This year Exec Digital brings you the top 10 ingredients that are sure to heat things up in the kitchen and the bedroom this Valentine's Day.

#1 Lavender (yes, lavender is a food!)

Our favorite recipe is lavender crème brulee, the perfect way to end a romantic dinner for two. Two spoons anyone?

#2 Pomegranates

Some say the forbidden fruit of the Bible was not apple at all, but a pomegranate. Known for its rich vitamin and well being qualities, pomegranates are high up on our list – and they are delicious too. We love quinoa, herb and pomegranate salad.

#3 Oysters

Oysters are packed with zinc, which is proven to boost the libidos of both men and women, making the perfect appetizer this Valentine's Day. Oysters are best served raw and fresh and are delicious with a dash of whisky. 

#4 Vanilla

The scent of vanilla is supposed to tantalize the nostrils of men both young and old, making it a wonderful addition to our Valentine's Day list. A winning recipe for breakfast this February 14 has to be gingerbread pancakes with parma ham and maple syrup.

#5 Ginger

Ginger is known as an aphrodisiac because of its circulation boosting qualities, but it also has a wonderful fiery and tangy taste. At Exec, we love a ginger and chicken stir fry, just wonderful. 

#6 Honey

Honey is known as the nectar of Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of sexual love and beauty. Its golden colors and delicious sweetness make it a sensual and indulgent treat this Valentine's Day. Perfect for drizzling over Greek yogurt.   

#7 Chocolate

Who doesn't love to receive chocolates on Valentine's Day? They are just pure indulgence and get the heart racing. Treat that special someone to a box of finest chocolates or make your own... even better!

#8 Figs

Figs are one of nature's most delicious treats and are full of vitality enriching vitamins. We love eating figs as they come, with a cheese board and a bottle of red wine, however you can also make some wonderful recipes, such as roasted figs with honey and ricotta. 

#9 Pine Nuts

The Roman poet, Ovid, included pine nuts in his list of aphrodisiacs owing to their high zinc content. Pine nuts are delicious when gentle roasted and sprinkled on salads. 

#10 Garlic

Garlic is perhaps the most unexpected contender on our list owing to its very strong smell, however it has the most incredible ability to stimulate the appetite and the senses, which make it a perfect addition to our Valentine's Day shopping list! 

Now that the cooking is prepared, Exec offers some Valentine's Day gift suggestions to make February 14 2013, the best one yet. 

The annual report, conducted in association with the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, found a trend reflected more philanthropic money is making its way to the front-line, with a higher proportion going towards operational charities rather than charitable trusts.

The most popular causes to give to remained the same: higher education, arts and culture, and international development. The total value was a staggering £1.241 billion, with individuals making up the most significant portion of the donations.

Maya Prabhu, Executive Director, Philanthropy Services at Coutts said in a released statement, “It’s extremely encouraging for the development of UK philanthropy to note that this is the highest number of donors and donations since we began compiling this report in 2008. Large scale philanthropy is on the increase and the more donors there are and the more they communicate about the benefits their philanthropy brings to society and what it means to them personally, the more it will grow and strengthen a new generation of philanthropists. 

“Despite the skepticism suggesting that many large scale donors are simply looking to make the most of ‘tax breaks’ on offer, our experience, as backed up by this report, is that the reality is very different. Today, the majority of the philanthropists we meet are self-made individuals, many of whom have witnessed firsthand the highs and lows of building a business, and on occasion, the possibility of losing everything. It’s a strong desire to make a contribution to the world that has afforded them so many opportunities, whilst also enriching their own lives, their families and the lives of others that we see as the main driver for their philanthropy.”

Learn more about Coutts and Jim Pittick, Senior Client Partner for Commercial Banking at Coutts, in an exclusive interview with Business Review Europe.

Ken Lindner talks to Exec Digital about ways to control your emotions while under extreme stress and pressure. 

"A few days before last Christmas, I was in an elevator with a prominent criminal attorney. During our conversation, he mentioned that he is always busiest during Christmas, New Year’s, and other times when individuals are under more stress than usual. He said that generally, crimes of passion, sexual abuse, and battery rise when people are under stress. He warned, “When people are stressed-out, they make their absolute worst choices!”

Toxic Emotions (e.g. feelings of sadness, hopelessness, alienation, hurt, rejection, and the like) and stress can block or dismantle your reasoning processes and the use of your best judgment. It can also amp up the voltage of the energy charges generated by your potentially toxic emotions. Therefore, it is essential for you to do your very best not to make important life choices when you are under an emotional barrage or high stress.

In my book, Your Killer Emotions: The 7 Steps to Mastering the Toxic Emotions, Urges, and Impulses That Sabotage You, I discuss The 7 Steps of Emotion Mastery, which enable you to make highly beneficial life choices—free from sabotaging emotions, urges, and impulses. Here are some holiday suggestions to keep you under “wraps” this season when you are at the company holiday event, family reunion or amongst the hustle and bustle:

1. First and foremost: DO NOT make an important decision or choice when you are overcome by emotions or stress!  Always, stop, cool down, and, as they say, "take the pause that refreshes."  Additionally, DO NOT opt for an immediate, emotional quick fix, response, or retaliation. Oftentimes, we opt for these short-term satisfactions, but in the big picture of our lives, these unthinking, emotion-generated reactions are counter and highly detrimental to accomplishing what we truly want for ourselves in the long term (our Gold Ring Dreams).

2. Be "Consequence Cognizant" which requires you to carefully think about and vividly visualize:

a. The most severe and heinous consequences that a poor/destructive emotionally-charged choice on your part can have on your life, your career and/or those you love; and

b.  The most positive, beneficial outcome(s) that you will secure because you took the requisite time to strategically choose the most constructive course of action.

3. If it is appropriate, try to truly understand where the other individual who is pushing your emotional buttons or evoking a potential toxic emotion-generated response from you is coming from. Strive to see things from their point of view. Chat with the person in issue, in an open and non-defensive manner. Oftentimes, learning where others are coming from brings understanding, as well as sympathy/empathy, which can diffuse and thereby lessen the strong energy charges generated within you by potentially toxic emotions.

4. Another means to diffuse your emotion-generated energy charges is to take a moment to think about all of the blessings and positives in your life. This can help you to cool down from the angst of the moment, so that you are then better able to think clearly and strategically.

5. You should NOT make important holiday choices when you are tired, experiencing high levels of stress, or have had too much caffeine. Additionally, you NEVER want to make important choices when you are under the influence of alcohol or clarity-impairing medicinal or recreational drugs. Your goal is to be cognitively clear and precise when making holiday choices. Therefore, you want to stay away from anything that can impair your cognitive processes.

Your takeaway here, is that we all experience high levels of stress and potentially toxic emotions during the holidays. I use the word "potentially," because these emotions are toxic to you and your well-being, if they trigger destructive and/or self-sabotaging acts on your part. What you want to do in these instances is to not emotionally react in these situations, but to instead, strategically and constructively choose your actions. Channel the potential negative energies that you experience into positive, life-enhancing endeavors - thereby using your emotions and their energy charges as your valuable allies.

The sweet result may well be that you will make positive, life-enhancing holiday choices, as well as gain (increased) feelings of high self-esteem, self-worth, and the core-confidence to achieve your most cherished goals."

To read more from Ken visit his website: www.yourkilleremotions.com

Ken Lindner graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University, where his honor’s thesis was devoted to the science of decision-making. He later graduated from Cornell Law School, where he focused on conflict resolution. He currently owns and operates the country’s premiere news and hosting representation firm, Ken Lindner and Associates, Inc. Among many of the notable individuals whose careers he has helped to develop are Matt Lauer, Lester Holt, Mario Lopez, Robin Meade, Megyn Kelly, Sam Champion, Tom Bergeron, Shepard Smith, and Nancy O’Dell.

It is an understatement to say David Wolfe is the King of New Age Health. Not only is he the author of a slew of best-selling books including Eating for Beauty, The Sunfood Diet Success System, Superfoods: The Food and Medicine, and the Longevity Now Program, he is also renowned as one of the nation’s leading health speakers, whose conferences are known to sell-out in a matter of days and command such reputable names as Dr. Mercola, and such devoted followers as Woody Harrelson, Anthony Robbins and Angela Bassett.

He is a hilariously dynamic speaker, whose energy is contagious. His extensive research into alternative healthcare has garnered him respect from the traditional medicine community and renegade healthcare practitioners alike, and his commitment to a sustainable world has planted tens of thousands of trees worldwide through his ‘Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.’

WHAT THE AVERAGE CEO CAN LEARN FROM THE HOLISTIC MOVEMENT

David Wolfe’s approach to holistic motivation is simple. He speaks in tidy sentences and straightforward metaphors and while he exudes an aura of tireless enthusiasm, he also maintains a gentle and relaxed demeanor. He is open and reasonable, a combination all too rarely found in this narrowly-focused tenaciously aggressive world.

Self-focused, self promotion is the golden standard in the business community. In our cut-throat marketplace business leaders think they need to emphasize their product’s value by boasting about it, but how much space does this leave for the customer’s own opinion or insight?

In a world and marketplace that is moving towards altruistic responsibility and transparent agenda, your authenticity and ethical record as a leader will become the standard at which your buyer will judge your company, and your product.

In all my time as a journalist I have interviewed over a hundred CEOs, City Officials and Superintendents totaling thousands of hours of discussion on business, success and the state of the world. However, David Wolfe is the only executive I have yet to interview that has asked for my opinion on a matter. Yes, David actually listens in conversation, he seems to value genuine dialogue and I think this hints at not only his selfless focus, but his curiosity as a thinker.

Here is our exclusive interview with the guru…

Exec Digital: David, you single man-edly run a multi-faceted holistic empire. You do everything from writing books, to lecturing, to creating quality products, to conducting ground-breaking research, to planting endangered plants, to curating leading-edge conferences, to running a school…how is all of this colossal success an out-picturing of the work you do on a cellular level through raw fruits?

David Wolfe: It has to do with energy. I have the energy to do it. I have an extra two or three hours a day that most people don’t have because they are sleeping. If you really break it down, that is what it comes down to.  If I am in the flow and things are going well, I can get by on three hours of sleep, no problem. Five hours is good. If I sleep six hours, I feel like I overslept.

ED: How does a holistic lifestyle improve one’s creativity?

DW: Definitely if you eat raw foods, and get on all organic and move away from toxic processed stuff, your dominate thoughts change. That happens. Once you are on wheatgrass instead of Coca-Cola your dominate thoughts are different. You begin to think in a non-linear fashion and get to those ideas that somebody else wouldn’t come up with.

ED: What are the best foods for creativity?

DW: Without a doubt, chocolate. Chocolate turns on parts of your brain, and turns off parts of your brain. It is very well known as an underground world in the world of writing, and movies as an intrinsic part of that creative process.

In fact, Goethe, the great romantic writer would eat bricks of baker’s chocolate, just chow down because that is what ‘did it for him.’ It made him a genius prolific creator. There are a lot of catalysts like that out there; however, chocolate is by far the most approachable. In fact, chocolate has long been a symbol of opulence. Cacao was the currency in Mexico for centuries, it was that esteemed.

Also, when Cacao is combined with mineral dense phyto-planktins like Spirulina or Chorella it makes for a blood building combination that absolutely improves brain function, mood, and energy. I really believe in combining all these unique forces to maximize overall results.

ED: What would you say is one personal attribute that maximizes success?

DW: I think discipline is the source of all success, I really think there is great power in discipline. I am a firm believer in the phrase ‘one disciplined action leads to another disciplined action.’  That is the source of all real change, one disciplined action after another. That is what I focus on, if I just do this one disciplined action, then I will most likely do another, and it just ripples outward. Eating healthy, exercising properly, getting the right mineralization in our body, these things take discipline, you have to want to do them. So it is really that simple, wanting to do the right thing and taken disciplined action towards it.

All of David’s genius teachings, products, seminar info and books can be found at www.davidwolfe.com

The study - the largest and longest to examine vitamins and heart disease ever - confirms what many doctors have long believed to be true, that supplements are unlikely to impact the path of heart health. However, the study did show positive results relative to different cancers. The cancer and vitamins study, released last month, showed multivitamins lowered cancer risk by 8 percent.

"Vitamin supplements will never be a substitute for a healthy diet," says study co-author JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. A healthy diet and exercise regimen, part can reduce cancer risks by 20 to 30%, previous studies have shown.

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Vitamin sales have proven a growing industry in the United States, growing from $4 billion in 1994 to $24 billion in 2008, the study says. In addition to the lowered cancer risk, Vice President for Scientific Affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition says vitamins do help fill some nutrient gaps and help reduce risk for birth defects.

The study showed no support that vitamins are damaging when taken in recommended doses, as some studies have previously shown, such as one that showed Vitamin E increases risk for hemorrhagic stroke.

With more than half of U.S. adults taking at least one dietary supplement, the study shows vitamins are certainly no miracle drug, but they can have positive effects in certain arenas.

However, why then, does tanning offer such a glorious-relaxing high, and a calming feeling of euphoria? 

Well over the last few years, many ‘alternative’ doctors and scientists have come out and said that the benefits of tanning are profound, due to the creation of Vitamin D caused by sun exposure. 

Dr. Mercola is the internet’s leading doctor and one of Vitamin D’s biggest supporters, “When you expose your skin to sunshine or a safe tanning bed, your skin synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. This form of vitamin D is water soluble, unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements, which is unsulfated. The water soluble form can travel freely in your blood stream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL (the so-called "bad" cholesterol) as a vehicle of transport. 

I believe this is a very compelling reason to really make a concerted effort to get ALL your vitamin D requirements from exposure to sunshine, or by using a safe tanning bed,” he reported on his website.

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Mercola interviewed Vitamin D specialist Dr. Stephanie Seneff who said this about tanning, “I think it is obvious that the reason we have this deficiency is because we have become an industrialized nation," she says. "… What we've done is we've come inside. We cover up. Even in San Diego where I live, when they measured my level it was 18 ng/ml.”

She continued, “When we did a scientific test of what it's going to take to get enough sun in San Diego… at my age – age is a factor in how much you absorb – we came to a test conclusion that it was going take 15 to 20 minutes a day in the prime time of UV, between 10 am and 2 pm, each and every day… with 40 percent of my body exposed. … I encourage people to take advantage of the sun. The only message I have about the sun is: don't burn. That's it.”

I think the truth about tanning is somewhere in the middle. Don’t try and cross ethnic-boundaries with your tan, but get out in the sun while you are alive and out of the coffin. If nothing else, it will kill off that office cubicle mold you have been accumulating. 

VIDEO: Mercola- How to Know if You are Getting Enough Vitamin D

"When I decided to go it alone, it was the height of the recession and many were telling me not to, but it's at just these times when businesses and consumers are looking for value from their suppliers and as a small business or one man band, this is exactly what you can offer.

<---James on his front porch

In fact, today's nimble start-ups can actually benefit from some considerable advantages over larger, more lumbering organisations with outdated legacy systems and inefficient modes of working. It's not unrealistic to be able to set up a profitable home business for less than a grand, that allows you to work from just about anywhere with a wifi connection. Web applications and data stored online (cloud computing; think Gmail and Google docs) are replacing traditional software and data stored locally on your computer or business server. For start-ups, the advantages of the cloud are enormous and include e-commerce, collaborative-working, customer relationship management, simpler data security, reduced maintenance, social media and the social graph, mobile technologies, analytics, reduced equipment, lower costs and access to talent from across the world. I keep in touch with partners and clients wherever they are, using applications such as Skype, Hangouts on Google+ and Join.me for video conferencing and screen sharing.

Open-source web design software such as Wordpress, Drupal mean sophisticated websites; (your shopfront to the world) can be built at minimal cost and just an investment of your time to get used to the applications.

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Having staff used to require substantial office space, but now your telephone receptionist, PA, accountant and partners (all outsourced) can be in another country entirely. Modern web applications ensure that you can work together and communicate for free, as if you were sitting in the same office.

In my previous employment, I was used to dealing with some very demanding clients and these were often the least valuable for the business. Instead, I cultivated and focused on a few high value customers that I could also offer real value to. In effect, I managed to reduce the number of poor quality clients that I worked for, the ones that don't pay on time or that are unnecessarily demanding and came to be working with clients that are a pleasure to work with. Work out who your best clients are, what commonalities they share and look to cultivate more of these kinds of clients by attending networking events, building your communities on social networks and making your website more appealing to these kinds of customers. By connecting with your communities and journalists via social networks, guest blogging and writing online articles that will get you and your business noticed, you can build your business and brand without expensive advertising. In fact, I regularly invite guest authors to contribute to my online magazine, which is a win-win for all concerned.

I believe that it's our right to design a lifestyle that works for us. I turned my life around by setting goals, making deadlines and taking action. When you go it alone, you're sure to face opposition and uncertainty, but you can worry about what people think, or you can get things done. You can't do both."

For advice on doing better business for less, visit TheRyanJamesConsultancy.com.

Tignum is an international company that specializes in Sustainable High Human Performance that helps top executives maximize their capabilities both at work and in life. Since 2005, it has been running projects all over the world with top leaders of companies such as Adidas, Unilever, Genentech, Novartis, AOL and Boston Consulting Group.

Scott Peltin, one of the co-founders and CEO of Tignum, explains that the company is not based on fitness or dieting but rather, complete sustainable performance. This means looking at the brain and body to see how they work together and how executives can use Tignum’s four pillars- Mindset, Nutrition, Movement and Recovery- in order to work sustainably and produce top results.

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Peltin, along with Jogi Rippel, the other co-founder and CEO of Tignum, combine their unique experiences from business, advertising (changing behaviors), firefighting, and human performance enhancement to help teams achieve their most critical business missions (i.e. product launches, IPO, transformations, mergers, key negotiations, etc). These teams often face the highest demands and the biggest challenges.

“Our main mission is to help critical leaders and their critical teams have more energy, more resilience, more mental agility and more executional stamina to win,” says Peltin. This means investing in the company’s leadership team in order to see optimal business results.

“We have learned that the critical pillars of sustainable human performance are mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery. We have a team of global experts that help our clients change their habits so they can improve their performance,” says Rippel.

The four pillars are:

Mindset

This is the area that Peltin explains as more complex. Instead of having just business on the brain, Tignum gets their clients to think further and ask themselves, “How do I mentally control all the thoughts in my head? How can I use mental visualization to prepare myself for key meetings or presentations? How can I mentally create a high performance mindset to design better solutions, impact and energize my team? How can I motivate my team to improve their performance a little bit every day?” Tignum knows that the brain often has more potential than we realize and they help leaders reach that potential through different mental exercises. 

Nutrition

Instead of dieting or trying to lose weight, Tignum advocates performance eating habits to help alleviate jetlag, and to have the most energy throughout the day to perform better. “For us, nutrition is not about deprivation,” Peltin explains. “It’s about becoming aware of, and maximizing, the way you eat to improve your brain performance.”

Movement

Tignum has a unique approach to movement which is not about fitness or exercise. They use techniques to find ways to maximize brain performance, have more energy and resilience, and help reduce pain in order to enjoy life both in and out of the office. They offer different types of movement for different situations whether it’s to wake up in the morning and prepare for the day, stay energized throughout the entire day, or relax and wind down in the evening.

Recovery

The term “recovery” often gets confused with vacation or something that many executives think they need to wait months for. Rather than taking a vacation, Tignum suggests taking small, strategic recovery breaks throughout each day in order to keep energy levels up and keep the brain alert and resilient. “For us, recovery is not about preventing illness, rather it’s about maximizing performance,” Peltin emphatically states.

Tignum has become a way of forward thinking that companies realize is imperative to stay competitive in the world’s leading markets. For more information about Tignum and their global programs, check out their website at www.Tignum.comand the book Sink, Float, or Swim.

A team of nutritionists and trainers has announced over the course of the past eighty-seven issues of a prominent men’s magazine that abdominal definition is within the grasp of the average newsstand shopper.

The findings have, do, and will seemingly perpetually show that a diet low in saturated fats, combined with a rigorous target training program, greatly increases the probability that you will be able to grate parmesan on your chest.

“Inside: the secret to the kind of abs the ladies will love,” said managing editor Nate Callaghan, not bothering to specify volume, issue, or page number.  “Take five minutes a day for a new you.”

“Repetition is the soul of sexy,” Mr. Callaghan added.

Observers say this breakthrough, stale and obvious though it may be, could serve an important purpose for the future of male-female relations.

“As it is, men have an increasingly tenuous hold on female sexuality,” commented prominent behavioral scientist Winston Cockburn of the University of Chicago.  “For men, driving yourself towards abnormal extremes—no pun intended—could be a way of warding off the looming demise of our species.”

Dr. Cockburn attributes this perpetual discovery to a growing realization of the inadequacy of the gender.  Men, he reasons, do not find partners without a razor-sharp, diuretic-fueled hold on their body mass index.

This would help to explain why men outside the modeling industry have been unable to court female attention without the aid of wax molds, magazine cutouts glued to the chest, or carefully arranged mirrors.

“Obviously, alcohol is playing a crucial role here, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to convince the modern woman that flab is fab,” concludes Dr. Cockburn.

Personal trainer Mark Granger has seen a marked increase in business since the magazine’s ongoing announcement.

“We can bring you from gut to cut in six months, tops,” said Mr. Granger, “And it’s all thanks to the our magazine’s secret.”

Despite ditching your New Year’s resolutions as you’ve eaten, drank and ignored physical activity with reckless abandon, there’s still time to get your act (and your physique) together for beach season.

If faced with having to dramatically change their body composition, most people would starve themselves via hypocaloric diets while they chained themselves to treadmills for marathon cardio sessions. That plan works, only if you want to be a smaller, flabbier version of your current self; not to mention working out and eating in that manner severely cripples your livelihood. Who has the time to nitpick everything they’re putting in their mouths? And unless you’re a professional athlete, do you have an hour or more each day to devote to a workout? Probably not.

Follow the simple guidelines listed below and refer to the sample training program and you’ll be pleased with your physique, perhaps by Memorial Day Weekend.

1.     Filter your intake

If you’re disciplined enough, streamline your nutritional intake instead of taking the plunge into a full-blown diet. Remove one or two bad foods, or dietary habits, each week until you’ve eliminated them entirely. Those desiring weight loss or wanting to improve their body composition should cut out the drinking. Unless you’re the token fat guy in your social circle, a beer gut at the beach is completely unacceptable. If you have one, lose it by enacting your own personal prohibition. Next, dump all sodas, sweetened teas, and sugary juices; lose the liquid calories first then cut fried foods, processed foods and refined carbs such as white breads and pastas. Late night snacks and your morning frozen latte bender can be abolished soon after.

Tip: Log your daily intake for a couple of days. Highlight foods and beverages that you’d consider to be “crap” and work to remove them item by item until they disappear. After you’ve done that, seek out healthier options. Substituting whole grains for refined carbohydrates and replacing chips and pretzels with a fruit or veggie snack will go a long way in helping you achieve the physique you’ve longed for.

2.     Unless you’re an endurance athlete, intensity trumps duration

Longer duration exercise burns more calories DURING the workout, whereas workouts that are briefer and more intense (i.e. strength training and interval training) burn more calories afterward. Following exercise, the body restores itself to its pre-exercise state. Exercise at higher intensities creates a greater physiological disturbance and forces the body to work harder to return to its pre-exercise state.

Your body will actually expend more energy following the workout as it slows heart rate and ventilation, decreases body temperature and blood lactate levels. The restoration of all of these physiological systems requires is known as Excess Post Oxygen Consumption, or EPOC, and it burns a boatload of calories. Some studies have found that EPOC lasts up to 48 hours, thus making your workout and recovery from it a two day long affair.

3.     Rest

If you’re training more intensely, you’re going to have to take time off. If you want to get stronger and more muscular, a few things must take place. Obviously, you’re going to have to commit yourself to exercise, which serves as the catalyst in getting desired results. Next, you’re going to have to rest to allow desired adaptations to occur. The duration of which you rest hinges on your training status, nutritional status, sleep duration and quality, and the physical activity you’ve engaged in. More intense exercise can only be conducted a couple of times per week, whereas lower intensity cardiovascular exercise can be performed daily. Proper rest, in conjunction with sound nutrition, will elicit desired results.

4.     Hydrate, warm-up, and stretch

With the warmer weather fast approaching, it’s critical that you get in the habit of properly hydrating. Medical experts suggest consuming 8 to 12 cups, or 2-3 liters of fluids each day. For physically active individuals that amount increases to 15-17 cups daily, or 4-5 liters of fluids daily. Not drinking enough impedes physical performance, some studies suggest up to 50 percent, and makes you susceptible to fatigue and injury with recent research linking hydration status to soft-tissue quality.

Warming up is important too, especially as you age. A five-minute apathetic ride on the recumbent bike or two “warm-up” sets of bench pressing the bar is doing jack to get you prepared for your workout. A well-rounded warm up engages the musculoskeletal, nervous and articular systems, priming them for the work that lies ahead. A warm-up should take joints through a full range of motion -- dynamic movements and bodyweight exercises work best, an increase in body temperature to the point that light sweat begins to accumulate on the brow.

Afterward, you should perform static stretching to facilitate recovery following your workout. While it seems rather unorthodox to stretch after a workout, static stretching to affix a specific joint and hold the muscle still for a period of time, is best used after your workout as a means to cool down. Some studies have suggested that static stretching can help facilitate recovery and stave off post-workout soreness.

5.     Don’t work out, train!

Working out is going to the gym or hitting the track without a goal in mind. Training on the other hand, is training to make, or better yet, exceed a goal. Goals, especially self made ones, force people to work out harder, which is exactly what training is.

6.     Push, pull, carry, sprint, and jump into a new physique.

Training sessions should be challenging. Escape the mindset that machines and gadgetry featured on late night infomercials will deliver results. Hard work will deliver results. And there are few things more gut busting than training your ass off utilizing simple movements, such as presses, squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, loaded carries, sprints, and jumping exercises.

The program

If you want to unveil a chiseled physique, or at least one that’s svelter at the beach this summer, you’re going to need a game plan. Luckily, one has been provided for you and it requires no more than three weekly trips to your local gym -- spending no more than an hour there each session, and a ton of dedication and intestinal fortitude.

The cornerstone movements

Seven movements, performed over the course of your three weekly workouts, will provide you an ample muscle building, fat incinerating stimulus.

Barbell Front Squat

Popularized by bodybuilders and used by Olympic weightlifters as an assistance exercise to the Clean and Jerk event, front squats target the quadriceps, while not beating up the shoulders and low back nearly as much as the back squat.

How to Front Squat

With an Olympic bar situated in a power rack at chest height, walk up to it, grasp it firmly, keeping a shoulder width, and pull the elbows up and through the bar. Get the core tight and take one step back with your dominant foot. Bring your non dominant foot back, meeting your dominant foot, maintaining a shoulder to hip width stance. Deeply inhale, keeping the core tight and shoot your hips rearward. Keep the upper back tight with the elbows up the entire time. Hold in the bottom for a split second before ascending. On the ascension, sit up by extending the hips and keeping the shoulders high. Remember to exhale. Get reset at the top and repeat.

Barbell Deadlift

Few exercises allow you to handle as much weight, nor deliver the growth hormone releasing effects of the deadlift. A staple in the routines of professional and collegiate athletes, bodybuilders, and strongman competitors, is probably the most demanding, yet rewarding movement of them all. Vast numbers of motor units in muscles are dispatched to assist in moving the weight, as is a connecting series of joints, including the hips, knees, shoulders, and ankles. All must work in unison to get the bar from the floor to waist height. It’s no wonder that deadlifts are among one of the elite total body strength exercises.

How to Deadlift

Assume a shoulder to hip width foot stance with an Olympic bar positioned directly over the mid foot. Shoot the hips back and down, away from the bar, while keeping your shoulders back. Grasp the bar with a double overhand grip, slightly outside of the knees. Brace the core, keeping the lower back arched (not rounded) slightly. Get the shoulders over the bar and higher than the hips. Drive through the heels to extend the hips and push the chest through, keeping the shoulders back. Your knees will extend as the bar passes them. Focus on pulling the bar back into to you, not up, as wrongly suggested by many trainers and coaches.

Overhead Press

The overhead press is one of those exercises that is commonly avoided by casual gym goers as it’s wrongly implicated in back and shoulder injuries. However, the majority of the people suffering from these injuries either don’t know how to perform an overhead press properly, or they’re using loads that are too great for their shoulder girdle and low back to handle.

How to Overhead Press

To overhead press correctly, you must position the bar in a power rack, approximately at chest height. With a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip, grasp the bar firmly, while retracting your shoulder blades and bracing the core. Keep the elbows close to the body and perpendicular with the floor. Unrack the bar, step back, keeping the feet positioned at feet to shoulder width and drive the elbows straight up. As the bar passes your face, pull the head through, so your ears are directly positioned beneath the bar with the elbows fully locked out. Doing so will reduce the amount of strain placed upon the shoulders.

Loaded Carry

There’s nothing more badass than picking up a pair of your gym’s heaviest dumbbells and taking a walk with them. However, there are a few caveats. In order to not injure yourself and to derive full benefits from this exercise, you must firmly grip the dumbbells, while keeping the head up and shoulders back. Keep the core tight and take deliberate, yet controlled steps. Keep the elbows locked out, as flexing them, will only tax your biceps and upper back, and tire your forearms even more. Walk for as long as possible before your form breaks down.

Pull Up

Pull ups have seemingly disappeared from the routines of many gym-goers and seeing them properly performed are rarer than holiday bonuses these days. Strength coach Todd Bumgardner, author of the Pull Up Manifesto, dubs them the “king of upper body exercises” and they are for great reason. Few exercises challenge the grip and require the fluid interaction of the core, shoulder girdle, elbows, and wrists as much as the pull-ups. They’re great for those desiring healthy shoulders, as they strengthen the scapulothoracic muscles -- muscles which extend the thoracic spine and retract and depress the shoulder blades. 

Pull Up Performance Cues

Hanging from a pull up bar with a fully clenched grip, in which the thumbs are wrapped around the bar, tighten the core, shoot the shoulder blades back and down -- tucking them close to the spine and drive the elbows through the body. Don’t pull yourself to the bar with your arms, focus on driving the elbows back and behind you. Doing so, will activate the musculature of the upper back, giving you more firepower to complete the movement, and lessen the load on the elbow and wrist flexors. Altering your grip, even slightly, will vary the demand on different muscles. Flipping the grip with your palms facing you will hit the biceps harder. Keeping the palms facing each other will hit the trapezius and forearms harder and turning the palms away from your body will target the lats and rhomboids more.

Sprinting

Unplug your steady state workouts on the treadmill and hit the track, or field, or parking lot instead. Work up to performing shorter distance sprints, following a series of tempo sprints. Start at a distance of 20 yards or shorter, focusing on your burst, before going longer. Eventually you’ll work yourself up to distances around 100 yards, or meters, which will really challenge you. Be sure to incorporate adequate rest periods between your sprinting bouts. Ideally a work to rest ratio of 1:10 is ideal. For example, if it takes you 0:15 seconds to cover 100 yards, or meters, take 150 seconds, or 2:30 to rest. Active recovery in the form of walking, or light jogging, or a dynamic warm-up influenced movement, such as a lunge, or high knees, and hopping, will burn even more calories as it will keep the heart rate jacked up the entire time.

Jumping

Hundreds of books have been devoted to plyometric exercise, so we’ll keep it brief here. Take a gander at the physiques of football and basketball players the next time you watch a game and you’ll notice how explosively they jump, cut, and change directions. Although many pros are genetically elite, they jump higher and cut faster due to plyometric training. A beginner’s movement is the box jump, which teaches you to land as softly as possible after completing a jump of 2 to 3 feet high.

Grab a plyo box, bench, or sturdy table, or desk, ranging from knee to waist height with a surface that is large enough to land on. A surface that is at least 30” x 30” is ideal. Jump up and onto the surface, upon landing tighten up through the core, shoot the hips back and down and keep the shoulders directly over the knees, which will be slightly flexed. Remember to land as softly as possible. As box jumps get easier, progress to a box, or surface of a greater height, or move onto jump squats or vertical jumps.

For jumps squats, interlace your fingers behind your head and descend into a squat position, as you ascend, shoot the hips up quickly and jump as high as you can. Land in a quarter squat, again shooting the hips back and down, with the shoulders in line with the knees.

Once you’ve mastered jump squats, try jumping as high as you can. Reach for the sky at the top of the jump like you’re an invitee at this year’s NFL combine. If you have a basketball rim handy, aim for the rim. If you’re shorter, or aren’t that athletic shoot for the bottom of the net.

Sample Week

by Joe Giandonato

Try this experiment. Take a rubber band and place it in the freezer in your workplace’s galley. Leave it in there for 30 minutes. Remove it from the freezer and start playing with it – stretch it out, aim to shoot it at your coworker, secure a stack of papers with it – that is if you can. You’ll notice that the rubber band isn’t as pliable as it was when stored in your top drawer at room temperature and will likely snap.

Muscles and the tendons blend into work similarly.

Imagine if I told you to get up from your desk and sprint across your office at top speed, as if an enraged office linebacker, Terry Tate were chasing after you, you’d likely strain or pull something during the sprint. Often times, not warming-up properly causes injury, not the exercise or movement itself.

Many people blindly assume that jumping on an exercise bike for 5 minutes and pedaling at a low intensity qualifies as a sufficient warm-up, however, a good warm up not only increases core temperature but “ensures CNS excitement”, according to Jim Smith, C.S.C.S, co-author of AMPED Warm Up. What he’s saying is that you should prime your nervous system for the impending work that lies ahead. Warm-ups should be anticipated task specific, meaning if you’re going to be squatting or pressing or pulling later in your workout, you should be mimicking those movements earlier in the workout with your bodyweight or far lighter loads.

Also, your warm-up should include movements that hone in on joint mobility, specifically for the thoracic spine, hip, and ankle, and stretching, which takes us to our next question.

Stretching exercises should target muscle groups that are sore or tight from previous workouts and contrary to common belief, should not be intense. This holds true for the rest of your warm-up work – don’t kill yourself, just get your body ready – as Smith says, prime yourself to neutrally wake up your circulatory system and get the blood flowing, and perform movements at lower intensities that you’ll be doing later in your workout -- executing them with a full range of motion and focusing on joint mobility.

Rather than getting caught up in stretching variations and terminology, there is one type of stretching that must be excluded from your warm-up at all costs:

Ballistic stretching. Ballistic stretching involves rapid repetitive bouncing at a stretch’s end range of motion, theoretically increases muscular flexibility as it extends a given joint’s range of motion. However, ballistic stretching engages the myotatic (stretch) reflex, a protective response, which limits rapid joint movement thus negating any benefits. Furthermore, forcing a joint far beyond its natural range of motion increases the chance for injury and reduces muscular force output, as many studies show.

Stretching exercises could be done throughout the day, as to increase soft tissue extensibility, which will help restore tight muscles back to their resting lengths. Tight and weak postural muscles, specifically those of the back and hip region, could afford to be stretched a bit more. Stretching following a workout has shown to aid in recovery between workouts.

Joe Giandonato, MS, CSCS is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, PA. More of his content can be found on joshstrength.com

Occupy Wall Street’s momentum is undeniably faltering.

The numbers aren’t difficult to read, says Peter Leeds, Investment analyst, owner and founder of Peter Leeds Penny Stocks. “According to Google Trends, searches for Occupy Wall Street have fallen 60 percent from their October 15th peak to October 30th.  This is reinforced further by the Factiva news database, which cites media mentions of "Occupy Wall Street" declining by 19 percent in a week, ending on October 23rd,” he wrote to Exec Digital.  

“The faster anything rises, generally the faster it falls.  Occupy Wall Street may be another example of this, as media coverage, social media activity, and activist numbers have all started dropping off.  This is only expected to continue, especially with the onset of winter.”

Still, the story of Occupy Wall Street took an unexpected turn last night when “The O’Reilly Factor” aired several commercials promoting what Bill O’Reilly calls “far-left loons.” The three spot premiere is only one part of a larger campaign to introduce Occupy Wall Street to a broader audience; in total, Occupy Wall Street purchased more than 100 ad spots expected to run through Monday. While relatively cheap, the message is slowly starting to spread.

Most likely, despite the commercial exposure their ESPN and The O’Reilly Factor ads might bring in, Occupy Wall Street still doesn’t have one clear message. “The lack of clear goals has plagued Occupy Wall Street from an early point.  One protester with whom I spoke, Brian (his real name withheld by request), admitted that the movement needed to clarify some realistic and actionable goals.  This process took place slowly, and by group decision, but has done little to clarify anything to most observers,” Leeds added.

If things continue to go downhill, Occupy Wall Street may cease to exist altogether – and the Wall Street tycoons that have been looking over their movement might have a winter rid of turmoil.

For more information about Leeds and his weekly newsletter, please visit

http://www.pennystocks.com/.Invest in Penny Stocks is available for purchase at www.wiley.com or www.amazon.com

by Joe Giandonato, MS, CSCS

Let’s face it, unless you’re a professional athlete or work in a gym, finding the time to work out during your workday is a nearly impossible feat. Many work environments aren’t as time-friendly as they used to be. Profit-centric businesses operating in an unstable economy are demanding more from their employees, requiring them to work harder and longer, picking up the slack left behind by layoffs and doing the work of vacant positions that won’t be filled in the foreseeable future. Many employees are crumbling under inordinate amounts of job-related stress, which is compounded by the ever-looming threat of losing their job.

Usually the last thing an overstressed employee is thinking about is exercise, instead opting for greasy hors d'œuvre and a handful of alcoholic beverages during lunch-break happy hours. Instead of doing something good for their health, they’re destroying it, as they attempt to escape the stress and misery associated with their job with crappy food and alcohol. Instead, stressed employees need exercise and they don’t need a lot of time, fancy equipment, or an expensive gym membership to get it.

Finding the time

Many office workers waste too much time during their workdays, often by engaging in awkward break room conversations with coworkers they barely know, reading and passing along annoying chain e-mails, shopping online, and playing mind numbing computer games. The next time you’re at work, log everything you do during the course of your workday. You’ll be surprised to find that you have some time left over – time that should be invested in making you healthier!

No equipment necessary

That’s right. Your body weight and common objects found around the office will suffice. Besides, your boss won’t be too happy if they catch you lugging the rusty bench and barbell from your basement into your office.

No gym needed

Sometimes finding the time to work out isn’t the problem, it’s getting there. This is especially true if you operate on shorter lunch breaks and if a gym isn’t in close proximity.

Benefits

Outside of improving your physical health, you’ll also improve your job performance, which will earn you respect from your boss, coworkers, and customers, thus making your life easier. According to a recent study found in “Industrial Health,” brief periods of exercise were found to improve worker attentiveness. Exercise was also found to combat stress, by improving employees' perceptions of the organization and their self esteem according a study in “Stress Medicine.” You may also question the effectiveness of brief workouts, but they have been shown to increase cardiovascular fitness, reduce body fat, according to a recent study found in the “Journal of Obesity.” The study also supported that intermittent, or brief exercise, was helpful in improving insulin sensitivity which helps attenuate fat loss.

The Workout

By no means is this workout an exhaustive list of exercises one can perform at their desk. Instead, consider it a sample program. Also, this workout isn’t intended to replace your existing program; however, it can still be helpful, because the most activity office workers get throughout their workday is maybe a trip or two to the break room or lavatory. The workout listed below should only take 10 minutes to complete, provided you perform all of the movements in succession without much rest between them.

Set up: Assume a supine position, with your back on the floor.

Execution:  Flex your knees, squeeze your buttocks, which will draw the hips into extension. Focus on keeping a neutral spine throughout the hold. Hold this position for time, usually until mechanical failure, or when form breaks down. If you haven’t done these before, work up to holding this position for a few seconds until you get comfortable with the movement.

This exercise really targets the glutes, which don’t get nearly enough work according to strength coach, Bret Contreras. Contreras also blames weak glutes as a culprit for lower back pain, which is prevalent in many office workers.

Squat

Set up: Place your feet shoulder to hip width and grasp an object, keeping it close to your torso. Doing this will really help engage the core, which will provide the stability needed to squat.

Execution: Focus on keeping a neutral spine with a tall torso and sink the hips and bend the knees simultaneously, descending until you’ve reached a comfortable depth. Range of motion varies from person to person, so don’t concern yourself with getting too deep if you can’t. Return to the starting position by extending your hips and knees.

Step Up

Set up: Stand in front of a sturdy object which sits at approximately knee-height.

Execution: Again, keeping a tall torso and neutral spine, bring your leg up and step onto the object with one leg. Bring the opposite leg up and step down. You may work on one leg at a time, or alternate them throughout the set. Aim for 10 reps each leg, or 20 total reps.

Lunge

Set up: Similar to the squat set up, stand with your feet shoulder to hip-width apart.

Execution: With your weight equally distributed on each foot, take a long step out in front of you, focusing on keeping the torso erect and spine neutral, and your knee and foot in line. If you step too far, your torso will collapse, making it difficult to complete the movement. Conversely, if your step is too short, the knee will travel beyond the foot, which may throw your body off balance. Focus on keeping the thigh of the rear leg and shin of the front leg parallel with each other. Their angles should also match the angle of your torso, which should be upright. Ascend from the lunge position returning to a standing position. You may work on one leg at a time, or alternate them throughout the set. Aim for 10 reps each leg, or 20 total reps.

Push Up

Set up: Assume a prone position, with your knees on the floor. Set your feet at shoulder width and place the palms of your hands on the floor. For people with tighter finger flexors, another issue in office workers, you may brace yourself with two clenched fists instead.

Execution: Keep a neutral spine and shoulders pulled back and down which will not allow the back to bend or hips to sag. Descend to the floor until your torso makes contact with it and return to starting position. For people who cannot get to the floor, place an object (a binder or book) underneath the body. Females and weaker individuals should consider doing pushups against a sturdy, raised object, such as a cabinet, desk, cubicle divider, or wall. Start with 10 pushups, progressively increasing the repetitions as your muscular strength and core stability improve.

One Armed Row

Set up: Keep a neutral spine with your arm atop a desk or cabinet. With your other arm, grasp an object, pulling it from the floor, towards your torso.

Execution: In this movement, it's best to imagine the object as an extension of your body. Do not initiate movement with the arm. Instead, use the back, via the retraction of the shoulder of the arm that’s holding the object. Drive the elbows towards the side of the torso.

Isometric Plank

Set up: Assume a prone position, with your feet placed at shoulder width. Place your forearms on the ground, with your elbows bent and directly beneath your shoulder. Similar to the push up, keep your shoulders back and down.

Execution: Maintain a neutral spine and your body in one straight line from the head to the heels. Do not allow the back to bend and keep the hips from sagging or hiking. Aim for 10 seconds.

Lateral Raise

Set up: Grasp one object in each hand (usually a stapler and tape dispenser) and keep them at your sides. Also, your feet should be shoulder width apart.

Execution: Simultaneously, raise each object to your sides, not bringing them past the height of your shoulder. Return to starting position and complete 9 more repetitions. You may increase the number of reps provided you can perform with good form.

Front Raise

Set up: With two hands, grasp an object, such as a book or binder, keeping it at waist height.

Execution: Keeping a neutral spine and your feet shoulder-width apart, extend your arms, raising the object out in front of you to shoulder height. Return to starting position and complete 9 more repetitions. You may increase the number of reps provided you can perform with good form.

Overhead Extension

Set up: With two hands, grasp an object, such as a book or binder, placing it behind your head.

Execution: Extend at the elbows, keeping them close to the head. The object should be directly overhead and not beyond it, which happens when you forcefully extend the elbows. Be sure to avoid that. Return to starting position and complete 9 more repetitions. You may increase the number of reps provided you can perform with good form.

Depending on your current level of conditioning, you can repeat these movements throughout the ten-minute period. Also, this workout can be performed in brief bursts throughout the day, helping you keep loose and reducing the tension from poor posture and stress, issues that negatively affect workplace productivity. You may do this work out a couple of times per week, or daily, provided you keep the volume low.

So there you have it – a simple series of exercises to get more physical activity during your workday!

by Tim Greenhalgh 

Each week, the number of cyber-attacks on businesses and government grows exponentially. This is no longer a matter of individuals or groups seeking status in their hacker communities to gain notoriety. Organised and sophisticated gangs of criminals have brought in the brightest minds to wage war on business and government - their targets are financial institutions, corporations and state organisations. They are stealing money, but far more important are also appropriating ideas, blueprints, plans and strategies (IP) – essentially, the future of business and nations.

Cyber espionage is a growing threat. According to William Hague, UK Foreign Secretary, there is an “alarming” rise in the levels of attacks by states on states, criminals on states, terrorists on states and organisations, and criminals on business and individuals. “There is a rapidly multiplying set of challenges in cyberspace on government and institutions,” he says. Hague believes that industry in Britain is under attack because it has intellectual property worth billions of pounds.

“This is so important in the national and economic sense. These are very valuable things. And they are not sitting in a vault, so we need to take precautions to safeguard them.” Hague underlines that the UK is at the forefront of the battle in cyberspace and that, at the national level, GCHQ is extremely effective.

Cybercrime has been estimated to cost the global economy $1 trillion a year - almost 1.75 percent of global GDP, according to Misha Glenny, author and cybercrime expert. The solution that governments and other forward-thinking organisations are rapidly moving toward to end the cyber-security crisis is based on Trusted Computing frameworks, which every business and organisation should know about – and implement quickly.

Earlier this year the CESG, the UK’s Communications Electronics Security Group and the Government’s technical authority on Information Assurance, issued recommendations for the use of device-based security within government agencies. Both the US Government and the National Security Agency have also made Trusted Computing technology central to their security protocols.

Joseph Souren Vice President at Wave Systems (www.wave.com) is passionate about the need for organisations to embrace the Trusted Computing standard.

He says: “Security in today’s IT infrastructure focuses on building layers of software defence and these systems have been exposed to high-profile breaches. We believe that organisations should seriously consider adding device identity as an independently managed layer to help protect their data. This device-based security solution offers unmatched protection and will play an integral role as organisations move to Cloud computing.

“It’s a framework championed by major organisations, enterprises and governments across the globe but there is still a lack of awareness about device-based security, even though around half a billion of current business-grade PCs and laptops come equipped with the technology to put these systems into practice.

“To protect against today’s advanced threats, it is critical to have a strong foundation of trust in all endpoint devices. That starts by knowing that the PC has not been changed by a third party—and is free of malware in the BIOS—and extends to verifying the identity of the device.

“The Trusted Platform Module, a security chip attached to a computer’s motherboard, can establish automatic and transparent authentication of known network devices and users. Because the TPM chip is physically part of the device, it is uniquely suited for creating and verifying strong device identities and ensuring only authorised access to networks.”

The beauty of Trusted Computing is that it delivers a “triple whammy”: it reduces costs over a lifetime of devices and networks; it provides proven, trusted and best-in-class security; and it ensures a perfect fit between the needs of device users and organisations’ imperatives.

Mr Souren is hosting a government-level event on October 20th in London, the Trusted Computing Seminar where top-level state officials will debate the future of network security with leading professionals in the cyber-defence field and companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has embraced the Trusted Computing solution globally. The seminar is open to IT management, IT security managers and Risk Managers.

The focus on cyber-crime and network security in the UK at the highest level continues with the Cyber Security Summit in November in London, organised by GovNet where William Hague and other government leaders will debate issues with counterparts from the US and leading security organisations.

"Hard-core Kiehl's users can come to where their facials and massages use their favorite products," says Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl’s USA, according to the NY Daily News.

A conventional Kiehl’s store is located on the ground floor, while the spa occupies the second floor. And the interior of the spa is far from boring – it’s decorated with antique touches from the Kiehl’s archives, such as beakers, vintage books, mortars and pestles. Inspired by the company’s original store at 13^th St. and Third Ave., the spa is complete with reclaimed hardwood floors and a tin ceiling. Also, a skeleton named Mr. Bones is used as an unofficial mascot and spends its time in the retail store downstairs.

"I didn't want the place to feel cold or too zen-like, like other spas where it's all white, it's not comfortable," Salgardo says, according to The NY Daily News. “Every time I come in here, I get the chills. This is exactly what Kiehl would have envisioned this spa as looking like. The whimsy, the fun — but still keeping the traditions of an apothecary."

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Spa services include massages, facials and a barbershop, and there are three full-treatment rooms – two with showers – and two male grooming stations. Also, staying true to its apothecary history, each spa session begins with a personal consultation, which then leads into highly-customized treatments.

Five masseuses and estheticians, or “technicians,” work full time, along with master barber Mark Sinnis and professional groomer Soul Lee, who specializes in eyebrows.

"I just feel so honored to work here, it's like a dream," says DJ Morales, 33, both an esthetician and a masseuse, according to the NY Daily News. "I'm so excited to treat the new clients and really specialize a regimen for them."

Lineaus Athletic Company, based in Marfa, Texas, produces medicine balls, heavy balls, footballs, rugby balls, medicine bags, medicine bars and squat bars. These custom-designed athletic products are simply beautiful. Lineaus designs them in traditional forms, made from the finest chrome tanned leather. Chrome tanned leather is known for its use in baseball gloves and is designed to leave the pores of the leather open. If properly tanned, it is the longest lasting of all the leather tanning processes and will stay in pristine condition for decades – looking like it came straight out of Mickey Mantle’s training locker.

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Each product is double locked-stitched with 3 cords of polyester thread – a sturdy, reliable construction for objects that will be thrown, kicked and punched. The leather is described as “full grain baseball glove cow hide.” The products are designed to be durable while soft to the touch. They sure do appear that way.  

When selecting a Lineaus medicine ball, the company has general recommendations based on ability and gender. Lineaus acknowledges that a person’s needs and abilities are unique, regardless of gender, but in general most men seem to prefer a 14”, 10lb. medicine ball, while most women prefer a 12”, 7lb. medicine ball. If you’re thinking of purchasing a ball for your child, Lineaus suggests a 10” or 12” ball at the lowest weight possible. For additional insight, including which balls are recommended for specific, sports-related training, visit Lineaus Athletic Company online.

Depending on the size of your ball, you will be looking at prices varying from $425 - $800. Footballs run at $275 and Rubgy balls jump up to $325. The medicine and squat bars are each $525 and the heavy hitter – the medicine bag – throws blows at $5,800. 

Ever wonder why she doesn’t call you back after weeks of utter bliss in the bedroom? Think you handled everything perfectly – showering her with gifts, constantly complimenting her and always being at her beck and call – but in the end, she still left you? Doc Love knows the reason why.

Doc Love has interviewed more than 10,000 women over the course of 30 years, asking them what keeps them turned on, and off. He didn’t research relationships or read up on the latest dating trend, but built his system based on real-life experience – and more importantly, focused on what worked rather than what didn’t.  The responses were overwhelming; almost every single woman stayed with her man who exuded areas of confidence, self-control and challenge, says Doc Love. “Ultimately, because we do the picking and they do the choosing, the power finally rests with her,” he says.

By focusing on what worked with the girl rather than what didn’t, Doc Love found a loop-hole in the dating world – and turned the male’s dating ethic around. “I know what it takes to keep her happy,” he says. Those who can attest to the power of “The System,” the name of Doc Love’s unique and sugar-coated free dating method that has been turned into a 300 page book, will never look back. The only trouble is getting them to read the darn thing, he admits.   

Even with his monthly blog on AskMen.com and a soon-to-be syndicated radio show, Doc Love says “most guys won’t touch me – too much truth,” he reveals.  “I created “The System” where if a guy will set his ego aside (and most won’t), what’ll happen is an improvement with women because he’ll learn to talk, and not talk, about certain things.”

Truthfully, it’s simple: women may be complicated, but they don’t want much more than a little help in the kitchen, a little less action on the first date and a lot more respect. “It’s a lot more than wine me, dine me and make me smile,” Doc Love continues. But, he says, “make her giggle, and she’ll rob banks for you.”

Doc Love’s topics are pretty straight forward when you think about it – keep things light, keep things funny, don’t talk about exes or negatives, or heavy topics. You make it through the first few steps in a natural dating process, and you’re golden. All you have to do is wait for her to make the first move; let her touch you first, he says - if she likes you, she’ll gently graze your elbow or tap you’re knee. When that happens, you’re in.

Can it really be that simple? You betcha, says Doc Love. “People have these theories about love, and most of them are garbage,” he says.

“Romantic love is conditional,” Doc Love concludes. You might love your wife, but she’s going to have certain traits that undoubtedly drive you crazy. In a world that is driven by a 50 percent divorce rate, the trick is to stay“in love” with your significant other.  “Women don’t get rid of you because they love you; they get rid of you because they fell out of love with you. 90 percent of guys can get a girl to fall in love – but to keep her in love? That’s the hard part.”

Through the application of confidence, self-control and challenge, the conditional love she first felt for you is going to last. If you don’t continue to impress or keep her interested, or support and respect her, she’s going to file for divorce. As Doc Love puts it, she’s the one making the decision. It isn’t enough to just love her anymore. 

At Equinox, “It’s not fitness. It's life.”

The facilities offer all of the fitness benefits you would find at any other health club – group exercise classes, personal trainers, etc. – except, at Equinox, they are the best group exercise classes and training sessions taught by the best instructors and trainers in the world. The club’s integrated approach to fitness trains both the body and the mind – a complete physical and psychological workout.

What really separates Equinox from the rest and attracts celebs including Claire Danes, Renee Zellwegger, Justin Timberlake and more, are the benefits available as a member. The clubs offer a variety of massage therapy treatments including aromatherapy massage, deep tissue, mixology, pre/post natal massage and more.  There are also hot stone therapy, reiki and reflexology treatments available among a variety of other options. Equinox offers waxing services, body treatments, sun free tanning, laser hair removal and even teeth whitening. Who needs a dentist, anyway? Enjoy a world famous BodyMelt, a cellulite-fighter wrap, a detoxifying mud wrap or a zesty lemon cucumber scrub at your command.

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As if those services are not enough to entice you to join this fitness paradise, members at Equinox enjoy one final feature – results. Equinox goes as far as to guarantee them. Combine that with the royal pampering mentioned above and it’s pretty simple to understand how you could find yourself doing yoga with a movie star.

For those who stay local, membership at a single facility runs right around $140 per month. If you do a bit of traveling, for a few extra bucks you can gain access to every Equinox location in the country for a monthly fee of roughly $180.

To learn more about Equinox, visit them online. 

Even the most committed fit fanatic can reach a point where the same old exercises or classes just do not cut it. Where once you entered the gym with a spring in your step, looking forward to a gut-busting cardio workout or bicep-burning weights session, now you have to drag your unenthusiastic self through the door.

When you hit this inevitable stage, it’s time to diversify and try something new. And there’s good news for the gym-jaded. A new fitness craze is sweeping the globe direct from the States, claiming to be addictively enjoyable, a cinch to learn and a rigorous cardio/body-sculpting workout to boot.

Zumba is a dance-based exercise system that has achieved staggering global popularity since its introduction in the ‘90s. The brainchild of Colombian aerobics teacher Beto Perez, it now boasts 25,000 instructors in 40 countries, with four million students everyday. For Zumba aficionados, it’s not so much a workout as a way of life, embraced with almost evangelical zeal.

Instructor Naomi Di Fabio, who teaches in South Africa, explains its appeal: “People often say it’s more like going to a party than forcing yourself to exercise. It’s also easy to do – one of our principles is that anyone should be able to turn up and take part. And it’s great fun, partly because the music is so good. We call it ‘exercise in disguise’.”

Zumba actually began by accident, when Perez forgot his usual music for an aerobics class and improvised with the CDs he had in his car. The Colombian native typically found a driving beat from Latin salsa and meringue – and the class turned out to be a huge success. The light bulb struck, and the Zumba phenomenon was born.

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Fast forward and today the Zumba program is now taught in gyms and studios all over the world to millions of Zumba enthusiasts. It’s huge in its birthplace of Miami, but also in Holland, where classes of more than 100 workout enthusiasts are a regular occurrence, and in the UK with more than 400 instructors.

Just to confirm Zumba is a true phenomenon, take a look at video gaming charts across the globe - you’ll find the Nintendo Wii game Zumba Fitness tops nearly all of them.  

Does dancing about really cut it as an intense workout? Absolutely, says Di Fabio; “It’s cardiovascular, so you sweat a lot and burn plenty of calories – probably more than in a spin class,” she insists.