Since we know how the body burns calories it would also make sense to understand what puts the breaks on our ability to burn calories. Or in other words what slows down our metabolism?Now there are a number of factors that influence our metabolic rate. An older person burns fewer calories than a younger person, usually dropping by about 2% per decade. So if there were such a thing as copies of the same person in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s at the beach the oldest version at the beach would have a 6% slower metabolism than the version of themselves in their 20s. This is due simply to the fact they got older.[caption id="attachment_4107" align="alignleft" width="300"] To rev up our metabolism we need to take off all the brakes.Now in combination with getting older and having a slower metabolism there is also the fact that testosterone drops as we age as well. From a peak in our twenties this hormone slowly declines starting in our thirties. With less of this anabolic in our body it is more difficult to build and maintain our lean body mass. As a result a smaller frame requires fewer calories to sustain it and our metabolism slows.And besides our age and hormones there are other things which can disrupt our metabolism including prescription drugs, our sleep patterns, our overall health and our body type. With many of these we can't do too much to influence our metabolism. For example, we can't go back and choose better parents to alter our genetics. And it's tough to stop time and prevent the aging process but some people do a pretty good job of staving off the effects of aging.So knowing that there are some aspects of our metabolism that are completely out of our control means we...

When you get out of the shower are you happy with what you see? Based on the title of this blog I'm obviously talking to the guys here. Although there may be a few wives that quickly answered for them before their husbands had a chance. But seriously though are you happy with the way your body looks? No sucking in your gut. No standing sideways to the mirror. No adjusting the dimmer switch to create the perfect lighting conditions where you look your best. There are a number of things working against here and you can quickly see the difference a few decades can have on the male physique. From when we were teenagers and could eat anything any everything and burn off all this extra energy. To our twenties where we first heard the term 'freshman ten' or in some cases 'twenty'. And later to our thirties where some of the cool styles and fashion trends don't necessarily suit the body of the out-of-shape thirty something. And now that I'm in my forties I see more and more people of this vintage looking more like their parents than their kids. We look less like our high school grad pictures and more like the old pictures of relatives we would smile at when looking through photo albums. Why does this happen? And more importantly, is there anything we can do about it? Well to answer the first question would take more than a blog post unto itself. But the short answer is that we aren't the young kids smiling back at us in those pictures from summer vacation 15 or 20 years ago. We aren't producing anywhere near the same amount of androgens as we did up until our early twenties. The levels of testosterone, DHEA, androstenedione (Mark Maguire) in...

Do you like to drink? And unless you're like a few of my college buddies I'm talking about during the day, while at work or at school. I guess it's not so much a question of 'do you drink?' but rather 'what' do you drink? But you have to admit asking the question the other way got a number of you checking the calendar to see how many more days until the weekend. But seriously though when it comes to our nutrition it seems as though more emphasis is put on what to eat rather than what to drink. And this will trip up many people. How does it trip them up? By drinking things that don't support whatever their goal is. And in this case the goal could be weight loss, weight gain and or performance. So let's take a quick look at each of these to see what you should be drinking. Goal #1 - Weight Loss If you're like most people that go to the gym then your goal is weight loss. And as soon as we can agree that six packs are made in the kitchen and not the gym we'll be way further ahead than if we think we can go for extra walk after dinner to make up for the cherry strudel you had for a mid-afternoon snack. But even if we realize that our nutrition plays the most important role in our quest for the leanest physique we need to be aware that our choice of beverage can severely impact our goal. So what should be drinking? The best choice are water and green tea. There are no calories and the polyphenols and caffeine in the tea may help with your weight loss goal. Just be careful to monitor your caffeine intake and the potential for...