Increase Your Performance, Libido and Energy

You know the drill or rather, you hate it. It’s Friday night and you’re dead tired. It’s been a hellish week at work, you’ve had late nights trying to catch up with work, then attending a series of monotonous networking socials with workmates or clients. Or perhaps that project you’ve been working till midnight for the last month just got tanked and nailed by management and the powers that be – and you can’t give a toss because you’re not enjoying your job anymore.

Maybe you’re traveling with work away from home too much and hate airline food, your bills keep piling up while the bank balance nosedives, your wife or partner is upset by something or the other,  the kids don’t recognise you and even “nice doggie” snarls in your direction when you walk through door.

You don’t have the energy for sex and when you do, the aforementioned wife/partner doesn’t want to indulge you because you haven’t had enough time for bonding and building intimacy.

Your belly’s sagging over your pants, your eyes are bloodshot, your face is hollow and strained, you’re breathing funny, you’re avoiding the doctor’s chair and the last time you visited a gym was Before Christ.

You’re stressed and to be honest, somewhat depressed and distressed.

To relieve the strain, you reach out for the old trusted bottle of Jack Daniels and indulge yourself in a tot or two, or three.

Or you choose to spend the Friday night partying like a teenager and drowning your sorrows in alcoholic daze in the vain hopes of forgetting all your problems. Problem is they’re still there the next day.

Alright gentlemen, it’s time for a health and wellbeing check. Yes indeed. Sometimes the crazy pace of everyday life can mean we often forget to stop and take stock of our wellbeing, and instead we find ourselves trying to manage stress and weariness in harmful ways.

If you’re overly stressed, then you need to do whatever you can, because life’s too short to be a candidate for a Betty Ford clinic or a triple bypass.

How can you better improve your performance so you can always be at your peak, both mentally and physically, everyday?

A great way to boost your energy level is to increase fluid intake and make sure you’re well-hydrated – that makes a difference to our cells, circulation and energy. If we’re deficient in water, we need to draw it from somewhere else. And normally it’s from the bowel or other cells that are considered non-essential. That’s why people feel constipated and they become sluggish. Water gets your brain and heart into gear – it affects our mental functioning.

Another tip is to eat a broad variety of foods. Some men get stuck in their ways and stick to potatoes and meat. We should include more fish to make sure we get the oils needed for every cell in the body. Lifting energy and not becoming fatigued helps men with their quality of life and their relationships.

What are the essential nutritional needs of men that can boost performance?

Men tend to miss out on their vegetables. Vegetables are a great source of B-vitamins, and they also give us our fibre, which prevents us from becoming constipated and keep us moving.  How do they help exactly? They:

• Support energy production;
• Support exercise performance;
• May support the maintenance and repair of muscle tissue; and
• Are traditionally used to relieve stress and may assist male sexual performance.

So to enhance your energy and get those extra nutrients and vitamins, eat your veggies!

How can you tackle low libido?

Firstly, look closely at the types of medication you’re on – particularly if they are feeling fatigued and their energy is low. Depression can be a cause as well – it affects your energy and sleep. Essentially it’s locking yourself in a prison: even though you’re expressing something on the outside, it may not be the way you feel on the inside. So people who are depressed tend to attack themselves in some way and it brings down their confidence.

Part of libido is how you feel: attitudes towards sex and towards yourself. It’s also a creative expression. Libido is instinctual – it could be an attraction or feeling of desire. But depending on how you use it, it can be transformed into something creative. It might come out through your art, music or sport. We can use that drive and energy for other things, not just for sex. 

What is the best way to treat low libido?

Keeping everything flowing and getting good nutrition. In terms of herbs, tribulis is a big one. It has been shown to increase testosterone in men and works very well. And ‘withania’ is another one for libido – in India it is known as the ‘herb of one hundred husbands’. It works as a tonic, or an ‘adaptogen’, which allows us to adapt and deal with stress, and it also has a relaxing effect. Other favourites are Korean and Siberian ginseng.

Stress is also something that really needs to be dealt with when addressing low libido and stamina. Look at the things you can do to reduce stress. Take time out for yourself and exercise. Exercise lets us burn off the extra stress hormones we have, and also gives us time to process things. We recommend exercising without music for that very reason. Get some fresh air and be with your thoughts.

Find something that helps you to relax. Yoga is fantastic for the stretching and exercise. Often you’re in a room full of beautiful women as well! I often give that as a tip to men: if you’re single, go to yoga class – you’ll get a lot out of it, and you might even meet someone there.

Massage is another great thing for stress relief. It’s often the only time people really take time out for themselves. Just 1-1½ hours, just for you. To recharge and take a break from the stimulation that surrounds us. People see it as a pampering thing when it’s not – it is essential.

Are there any foods that are good for lifting libido?

Zinc rich foods are good. Including nuts in the diet is very important – pumpkin seeds contain the right minerals for libido performance and a source of fats, too, particularly the ones we tend to be deficient in. Almonds are known as the ‘king of nuts’ because of their zinc, magnesium and omega-6 content. Cashews and good also, as are avocados – more so for the fatty acids.

Magnesium is often something we can be deficient in, too. This is important for energy production and blood sugar levels. It also helps us to relax the body and eases muscle tension. Try taking vitamin supplements with magnesium to help boost your overall performance.

Other key health tips for men:

A. Prostrate checks – prostrate cancer is one of the biggest killers of men so please dudes, make sure you see your doctor for a full health check annually to make sure you’re on top of the game.

B. Heart health & cholesterol levels – don’t let bad cholesterol sneak up on you and rob you of your lifeblood literally. Keep that ticker going strong for as long as you can with healthy exercise, moderate drinking, clinically proven supplements such as OmegaGen Cardio and overall healthy eating!

You’re important dude, so stay healthy, keep in shape and live the best life you can!!

Secrets to a Great Six Pack

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get rid of ab flab and sport a muscly six pack for the world to see? Or at least for your girl to bumpily run her fingers over? A six pack in six months? Oh, sweet joy. However, it’s easier said than done and ab crunches and exercises can get very boring, repetitive, tough and annoyingly slow to visibly shift any fat.

Help is now at hand … You no longer need torture yourself with thoughts of how hard it is and give up! MSP’s health guru has compiled the best possible info for you to: a) gain your six pack more effectively and, b) eat better to maintain your new hot physique (or at least the one you’re dreaming of).

A. The not-so-revolutionary method of staggered sets!!

Staggered sets are a method of exercising a stubborn body part or fitting in one because of time constraints. It’s been a time tested fitness strategy for decades and may end your ab-training quandary.

The idea is simple; in between a set of an exercise perform a set of an abdominal exercise. For example perform a set of bench presses followed by a set of crunches. After a brief rest perform another set of benches followed by another set of crunches. Keep this format up until you have completed all of you sets of presses and move to your next exercise. If your next exercise is pull-ups for example follow each set of pull-ups with leg raises until you have performed the required number of sets of pull-ups.

This type of workout keeps your heart rate elevated and by performing more work in the same amount of time you normally exercise, burns more calories.

You can incorporate a variety of abdominal exercise in your training and switch with each exercise. Crunches, leg raises, Russian twists and abdominal machines can all be incorporated in this program.

For the most part, you will not deplete your strength for other body parts by using this method, just remember to focus on the exercise at hand and not rush through your workout. In other words don’t look past one exercise to another.

Staggered sets can also be used for other body parts. If you have a problem developing your calves, you can perform a calf raise in between a set of curls or rows. The concept of staggered sets is to provide extra attention to a neglected or slow growing body part without staying in the gym longer than necessary. Here is a sample workout you can use as an example for an upper body workout:

Set 1:

Bench Press 12 reps

Crunches 25 reps

Bench Press 12 reps

Crunches 25 reps

Bench Press 12 reps

Crunches 25 reps

Set 2:

Pulldowns 10 reps

Leg Raises 20 reps

Pulldowns 10 reps

Leg Raises 20 reps

Pulldowns 10 reps

Leg Raises 20 reps

Set 3:

Shoulder Press 10 Reps

Twisting Crunches 20 reps

Shoulder Press 10 reps

Twisting Crunches 20 reps

Shoulder Press 10 reps

Twisting Crunches 20 reps

Set 4:

Curls 15 reps

Machine Crunches 15 reps

Curls 15 reps

Machine Crunches 15 reps

Curls 15 reps

Machine Crunches 15 reps

Set 5:

Dips 12 reps

Seated Knee Raises 25 reps

Dips 12 reps

Seated Knee Raises 25 reps

Dips 12 reps

Seated Knee Raises 25 reps

After this staggered set workout, you will stagger out of the gym one-step closer to that ripped midsection!

B. The Six Pack Meal Plan

Go for 4-5 meals a day. This will help tame the problem of overeating. If you starve yourself at breakfast, you’re going to hog out on lunches. So better you fill up the tank in small quantities as and when your body requires it. You don’t have to starve, but you have to optimize eating. The breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. Reason: Your daily activities will take care of the calories consumed at the breakfast. So your body will be fueled for your daily routine. Remember, it is not worth starving yourself and falling ill. The key is to eat right. And dinners should be kept a bit on the lighter side, as there is no activity for the body after dinner (except for a few insomniacs). If the calories consumed during dinner are not burnt (and they won’t be) they will be absorbed as fat. So remember, heavy breakfast, light lunch and lighter dinner. And throw in some snacks in between, from those given later in the article.

First let us be very clear on what is good and what is bad for the six pack diet plan. For one, excess is certainly not good. Excess eating or excessive under-eating for that matter is going to work against you. One can’t go off fat. Unfortunately, fats are required for daily bodily processes and body needs to be supplied with those. Same goes for carbs. Overdoing the protein isn’t good thing either as protein isn’t very easy to digest.

Now that we’re clear on that, let us define how much of what is required. Fats should be kept to their minimum requirement. On the other hand, you have to substitute carbs with protein and fiber. Yes. A good high fiber diet will help the metabolism and will help you feel full without adding any unnecessary calories.

And what foods are recommended in the six pack diet plan? Well, anything that comes in a pack or a can is better kept away. Processed foods generally have a lot more sugar than is required in a six pack diet plan. Also if you’re looking at cooking, stick to boiled and roasted foods, rather than fried foods. Fish and egg whites are the best thing for six pack diets. So pack your meals with tuna, salmon and even chicken. Sushi is supposed to be one of the best diet foods. Also you can add all those leafy vegetables and fruits which happen to be a good source of fiber and daily vitamins. A high fiber diet will also go a long way. But remember, not all fruits may be good for the diet. Among the tried and tested ones, raw apples are really good. You can also substitute the white bread with brown and white flour with whole grain flour. Other foods include oatmeal, whole grains and sprouts. I know it looks like a pretty raw deal, but with a bit of creativity and inventiveness, you can make the best of a bad deal. Club the spinach with roast chicken and brown bread to make a diet sandwich. To spruce up your oatmeal you can add prunes and raisins. Sugar free ice-cream once in a while is not bad either. Nuts and almonds make a pretty good mid-meal snack option. And yes, drink a lot of water.

Some things that are best avoided are packaged foods, soda, alcohol and sodium-rich foods. Red meat isn’t a good idea either. Watch the cheese and mayonnaise intake as well.

Typical Six Pack Abs Diet Plan – To get you started, here’s a sample meal plan you could follow:

8 am: Breakfast
- Egg white omelet, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast

11 am: Snack
- Turkey sandwich with whole wheat bread (NO cheese or mayo!!).

2 pm: Lunch -
 8 ounces of top round steak, 2 boiled red potatoes, 1 cup of cottage cheese (make it non-fat)

5 pm: Snack
- 1 chicken breast, 1 cup of steamed brown rice, 1 small salad.

8 pm: Dinner
- 8 ounces of fish (salmon/tuna), 2 cups of whole wheat pasta, 1 small salad.

So go ahead, WORK THAT BODY! And write to us when and if you get any results! If it doesn’t work, you just ain’t crunchin’ as hard as you need to!

The Stylemeister. (excerpted from ‘Less Fat in Less Time – Rich Fitter – www.exercisegroup.com)

Loose fitting clothes – art or deception?

There are reasons why men wear what they wear. And at Style Power we have looked into the psyche of why we do such a thing. Men will usually wear what they are use to or have seen. But they also wear clothes to purposely look good or bad. (I see you’re perplexed) In this instance, loose fitting clothes are to hide something, and in most cases it’s a body that men don’t feel good in. And this is the reason why in our e-book we unpack the archetypes of men as well as disclosing 3 key body shapes to educate you in what will really look good on you, and more importantly make you feel good.

In a word loose fitting clothes represent, sloppy. Eek. (Unless of course you are a rapper). Choose clothes that fit your body. This might take some experimentation by mixing and matching certain cuts and styles until you find the right fit for your body that is flattering; but it is worth the time.

Oscar G doesn’t wear skinny jeans. Oscar G is a real man.

Woopsie!

Oscar G doesn’t wear skinny jeans. Oscar G is a real man.

When Oscar G (a friend of the StyleMeister) posted the following status on Facebook today “ I don’t wear skinny jeans’” he didn’t expect the mad rush of responses. In just an hour, the man had 45 comments of all them giving the man a big nod.

It seems that although we argue endlessly about the ethics of nuclear war, squabble about who killed Michael Jackson and trade blows on Iraq, there’s one thing we all (all?) unanimously agree on – tight, bum squeeze denim is a definite no-no!

See, the bum squeezer only looks great on anorexic female models and some normal chics. The minute real men try and floss in tight jeans they look like human popsicles – their guts and nether parts are suddenly thrown into relief and wait for it … we all begin to question just how comfortable they are with themselves, (and their sexuality) if they’re constantly mincing around in skeletal jeans and tight trousers.

When you’re trying too hard to fit it all in, it doesn’t work and it shows!

So unless you’re a ditsy Zac Efron, The Jonas Bros, an alien from outer space, Robin Hood or an all American baseball player whose being paid millions to wear them, puhleeeesssse avoid the bum squeezer!

Skinny jeans don’t live here gents because Style 101 for Men is for real men … not posers!