http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
From Apartment Therapy → Proof that IKEA’s TOBIAS Chair Works With Any Style
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/the-ikea-dining-chair-that-works-with-any-style-237348′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
From Apartment Therapy → Proof that IKEA’s TOBIAS Chair Works With Any Style
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/the-ikea-dining-chair-that-works-with-any-style-237348′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Let us get this out of the way right now: You do not have to bake cupcakes. You do not have to run the office birthday calendar, volunteer to organize happy hour, or consistently pick up the slack for the same mysteriously absent coworker. Being too nice at work comes with a whole host of (extremely well-documented) pitfalls, especially if you happen to be female — this isn’t about that.
This is about the fact that working in an office means working in relatively close quarters with a bunch of stressed-out people thrown together by circumstance, and that experience is generally more pleasant when people attempt to demonstrate some appreciation for the basic humanity of their fellow workers. Which you do already, obviously! We are all just doing the best we can in this life.
But since it is usually possible to be better at most things, here are six small things we could all be doing to be just a little bit kinder to the people who work with us, vent with us, and may someday endorse us on LinkedIn.
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/6-tiny-ways-to-be-thoughtful-at-work-236551′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Maybe you’re looking for a little bit fancier way to jazz up a batch of brownies than a sprinkling of powdered sugar or the addition of everyone’s favorite Halloween candy. Look no further than these cheesecakec-marbled brownies. Sure, they look gorgeous, but they taste even better! Simply by adding a swirl of orange-scented cream cheese to your favorite brownie batter, you’re creating a Halloween-themed pan of brownies that will knock the socks off your book club friends.
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/brownies-go-boo-with-a-cream-cheese-swirl-236512′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
(Image credit: Amazon)
Castile soap has become a household staple for environmentally conscious cleaners everywhere. It can be used to lather up in the shower or to clean away grit and grime around the house.
But do you know what Castile soap is and what makes it so versatile?
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-castile-soap-and-how-does-it-work-236538′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
Push-ups!
Maybe the most primal and basic of all exercises. We all know what they are. We all try to do them and know they’re good for us.
But like squats and pull-ups, 95% of the people I see doing push-ups do them wrong. Ruh roh.
Right now you might be wondering whether you’re in the 95% or the 5%. You might also be wondering what the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is.
Well, I can help you with both of those. The answer to the second question is 11 meters per second.
As for the first question, I’m going to make sure you are in the 5% by the end of this article. Here are the five most common mistakes I see when people do push-ups. If you are concerned at all about your shoulder health or longevity of your muscles and building functional strength, read on!
Build an incredibly solid foundation, and you’ll be on your way to attempting more complex bodyweight movements in no time. But like the foundation of any house, you need to start with a solid base.
That solid base means doing functionally correct squats, push-ups, and pull-ups.
Let’s put the “fun” back in “functionally correct push-ups!”
(Yes I realize that’s not a “thing” but trust me, the jokes are only going to get worse from here on out.)
Watch the video below, read the accompanying cues, and start doing correct push-ups today!
Click the video to play, or view here.
Mistake #1: Flaring your elbows out wide. In a correct push-up, hand position and elbow position are crucial. Your elbows should be tucked in slightly, not out like a chicken!
Solution: Imagine you were trying to give someone a light push. You wouldn’t squeeze your elbows directly into your side, and you wouldn’t lift your elbows up to your ears (hopefully). Instead, you will likely fall somewhere halfway between that.
In other words, when you drop into your standard push-up, your upper arms should be at your sides at about a 45 degree position to your body. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Be sure to set yourself with a good starting position, with your hands about shoulder-width apart on the ground or just slightly wider. Too wide will allow those elbows to flare outwards!
Mistake #2: Not doing a full rep (and not knowing what a full rep really looks like).
Not sure if you are doing a full rep? You should be able to pick your hands up off the floor at the bottom (called a hand-release push-up in the CrossFit world). You don’t actually have to lift your hands up, but if doing so at the bottom of your push-up would require some Wingardium Levi-oh–sa action (i.e. you are not all the way to the ground) then you can stand to go lower!
Solution: Touch your chest to the floor. (And check your ego at the door.) If you can’t touch your chest to the floor and do a proper repetition, see Mistake #5.
Mistake #3: Not maintaining a straight line from head to toes. Don’t do the worm! Your whole body should move up and down together. We often see this when people get tired or do too many reps… their upper body comes up before their lower body! Your body should basically be in a plank position from head to toe: core tight, butt clenched, through the entirety of the reps!
Solution: “Tight gut, tight butt.” First, simply make sure you aren’t doing the worm, and if you are, squeezing the midsection and hips is an easy to remember cue.
Mistake #4: Your head/nose touches the ground first. Your chest should be the first thing to touch the ground, not your nose – unless you’re Pinocchio and you’ve been telling lies.
Solution: Stop lying. ALSO, keep your head tucked back slightly to prevent the chicken head. If you follow the other cues to make sure you are achieving a full repetition, poor head alignment will be obvious (it will hit the ground!).
Mistake #5: Trying a variation that is too hard, with too little strength. When we load too much weight on an exercise, try a bodyweight variation that is too difficult, or attempt more reps than we have the strength for, form breaks down in all sorts of weird ways. If you try the solutions we’ve presented above and STILL can’t manage a pretty push-up, then an easier push-up variation is the best course of action.
Solution: Easier push-up variations! If you can’t do a push-up with proper form, work up to them! If you need to, start with knee push-ups. If you need to start with something a little easier, try doing push-ups with your hands on a stable elevated surface. You can also combine the two and do knee push-ups on an elevated surface. Set good form now, and you will make progress much faster. It is far better to do easier variations with proper form than to do crappy regular push-ups.
Start doing better push-ups today!
My dear Rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing push-ups.
To recap:
Make sure you’re on our email list for an upcoming announcement about a special bodyweight-related project!
What are some other problems you have with push-ups?
Feel more confident to give them another shot after today?
Let us know!
-Steve
###
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
Push-ups!
Maybe the most primal and basic of all exercises. We all know what they are. We all try to do them and know they’re good for us.
But like squats and pull-ups, 95% of the people I see doing push-ups do them wrong. Ruh roh.
Right now you might be wondering whether you’re in the 95% or the 5%. You might also be wondering what the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is.
Well, I can help you with both of those. The answer to the second question is 11 meters per second.
As for the first question, I’m going to make sure you are in the 5% by the end of this article. Here are the five most common mistakes I see when people do push-ups. If you are concerned at all about your shoulder health or longevity of your muscles and building functional strength, read on!
Build an incredibly solid foundation, and you’ll be on your way to attempting more complex bodyweight movements in no time. But like the foundation of any house, you need to start with a solid base.
That solid base means doing functionally correct squats, push-ups, and pull-ups.
Let’s put the “fun” back in “functionally correct push-ups!”
(Yes I realize that’s not a “thing” but trust me, the jokes are only going to get worse from here on out.)
Watch the video below, read the accompanying cues, and start doing correct push-ups today!
Click the video to play, or view here.
Mistake #1: Flaring your elbows out wide. In a correct push-up, hand position and elbow position are crucial. Your elbows should be tucked in slightly, not out like a chicken!
Solution: Imagine you were trying to give someone a light push. You wouldn’t squeeze your elbows directly into your side, and you wouldn’t lift your elbows up to your ears (hopefully). Instead, you will likely fall somewhere halfway between that.
In other words, when you drop into your standard push-up, your upper arms should be at your sides at about a 45 degree position to your body. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Be sure to set yourself with a good starting position, with your hands about shoulder-width apart on the ground or just slightly wider. Too wide will allow those elbows to flare outwards!
Mistake #2: Not doing a full rep (and not knowing what a full rep really looks like).
Not sure if you are doing a full rep? You should be able to pick your hands up off the floor at the bottom (called a hand-release push-up in the CrossFit world). You don’t actually have to lift your hands up, but if doing so at the bottom of your push-up would require some Wingardium Levi-oh–sa action (i.e. you are not all the way to the ground) then you can stand to go lower!
Solution: Touch your chest to the floor. (And check your ego at the door.) If you can’t touch your chest to the floor and do a proper repetition, see Mistake #5.
Mistake #3: Not maintaining a straight line from head to toes. Don’t do the worm! Your whole body should move up and down together. We often see this when people get tired or do too many reps… their upper body comes up before their lower body! Your body should basically be in a plank position from head to toe: core tight, butt clenched, through the entirety of the reps!
Solution: “Tight gut, tight butt.” First, simply make sure you aren’t doing the worm, and if you are, squeezing the midsection and hips is an easy to remember cue.
Mistake #4: Your head/nose touches the ground first. Your chest should be the first thing to touch the ground, not your nose – unless you’re Pinocchio and you’ve been telling lies.
Solution: Stop lying. ALSO, keep your head tucked back slightly to prevent the chicken head. If you follow the other cues to make sure you are achieving a full repetition, poor head alignment will be obvious (it will hit the ground!).
Mistake #5: Trying a variation that is too hard, with too little strength. When we load too much weight on an exercise, try a bodyweight variation that is too difficult, or attempt more reps than we have the strength for, form breaks down in all sorts of weird ways. If you try the solutions we’ve presented above and STILL can’t manage a pretty push-up, then an easier push-up variation is the best course of action.
Solution: Easier push-up variations! If you can’t do a push-up with proper form, work up to them! If you need to, start with knee push-ups. If you need to start with something a little easier, try doing push-ups with your hands on a stable elevated surface. You can also combine the two and do knee push-ups on an elevated surface. Set good form now, and you will make progress much faster. It is far better to do easier variations with proper form than to do crappy regular push-ups.
Start doing better push-ups today!
My dear Rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing push-ups.
To recap:
Make sure you’re on our email list for an upcoming announcement about a special bodyweight-related project!
What are some other problems you have with push-ups?
Feel more confident to give them another shot after today?
Let us know!
-Steve
###
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
Push-ups!
Maybe the most primal and basic of all exercises. We all know what they are. We all try to do them and know that they’re good for us.
But like squats and pull-ups, 95% of the people I see doing push-ups do them wrong. Ruh roh.
Right now you might be wondering whether you’re in the 95% or the 5%. You might also be wondering what the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is.
Well, I can help you with both of those. The answer to the second question is 11 meters per second.
As for the first question, I’m going to make sure you are in the 5% by the end of this article. Here are the five most common mistakes I see when people do push-ups. If you are concerned at all about your shoulder health or longevity of your muscles and building functional strength, read on!
Watch the video below, read the accompanying cues, and start doing correct push-ups today!
Build an incredibly solid foundation, and you’ll be on your way to attempting more complex bodyweight movements in no time. But like the foundation of any house, you need to start with a solid base.
That solid base means doing functionally correct squats, push-ups, and pull-ups.
Let’s put the “fun” back in “functionally correct push-ups!”
(Yes I realize that’s not a “thing” but trust me, the jokes are only going to get worse from here on out.)
Click the video to play, or view here.
Mistake #1: Flaring your elbows out wide. In a correct push-up, hand position and elbow position are crucial. Your elbows should be tucked in slightly, not out like a chicken!
Solution: Imagine you were trying to give someone a light push. You wouldn’t squeeze your elbows directly into your side, and you wouldn’t lift your elbows up to your ears (hopefully). Instead, you will likely fall somewhere halfway between that.
In other words, when you drop into your standard push-up, your upper arms should be at your sides at about a 45 degree position to your body. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
Be sure to set yourself with a good starting position, with your hands about shoulder width apart on the ground or just slightly wider. Too wide will allow those elbows to flare outwards!
Mistake #2: Not doing a full rep (and not knowing what a full rep really looks like).
Not sure if you are doing a full rep? You should be able to pick your hands up off the floor at the bottom (called a hand-release pushup in the CrossFit world). You don’t actually have to lift your hands up, but if doing so at the bottom of your pushup would require some Wingardium Leviosa action (i.e. you are not all the way to the ground) then you can stand to go lower!
Solution: Touch your chest to the floor. (And check your ego at the door.) If you can’t touch your chest to the floor and do a proper repetition, see Mistake #5.
Mistake #3: Not maintaining a straight line from head to toes. Don’t do the worm! Your whole body should move up and down together. We often see this when people get tired or do too many reps: your upper body comes up before your lower body! Your body should basically be in a plank position from head to toe: core tight, butt clenched, through the entirety of the reps!
Solution: “Tight gut, tight butt.” First, simply make sure you aren’t doing the worm, and if you are, squeezing the midsection and hips is an easy to remember cue.
Mistake #4: Your head/nose touches the ground first. Your chest should be the first thing to touch the ground, not your nose – unless you’re Pinocchio and you’ve been telling lies.
Solution: Stop lying. ALSO, keep your head tucked back slightly to prevent the chicken head. If you follow the other cues to make sure you are achieving a full repetition, poor head alignment will be obvious (it will hit the ground!).
Mistake #5: Trying a variation that is too hard, with too little strength. When we load too much weight on an exercise, try a bodyweight variation that is too difficult, or attempt more reps than we have the strength for, form breaks down in all sorts of weird ways. If you try the solutions we’ve presented above and STILL can’t manage a pretty push-up, then an easier push-up variation is the best course of action.
Solution: Easier pushup variations! If you can’t do a push-up with proper form, work up to them! If you need to, start with knee pushups. If you need to start with something easier, try doing push-ups with your hands on a stable elevated surface. You can also combine the two and do knee push-ups on an elevated surface. Set good form now, and you will make progress much faster. It is far better to do easier variations with proper form than to do shitty regular push-ups.
Start doing better pushups today!
There you go, my dear rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing push-ups.
To recap:
And make sure you’re on our email list for an announcement about a special bodyweight-related project!
What are some other problems you have with push-ups?
Feel more confident to give them another shot after today?
Let us know!
-Steve
###
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
(Image credit: Maria Lunarillos)
If you’ve ever scrolled through the dozens upon dozens of beautiful Bundt cakes that fill up Pinterest, then you know how hard it is to come up with a list of just 10. Consider this list just the beginning of what’s out there.
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/10-of-the-most-beautiful-bundt-cakes-we-could-find-236569′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
We really like to eat. We choose restaurants based on portion size. We work out just to increase our capacity for guilt-free gluttony. And even when we don’t actually like it, we still want it because the food industry employs experts in brain hedonic processing to engineer food products your brain literally cannot stop craving. As Louis CK put it, we don’t stop eating when we’re full, we stop eating when we hate ourselves.
I’m not immune. In college, they called me Arnold, after the pig from Green Acres, because I could (and did) out-eat anyone. Linebackers 1.5x my size were no match. I love food, but I’m not interested in cramming as much food as I can get away with. Not anymore.
I’ve mentioned the concept of the minimum effective dose before, or the smallest dose that provides the desired outcome or effect. This applies to exercise, to sunlight, to carb intake, and to calories in general.
It is this caloric efficiency that describes my goal for the last dozen years: How little can I eat and retain or build mass, have optimal energy, never get sick and still NOT GO HUNGRY?
But maybe the biggest reason to achieve caloric efficiency is that caloric restriction has the most support in the longevity research literature, with even a 10% calorie reduction having a powerful effect on mortality. Only the way most people do it—by limiting protein so much that you waste away and fail to complete a single pushup, restricting everything delicious, leading an ascetic existence, losing your sex drive, obsessing over everything that enters your mouth—doesn’t appeal to me.
If I can eat less food and feel satiated, not feel restricted, stay active, maintain and even improve my fitness, look good naked, remain productive, and quite possibly live a little longer—why wouldn’t I give it a shot?
Sounds pretty good to me. Okay, so how can we make it happen?
When you’re able to tap into your own stored adipose tissue for energy between meals, you don’t need to snack. You’re not hangry because it’s 2 PM and the break room donut box is empty. You just coast along until your nutrient-dense dinner, smoothly evading high-calorie, low-nutrient junk food.
The sleep deprivation epidemic is one of the primary causes of our junk food addiction. If that sounds ridiculous, get a load of the research showing that the brains of sleep deprived humans are more susceptible to high-reward junk food.
Don’t choose highly refined avocado oil, choose virgin avocado oil. Pass on the pale olive oil and spring for the murky green stuff. Get red palm oil instead of refined palm oil and yellow grass-fed butter instead of butter the color of chalk. If you want to thicken a sauce, stew, or curry, toss and stir in a couple egg yolks after turning off the heat.
This stuff matters. Avocado oil has a slew of benefits, EVOO has reams of literature support, red palm oil is the single best source of vitamin E (and the CoQ10 doesn’t hurt, either), and grass-fed milkfat has superior metabolic effects to corn-fed milkfat. I don’t have to list the virtues of egg yolks, do I?
If you need to add sweetness, choose a sweetener that gives back. Honey? Provides a broad spectrum of low dose micronutrients. Blackstrap molasses? Full of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Maple syrup? Loaded with manganese. Date paste? Rich in polyphenols and fermentable fiber. Even the completely processed sugar substitute xylitol offers protection against cavities that regular sugar doesn’t.
Any infusion of sucrose, glucose, and fructose has its downsides, but it’s better if it comes packaged with phytonutrients, pollen remnants, and discarded bee limbs.
Say you want to eat some “carbs.” Maybe you’re refiling glycogen or something. What’s the better choice? Which provides tons of other nutrients you need in addition to the carbohydrate?
A potato starch pancake or a baked potato?
A bag of gluten-free pasta made of rice flour that cost you $8, or a serving of sprouted wild rice cooked in real bone broth?
A scoop of waxy maize in the shake or a half cup of (dare I say it?) black beans?
It all boils down to playing with the margins. Getting little wins where you can.
Most fibrous, green, leafy, and/or brightly-colored fruits and vegetables are basically non-caloric. The carbohydrates are negligible (you probably use more glucose digesting non-starchy vegetables than they contain) and they’re inherently self-limiting; you can’t stuff yourself on greens. No one is carbing up with a salad bowl full of a couple pounds of steamed kale before a race, unless it’s a race to the nearest toilet. The higher sugar fruits can add up, but even those are hard to overdo unless you’re slamming peach after peach.
Yet they’re incredibly dense with micronutrients.
A cheat day or meal is a release valve. By setting aside a day every week or two to eat whatever you want, as much as you want, it’s easier to eat more sensibly and efficiently during the rest of the week.
For several reasons this is important:
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient. Research shows that higher protein intakes induce the most satiety and promote inadvertent calorie reduction, both of which are necessary to attain caloric efficiency.
Adequate protein protects against diet-induced muscle loss. This is particularly relevant for CRONers, who tend to waste away on their journey to immortality.
Protein-rich foods are the most nutrient-dense. Think of liver, eggs, wild salmon, sardines, oysters, mussels, and steak and you’re thinking of some of the best sources for iron, zinc, vitamin A, B-vitamins, omega-3s, copper, choline, manganese, and plenty of others. Even the most protein-dense plant foods—legumes—are extremely rich in micronutrients. Just make sure you focus on protein-rich foods rather than protein. Protein powder is certainly an effective tool, but it should never be the basis of your diet.
Everyone’s ideal “caloric efficiency” diet is unique. Figuring out the caloric efficiency of the foods you already eat will help you structure your diet better than I could. Aim to fill those RDAs.
A couple years ago, I wrote a list of the most important “supplemental foods” that any Primal eater should be including:
Because they’re so nutrient-dense, you don’t need to eat them in huge amounts. In the case of certain ones like Brazil nuts, liver, and turmeric, you probably shouldn’t eat them all the time because you risk overdoing certain critical nutrients (selenium, vitamin A, and hormetic polyphenols, respectively).
I also wrote another post on important Primal foods, with some repeats and a few more specific recommendations.
So that’s about it, folks.
What do you think about caloric efficiency? How do you strive to make your diet more efficient?
Thanks for reading.
The post The Benefits of Caloric Efficiency (and 10 Ways to Achieve It) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Bread flourishes in so many forms around the world: naan, tortillas, injera, arepas, pita, etc. And as consumers of grain-based sustenance, we all contribute to the history of bread in our own small ways.
Although you did an excellent job of finishing that bagel this morning, some of us have made a more significant impact than others. Here’s a look back at a few pivotal people in the history of bread.
<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/from-jesus-to-oprah-a-5-000-year-history-of-bread-heroes-236525′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>