The Basics: The nutrients in food can be divided into two classes: macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). In order for your body to feel healthy and energized, and to function at its best, it's important to make smart decisions about the types of food you eat. The rest of this section will explain the basics of several nutrients.

What is Creatine?  Creatine is a compound that can be made in our bodies or taken as a dietary supplement. The chemical name for Creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. That sure is a mouth full - which is why it is much easier to just call it creatine. Here is the chemical makeup of creatine -

The Beginners Guide To Strength training
There is an endless array of strength training programs and theories out there, much of it geared toward bodybuilders and advanced exercisers. If you’re just getting started, it’s quite easy to become totally confused by all of the anatomical terms and gym jargon. We’d like to fill in the gap by giving you the foundation of any safe and effective strength training routine. You’ll learn the names of the major muscle groups and the exercises that target them, the difference between sets and reps, the elements of proper form, and the basics of frequency and progression.

Your muscles grow when they recover after heavy stress that you put on them in the gym. Your body 'thinks' that you were running for your life from a lion and nearly escaped, and it builds some extra muscle to make sure that you outrun that lion next time he finds you! The same story in other words: when you stress your muscle to the limit, it develops micro-injury. When it repairs the damage, having enough time and material, it 'overdoes' a little, to prevent you from having that 'micro-injury' in the future.

"You know, I've been going to the gym, exercising now for quite a while but really, I don't feel much better. I mean, I just don't and I'm wondering if, well, I guess if maybe exercise won't help me. My shoulder still hurts as much as ever, I can't even pick up a six pack of Coke without hurting so how am I ever going to hit a tennis ball again? I don't know.

It's summer - that time of year when women torture themselves over how they look, around total strangers, in about 1 yard of fabric. This is when you see headlines on health and fitness magazines like, "Have Amazing Hips in 5 Days!" or, "Tone Your Tummy with These Easy to Do Exercises in Just 7 Minutes a Day!"

Most people understand that to have stronger muscles you have to exercise, but did you know that you also have to

count?  I've run into a few folks who lift weights or use some type of exercise machine until they feel tired.  Their argument is that as long as each time you exercise you feel tired, well, who cares how many repetitions you do?  What matters is that your muscles are tired.  Right?

Not quite.  Yes, exercising until you're tired is better than not exercising at all but why not get the most out of your time every time?  Why waste it?  Counting the number of repetitions is important for a few reasons and I'll cover one of them today: fatigue.