On your off days, make sure you relax. Intense training sessions should be kept to a maximum of 3-4x per week. It’s imperative to use the other days to rest and recoup. Is it okay to insert some low intensity cardio if you so wish? Sure. But you needn’t do it daily. If you’re training hard on the weights 3x per week, I’d say you should do no more than 2 cardio sessions for the week. Always take 1-2 days for complete rest; sit on your rump and chill out a bit.
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a plant. The above ground parts and seeds are used to make medicine. The seeds are more commonly used.
Milk thistle is used most often for liver disorders, including liver damage caused by chemicals, Amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning, jaundice, chronic inflammatory liver disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and chronic hepatitis. Nevertheless, researchers have not yet concluded with certainty that milk thistle is effective for any of these uses.
Milk thistle is also used for loss of appetite, heartburn(dyspepsia), and gallbladder complaints.
Some people use milk thistle for diabetes, hangover, diseases of the spleen, prostatecancer, malaria, depression, uterine complaints, increasing breast milk flow, allergy symptoms, and starting menstrual flow.
In foods, milk thistle leaves and flowers are eaten as a vegetable for salads and a substitute for spinach. The seeds are roasted for use as a coffee substitute.
Milk thistle gets its name from the milky sap that comes out of the leaves when they are broken. The leaves also have unique white markings that, according to legend, were the Virgin Mary’s milk. Don’t confuse milk thistle with blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus).
How does it work?
Milk thistle seed might protect liver cells from toxic chemicals and drugs. It also seems to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Milk thistle plant extract might enhance the effects of estrogen.
Women's Weight Training Myth #2
Weight training makes you stiff and musclebound.
If you perform all exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase. Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.
Quality Contraction For Muscle
Bodybuilding is all about training muscles, not lifting weights. You must use the weights and proper technique in order to target certain muscles of muscle groups. Weights are just a means to an end. In order to train effectively, you have to isolate the muscles you are targeting. When out of the gym and you are lifting something with your legs, and not your back, this technique deliberately brings as many muscles into play as possible to protect you from injury. In the gym, however, you don’t want to make the lift easier, in fact you want to target muscles to do all the work, with little or no help from other muscle groups.
Good exercise prevents a number of ailments associated with aging
Many of the conditions we link to old age are really a result of not exercising and eating healthily. By combining an exercise program of aerobic conditioning with strength training you can grow old gracefully. It may just make the difference between using a wheelchair and pushing one.