitamins? If not, then cheaper alternatives should be selected. It is of no use if the person just takes the vitamins for a week then stops because he cannot afford to buy.

Fifth, the effectiveness of the multi-vitamins as documented by people who have used them. The best advertisement of a product is still through word of mouth from actual users. Try asking around and get opinions from various users and compare them.

Sometimes, it is only through trial and error that one would be able to choose the correct multi- vitamins for himself/herself.

In this connection, it would be best to have an insurance that would respond positively to your health needs. Insurance leads will definitely provide you with an array of insurance agencies from which you could select from. If you’re an agent, you could obtain reliable data of clients from insurance leads.

How to Cook Papaitan- a Filipino Dish

Papaitan is a delicacy in the Philippines. It is also one of the favorite dishes during drinking sessions. Papaitan could use pork meat, cow meat or goat meat.


Steps

Step 1

Clean thoroughly the following parts of the goat meat: ¼-kilo skin, ¼-kilo intestines, 2/4 kilo meat.

Step 2

Cut in small cubes or small pieces measuring ½ inch and soak in pineapple juice for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is to remove the unusual odor of the meat and to make the meat tastier.

Step 3

Slice all of the following into tiny strips: one bulb of onion, 1-inch ginger, 5 pieces of red pepper, and 10 gloves of garlic and sauté with vegetable oil until tender.

Step 4

Drain the pineapple juice from the meat and mix with the condiments and sauté. Keep cooking and mixing until the meat has started to become tender. Do not stop mixing.

Step 5

Add 4 to 5 small cups of water and cover. Cook until the meat is tender.

Step 6

Get 1/3 teaspoon of goat bile (apdo in the native language) and add. You may add less or more according to how bitter you want the dish to be. Taste to determine. Allow to boil for another 30 minutes.

Step 7

Add salt and seasoning to add taste and flavor. Serve hot.


Tips

You can use a pressure cooker to reduce time of boiling.

You can forgo the addition of red pepper, but pepper adds flavor and richness to the broth.

The bile is the main ingredient that is why Pinoys call it “papaitan” from the root word "pait,” meaning bitter.

You can reduce the amount of bile according to your taste.

Serve hot because the broth is tastier when hot.


Warnings

This dish goes well with beer and alcoholic beverages. Be sure that you do not have allergies from goat meat.

Wash the meat well to avoid food contamination.

Cook the meat well with the bile to avoid food contamination.

Savor the taste of papaitan. You would not dare miss papaitan when you visit the Philippines.

You could also experiment at home and try it.

Aside from papaitan, there are dishes that are also delectable. Balut is very popular in the Philippines as a necessary food - "pampalakas ng tuhod" (to strengthen the knees,) one which adventurous persons oftentimes dare to venture into, like Holly Jahangiri , a professional writer from Texas and author of A Puppy not a Guppy. She tasted balut and this is what she said. There are “adobo” and “sisig” which are all meat dishes. They are a delight to the taste buds. You can now cook your own papaitan.