*
Advertisement *
Imagine A Life Where Wealth And Opportunity Are In Abundance
Follow this simple step-by-step, day-by-day plan and watch your life transform. See how virtually every business opportunity suddenly reveals a return on investment. Watch lucrative deals come your way. See how friends and family respect you more and how a new chapter in your life has begun.
Once you know "The Billionaire Way” everything becomes clearer; you’ll understand why and how people who use this system...
-
Achieve the same wealth in half the time…
-
Automatically see money-spinners other people can’t…
-
Have lucrative opportunities chase THEM…
-
Command the respect and admiration of all they come in contact with…
-
Succeed at business opportunities where others fail.
Money falls in the lap of the people who follow this system, which has proven itself time and time again.
Grabbing the Currency Bull by the Horns
Every day, you hear about oil and metal prices going up. And now, you can make some nice money from these trends ... through something called Commodity Currencies.
"Commodity Currencies" come from countries where commodities are the main driving force of the economy. At the five-year mark, we're not even halfway through - probably not a quarter of the way through - what looks to be a long commodity bull run. So it just makes sense to put your money in currencies with an appreciation that will be fueled by the No. 1 bull market in the world.
Here are a couple of currencies that should have substantial upside potential:
Canadian Loonie: Thank you, oil! The massive Alberta tar sands discovery should be bolstering the Loonie for quite a while. With oil reserves potentially larger then those of Saudi Arabia, Canada is set to profit from oil exports not for years but decades.
Australian Dollar: Metal prices just keep going up and up. Copper is in huge demand, and Australia has the world's fourth-largest copper reserves. Gold has hit a new 20-year high, and Australia has the third-largest reserves of gold. As metal prices go up, so will the Australian dollar.
This is a great time to diversify away from a weakening dollar with these currencies. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how to do it with a Forex account.
- Andrew Gordon
"Exercise is done against one's wishes and maintained only because the alternative is worse."
- George Sheehan
How to Get the Most Out of Your Workout
By Craig Ballantyne
Tired of inefficient workouts that often take an hour or more to complete?
You can replace that boring routine with simple exercises that work all the major muscle groups in 15 minutes - and have the following advantages:
-
You get your workout completed faster, because you work more muscle groups with each exercise.
-
You reduce your risk of injury, because these exercises train muscles that are generally neglected during machine-based workouts.
-
You can achieve greater improvements in bone density, because most of these exercises are done in the standing position.
-
You increase your functional strength, making everyday tasks easier.
-
You can increase your sports performance, because many of these exercises train the large muscles in the back of your legs - again, an area generally neglected by machine-based workouts.
The kind of exercises I'm talking about here are full-body "compound" exercises - a type of strength training.
In a moment, I'll give you a simple, 15-minute workout that works all of the major muscle groups. But first, let me tell you more about these exercises.
When most people think of the health-boosting benefits of exercise, they think of aerobics. But strength training (also known as resistance training) has also been shown to improve cardiovascular health, increase insulin sensitivity, and enhance calorie burning and fat loss. In fact, strength training is probably the most efficient way to exercise, regardless of your experience. By doing as few as 2 or 3 compound exercises each day, you can get life-changing results in minutes.
Compound exercises are functional, multi-joint, multi-muscle movements. For example, a bodyweight squat is a functional compound exercise - "functional" because it mimics the actions and movements we perform on an everyday basis. On the other hand, a leg extension done on a machine is an "isolation" exercise.
It doesn't take a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology to realize that the potential benefits from the bodysquat are much greater than those from the leg extension. In the squat, you strengthen the front and back of the thighs, butt, and calves. But the leg extension works only the front of the thighs. In addition to the superior strength gains, the squat exercise also helps improve body awareness and co-ordination. As a result, it's easier to pick up and carry heavy or awkward items in real-life situations.
The same thing applies to upper-body exercises. It is far better to master the bodyweight push-up than it is to spend time on the chest pec-deck isolation exercise that is popular in so many health clubs today.
And when it comes to the holy grail of vanity - your abs - you also get more benefit with compound exercises than with isolation, machine-based workouts. If you remember to keep your abdomen braced and strong and keep your back in a neutral position, you will get improvements in your ab strength and endurance (and posture) with each compound exercise.
Unfortunately, compound exercises are practically extinct in today's mass-market commercial gyms. Here's how to spot them and incorporate them into your program so you get more results in less time:
Some of the more common compound exercises include squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, dumbbell presses, and many rowing type exercises. And there are alternatives to all of them. If, for example, you have weak knees and can't do squats or lunges, you can still strengthen your lower body with multi-joint, multi-muscle movements called lying hip bridges or stability ball leg curls. And if you're an advanced lifter, performing single-leg versions of these exercises increases the difficulty and benefits even further.
Of course, as with any exercise, you should have a certified personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach to show you the proper technique.
Avoid machines. In general, they permit only single-joint, isolation type exercises. So instead of biceps curls and cable pulldowns, switch to chin-ups or dumbbell rows. Instead of chest pec-deck, shoulder side raises, and triceps extensions, switch to push-ups or dumbbell presses. And if you do leg curls and leg extensions, switch to squats and lunges.
This is particularly true of the best compound exercises, such as squats and chin-ups. Almost all of your muscles are contracting at some intensity when you perform them.
For example, the push-up or bench press exercise is an upper-body push movement, whereas a chin-up or rowing exercise is an upper-body pull movement. Lower-body exercises include squats, lunges, deadlifts, and step-ups. If you choose only 1 exercise from each group, you will have trained your entire body.
And now for that 15-minute full-body workout I promised you ...
Pick a compound exercise for the lower body, a compound pushing exercise for the upper body, and a compound pulling exercise for the upper body. For example, a lunge, a push-up, and a chin-up.
Perform a couple of repetitions of each for your warm-up. When you are ready, do 10 repetitions of the lunge ... followed by 10-20 repetitions of the push-up ... followed by as many chin-ups as you can. Do them all without rest ... and then rest for 1-2 minutes while you recover. Repeat 2-4 times, depending on your fitness level. Finish with a 3-minute walk as a cool-down exercise.
You can use the same format with weight exercises in the gym. Choose a dumbbell squat, a dumbbell chest press, and a dumbbell row. Keep the repetitions to 8 in each work set, as research has shown that lower reps / heavier weights burn more calories after exercise than higher reps with lighter weights.
Yes, compound exercises are hard work. But, hey, I didn't say this was going to be fast AND easy. Still, if you compare this to the machine-based, inefficient workouts that often take an hour or more to complete, I think you'll agree that efficient and effective compound exercises are far more functional for today's environment and time limitations.
[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne trains athletes and executives in Toronto, and writes for Men's Fitness magazine. His trademarked Turbulence Training workouts and his comprehensive workout manuals (including "The Ultimate Bodyweight Workout") are featured on his website www.TurbulenceTraining.com.]
Today's Action Plan
You heard the man! If you're used to doing strength training with machines, talk to your trainer about substituting compound full-body exercises. Whether you're a beginner or at an advanced level, the advantages, as Craig Ballantyne explained today, are clear.
*
Advertisement *
Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year...
(PS: You're Fired!)
"I didn't think it would be this quick or this drastic," said one newly unemployed Detroit man.
General Motors Corp. is closing nine North American plants as part of an effort to achieve $7 billion in cost reductions, according to an announcement last week.
Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world's largest automaker, said "the decisions were very difficult because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work." Some 30,000 manufacturing jobs will be eliminated - and GM workers are not alone. Thousands of Ford employees are expecting similar news soon.
For decades now, a job in Detroit has meant a lifetime of secure work and a decent middle class retirement. Those days are over. And the effects will be felt all across America.
Will your livelihood be safe in 2006?
The answer is "absolutely, positively, YES!" if you have a job like Tony Roeder ($2 million/yr), Rob Johnston ($15 million/yr) or Bob Stiller ($116 million/yr).
Find out what they're doing right…and how you can do the same…
http://www.isecureonline.com/Reports/700SGSBA/E700FC07/
Notes From Michael Masterson's Journal: Waiting for World Domination
The Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girl Contest. That was the name of the American Idol knockoff that captured 400 million viewers in China this year. Hunan TV in Changsha is producing one blockbuster hit after another, primarily by importing and reprocessing American pop culture for "the nation's increasingly trendy youth," as The New York Times put it.
You can't stop American culture, especially the quick-and-easy, schmaltzy-glitzy stuff that is manufactured in Hollywood, Nashville, and wherever it is that they produce ghetto entertainment. America's way of amusing itself is ubiquitous, irresistible, and subversive (see Word to the Wise, below) - as any good fundamentalist, Arab, or Christian, will tell you.
We don't need to invade and plunder to conquer. That only breeds pockets of stubborn resistance, which costs us billions of dollars and thousands of lives. It would be much easier to sit back and let the entertainment industry do its thing. Third-world cultures and second-world economies will collapse from their own weight. It will take a few years, but it will happen.
5 Gifts for $500 and Up
Yesterday, we took a look at 13 holiday gifts for under $100. Today, let's go upscale.
Here are five $500+ gifts that Consumer Reports recently listed as "products with outstanding performance, value, or both":
1. Panasonic VDR-53PP digital camcorder, $505
2. Brother Pacesetter NX-200 electronic sewing machine, $700
3. Bose Acoustimass 6 Series III speakers, $700
4. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT SLR camera, $1,000
5. Landice L7 Series Pro Sports Trainer treadmill, $2,900
(Source: December 2005 Consumer Reports)
- Charlie Byrne
* Advertisement *
Want to Bypass the Property “Bubble"?
Here’s the Safest Way to Make Fast Cash in Real Estate…
Are you cash strapped at the moment? Poor credit? Thinking about real estate but worried about the property bubble? Well, consider this…
When I started in real estate, I had just closed a failed restaurant. I was going through a divorce, and I had a negative net worth. When I discovered the system you are about to learn about… I made $14,000 within my first 8 weeks.
Then I got serious and started to make some real money… including over $100,000 CASH in a single month… twice! And I have proven this works over 300 times. I'd like to tell you how you can take the same road… without the trial and error… and without missing out on the opportunities that are available right now...
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SWFQC/E700FBB1
Word
to the Wise: Subversive
Something that is "subversive" (sub-VUR-siv) is in opposition to a civil authority or government.
Example (as I used it today): "America's way of amusing itself is ubiquitous, irresistible, and subversive - as any good fundamentalist, Arab, or Christian, will tell you."
