LegendaryLife Blog

The nursing blog has sent me a heads-up about some important information that they have put together regarding College students and STDs on campus. Most of this I already knew but some was still surprising. This should be mandatory reading for all freshmen and undergraduates!

Here is a summary, be sure to click the link for more detailed information:

• 25% of college students already have an STD (not surprising as this number is similar to that of the general US public)
• Condoms are only used about half the time
• 20% of girls have HPV, which can cause some problems with pregnancy later in life
• Half of the 20 million or so of new STD infections occur in people of college age
• 80% of those with an STD experience no symptoms, hence why most don’t even know they have it!
• HPV is the number one disease on campus
• 50% of alcoholic students consider contraception as an afterthought when engaging in risky behavior
• More than half of the students believe they can see an STD by looking, which is true but only 20% of the time when it’s actually “flaring up”.
• 60% of woman still have sex even if the guy doesn’t want to wear a condom.
• 60% of woman believed they were in a committed relationship while only 40% of men believed in the same.

I would also add that most STDs are curable but those that are not, such as HIV Disease, require regular medical attention and drugs for the rest of your life… not something to take lightly.

Buzvia: 10 Truly Shocking Stats On STDs and College Students

If you want to explore the high-seas or just build your own ship... go for it!

I may be 32 but I already feel like I have lived the lives of several people, each year is so different and when looking back, it’s astonishing how much I have yet to learn and do! So, here are the top 10 truths that life has taught me so far.

10. I am NOT important

I am happy I discovered this one early, I don’t take myself seriously at all but I do take what I do in it very much so. I can’t think of a time where I have ever put myself ahead or above anybody else. If our entire Milky Way Galaxy were to blow-up tomorrow, the universe, with still trillions upon trillions of others to chose from, wouldn’t even blink an eye. We are insignificant and unimportant so I “try” not to let my ego out unless it can help or improve something.

9. Some people hate success

As soon as you achieve something in life, by no fault of your own, some people will automatically hate you. I still don’t understand the mechanism behind it nor why humans are so prone to it but I guess it’s one step up from indifference, which is a good thing I think. Some people just cannot accept that other people may have more life than them, just accept it and move-on.

8. Life is too short to be bored

I’ve never been bored in my life, as soon as something becomes un-interesting, I jump into something else, we already live far too short a lifespan considering all the opportunities to learn and explore that are around us, don’t waste a second of it “not knowing what to do”.

7. Embrace Chaos

Fighting chaos is simply impossible, it’s the natural state of matter and hence, our lives. Learn to grow and prosper when things go to shit and you will quickly gain the wit and strength required to overcome even the most powerful of setbacks.

6. Health is #1

Constantly improve your health, there is no excuse for letting it go nor taking it for advantage. Don’t smoke, take drugs or do unhealthy things as, at the end of the day, it will come back and hit you big time, especially as you age.

5. Become your own role model

Set yourself as an example of what IS possible and what CAN be done with life before you attempt to do this for others. I would never follow health advice from a chain smoking obese doctor no matter how smart they were, I hope you wouldn’t either.

4. NEVER stop learning

There is always something new to learn, a new place to explore or a new relationship to enter in, take advantage of these opportunities, never allow your mind (or body) to stagnate!

3. Become your own boss

Take control over your life, every aspect of it, and don’t let others try to influence you into directions that you don’t find comfortable. You are YOU and nobody else should have any power over what or how you become as a person. Follow your nature, your passions and your dreams.

2. Passion is the zest of life!

If you haven’t found your passion(s) in life, you need to keep searching hard and wide. Life is about living and this is very difficult if you don’t know what you life or have something to wake-up to in the morning.

1. Dreams can become reality

If you focus your energies, nothing in this world is impossible, NOTHING! There is no reason at all why you, regardless of where or how you have come into being, cannot achieve a legendary life. You are unique and special… just like every other organisms on this planet and it’s up to you to make something of it. Dreams shouldn’t be considered anything but a possibility.

The Bottom Line

If you want it, go for it, if you don’t, no big deal… move onto something else!

Your goal over the holidays is not to become wider than the Christmas Tree!

Many people gain a few extra pounds over the holidays so here are some tips to keep them at a minimum and even, possibly, lose weight while taking some time off!

What’s up with the weight gain?

On a daily basis, no matter what time of day or night you take in the calories, a balance is created. If you eat more than you burn, you gain weight, if you eat burn more than you eat, you lose weight. I don’t mean to over-simplify things but basically, this is really  a rather simple equation to work from.

Metabolism explained

It’s a known fact that your metabolism plays havoc on you when you change your lifestyle in any sudden way. Your mind, love or hate it, has only one goal in mind, to keep you alive another day out on the savannah full of lions and elephants. You must realize that when ever there is a shock to the system, your mind will direct your body to slow-down your metabolism (so you burn less) while, at the same time, dump as much muscle as possible while building-up fat reserves. Why? Well, muscle is very expensive to maintain while fat is easy and more calorie dense.

Alright, let’s recap.

If you eat more than you burn and your metabolism takes a nosedive while your body dumps as much muscle as possible because your lifestyle has suddenly changed… you GAIN WEIGHT!

Holiday Meals and habits

Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, the holidays are usually accompanied by very healthy portions of very calorie dense foods. Why is this bad? Well, it’s easy to over-eat as you can shove more into your mouth in one sitting before your brain signals you that your stomach is full. Add on-top of that, being distracted by conversation, friends and intense concentration and you have a recipe for eating a heck of a lot of stuff. Throw-in some alcoholic drinks to further confuse your brain and the pounds really start to roll on!

Solution to the holiday bulge

Here are a few tips to keep your waistline in check and maybe even lose a few pounds while enjoying the holidays.

1. Before any large meals, drink two glasses of water, this fills-up your stomach so you can’t eat as much and even better, keeps you hydrated, thus reducing stress on your vital organs.
2. Avoid alcoholic beverages, alcohol is a leeching agent throughout your body and worse yet, empty calories without any nutritional value at all. If you got to drink, drink one glass of water for every glass of ethanol.
3. Try to maintain regular schedules, remember, any sudden changes causes your body to go into starvation mode, if you keep your sleeping and eating patterns roughly the same, this reaction is minimized.
4. Take your time, being in a hurry to eat usually leads to over-consumption. Relax, enjoy the environment and eat as slowly as possible.
5. Exercise! In the morning, why not go for a quick jog to keep you in shape and after a large meal, a nice walk around the block. It will do wonders for you!
6. Get yourself a small plate! It’s a proven fact that a larger plate leads to added food consumption, this is a trick used by restaurants but be sure to be smart, if it’s a buffet, grab a smaller plate.
7. Get soup and salad instead of steak and lobster! The calories found within a soup and salad are almost nothing compared to a heaping plate full of fries and meat / seafood. Bread is fine but in moderation.
8. Sleep at the same time every night! Sleep deprivation is a wonderful way to gain weight because it stresses the hell out of your body (remember, stress causes your body to go into starvation mode even if you are already obese!)
9. Take lots of pictures! The more you take the initiative to move around and not be so sedentary, the better you will get through the holidays without that bulge!
10. Take time-outs. You are probably overloading your senses on a daily basis, take some time off for even half an hour to wind yourself back down.

The Bottom Line

Staying lean over the holidays takes some effort but is more than possible if you put your mind to it.

Earth is insignificant compared to the vastness of the Universe!

I am an avid fan of CBC’s Quirks and Quarks show and last week, they had a top 10 listing of how our world will end by leading scientists.

End of the World?

It isn’t a question of IF but WHEN, whether tomorrow or 100 000 years from now, our species is a blink in the universes eye and we are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I am sure the universe is a very creative being and will use something abstract to end our civilization no matter how far away from Earth it colonizes. If you are hoping and praying for an after-life, where would it take place if there was NO UNIVERSE? Fun questions to ask yourself on a Sunday afternoon eh?

10: The Sun eats the Earth!

Our Sun uses hydrogen as it’s primary fuel source, it WILL run-out in about 7 billion years and turn into a quickly expanding “Red Giant”. Growing to over 250x its current size while losing a third of its mass in the process. The Earth’s oceans would evaporate, the surface would return to a molten form and if you are a human on this planet, no amount of air conditioning will keep you from spontaneously catching fire. Try to imagine yourself holding a nuclear bomb when it explodes and it should give you an idea of how uncomfortable this era of our Earth will be.

9: Gamma-Ray burst will microwave us!

What happens to water when you put it into a microwave? It gets how… now imagine if you where stuck in a microwave that had a wattage exponentially higher! How does this happen? Well, a star, such as our Sun, right before it explodes into a quark, releases a bursts of energy while undergoing a Super Nova. This DOES happen, has been recorded and so far, we have escaped them. Don’t worry, if you survived the first few seconds of this gamma-ray burst, our ozone layer would be destroyed and you would be fried by our Sun’s UV rays. Best to stock-up on some sunscreen and dig yourself a BIG HOLE to live in right now!

8: Rogue black hole eats Earth!

If the rogue black hole was large enough, it would completely shier the entire Earth and spit it out into its base elements. It would need to be just a few hundred kilometers in wise as well… so we aren’t talking about a HUGE black hole being necessary. Interestingly enough, the center of our galaxy is occupied by a super massive black hole!

7: Earth gets KO’ed by an asteroid

An asteroid a few kilometers in size hitting the Earth would lead to massive tidal waves, worldwide instant incineration as the seismic waves engulf our planet causing both volcanos to show-up everywhere and millions of molten asteroids caused by the initial impact zone rain down. If that wasn’t bad enough, possibly a few decades of nuclear winter along with a complete collapse of the Earth’s ecosystems would sure make the planet a lonely place unless you had Wikipedia to keep you busy!

6: Earth goes into a super massive ice-age!

Imagine that the entire Earth was covered by kilometers of ice! Scientists actually believe this happened about 750  to 650 million years ago on Earth. What can cause this? Well, our Sun greatly reducing it’s power output or CO2 levels dropping exponentially, no longer trapping any heat in our atmosphere.

5: Magnetic field collapses across our Milky Way Galaxy!

The magnetic field throughout our galaxy is all that is stopping it from imploding onto itself due to the powerful forces of gravity, remove this and our entire galaxy becomes flatter than a pancake! Don’t worry, the Super Novas caused by such a decline would fry you far before you ever felt the sky falling onto you.

4: Earth’s magnetic field reverses itself!

Cosmic radiation would be able to reach the surface of Earth and basically black-out our energy sources such as telephone wires, wireless networks and cause havoc on with any electronic equipment of any kind. The last reversal on planet Earth actually happened about 700 thousand years ago and we are 250 thousand years (so far) overdue for this to happen again as they usually occur every 500 thousand years. Time to trash your car and buy a wheelbarrow!

3: A nearby star goes Super Nova on us!

Damage from a Super Nova first causes a massive release of gamma-rays (above) followed by massive amounts of x-rays. Our ozone gets depleated in the blink of an eye (depending on distance) and voila, we get fried by our own Sun’s UV rays. To have any impact the super nova would need to be at least 25 million light years away from us. If you happen to still be alive, the genetic damage this causes would probably mean permanent infertility for all living things on our planet. The good news about this is that teenage pregnancy becomes impossible!

2: Super Volcano comes-up on Earth!

74 thousand years ago, a super volcano, about a hundred times bigger than anything we have now, exploded an incredible amount of material into our atmosphere. The result? Causing a global nuclear winter due to the ash thrown into our atmosphere with constant super-tsunamis and Richter Scale crushing earthquakes. Scientists expect one to occur in the next 10 thousand years.

1: Aliens invade us!

Let’s hope that these aliens don’t have the same mentality as us, otherwise, we are doomed.

The Bottom Line

The Earth may die tomorrow but you are alive today… appreciate it!

Buzvia: CBC’s Quirks and Quarks

To say I enjoy working out would be an understatement… I LOVE working out. The more my muscles hurt the next day, the better I feel! I am not a masochist but I feel weird if some part of my body isn’t in some sort of pain on a daily basis.

Tips to improve your health and get more out of a workout

Here are my top 10 tips to improve your overall health and fitness, follow these at your own risk and be sure to always get a checkup by a doctor before partaking on anything that will stress your body.

10: Change your routine!

My exercises have evolved over the past decades from a regimented one in which I had to do 3 sets of one exercise followed using x weight with y periods of recovery between them. I am to the point now that it just doesn’t do anything for me anymore to follow this for more then a two week basis, my body just adapts too quickly. I now have a very simple regimen in which I have a different routine each time I enter the gym created in my head. I know I am going chest and back for instance today, so I go into the gym and start lifting what feels right. Regardless, never do the same identical exercise twice in a month.

9: Change your reps and sets every few weeks

I went from doing three to four sets of 8 reps to three to four sets of 20 reps… man did my body respond big time to that! I gained 2 kilograms in a month doing this… without taking protein powder, creatine nor any other supplement beyond a multi-vitamin. By the time you have done six to eight exercises with little rest in between them this way, the blood in any body part you have concentrated on feels like it’s about to explode out of the muscle. FANTASTIC! I managed to shock the hell out of my central nervous system and it was forced to adapt big time. So one month I went from 3-4×8 then 3-4×20 then back to 3-4×6, I think I will try 30 next time (I am doing this using drop sets by the way… for added difficulty).

8: The gym is a battlefield, your enemy the weight… it must be conquered!

I know I look a little weird wearing an army uniform when I workout, it keeps people away from me but also creates an internal image as to what I am doing there to begin with. I am not in the gym to talk, I am not in the gym to make friends, I am there to push my body and mind beyond it’s comfort zone. I am there to vanquish self-doubt, tell the weight whose boss and most importantly, try to attract some of the eye candy that surrounds me To me, a gym is a place of sacrifice, hard work and endless challenges. If you treat each workout like it’s a mission, you will get much more out of it.

7: Challenge others

If I see a guy doing squats and it happens to be my leg day, I can’t help but go to the rack right next to him, load up my bar with a little more weight and begin banging out the reps. I did this once with a guy who was 6 ft 3 and very well built, I didn’t realize his warm-up was my max weight… he cleaned my clock but you know what… at least I stepped up to the challenge without fear nor hesitation. Of course, this is more fun when you can motivate others to push their bodies further, bodybuilding is a game of one-up-man-ship, fair or otherwise, that is how you gain the respect of those at all levels.

6: Take care of your lower back

I keep getting reminded when I take my lower back for granted, just about every exercise from leg curls to standing dumbbell flies requires a lot of work from… you guessed it, your lower back (and abs) to keep you balanced. No matter how strong your legs are, no matter how many inches your arms, everybody has one achilles heel which is their lower back. Begin neglecting your lower back and EVERYTHING gets affected both at the gym and elsewhere. It isn’t any fun waking up in the morning feeling like an elephant used your lower back as a trampoline anymore then it is to have trouble sitting in an office chair for an extended period of time with a throbbing ache. A healthy lower back is vital to a healthy life and body.

5: Machines are for warming up and safely maxing yourself out

People who do entire exercise regimes using machines are loosing out big time on what they could be getting out of their time. It all comes down to neuro-muscular co-ordination or central nervous system optimization, that is what exercise does, it increases the efficiency of your neuro-muscular pathways, the fact that muscles get bigger and stronger is simply a by-product of this work. What I am saying is that there is a lot more stimulation occurring within your body when you use free weights then with machines. You are forced to recruit far more muscle fibers, neurons… you name it, simply to hold your balance, stamina and focus. Machines are great for allowing you to do what would be dangerous with free weights safely but they should be used as little as possible.

4: Bodyweight is an excellent weight onto itself!

When was the last time you tried one legged squats using nothing more then a smith machine and an empty bar? Well, give it a try, it will be a struggle. Same goes with pull-ups and many other exercises where the only machine you need is your own body. Free weights, machines and bodyweight all have an important role to play in optimizing your central nervous system, use them effectively for the best results.

3: Eat real food

Before you even touch a protein powder or the bottle of creatine tablets, consider this, nothing is more anabolic then food. NOTHING! All the protein powders in the world will produce zilch for you unless you include a healthy, whole food diet. If you can’t name the ingredient on something you are about to eat, don’t eat it. The good food you put into yourself is what your body uses to build muscle, produce growth hormone when you sleep and most importantly, repairs all the damage that exercise does to your body.

2: Rest and relax

Exercise produces a lot of micro-tears which the body needs time to recover from. If you don’t give your body enough fixing time, you are setting yourself for injury, over-training and possibly going backwards towards achieving your fitness goals. If you notice after a few months that you stop gaining, the best solution, more often then not, it to take a week or two off and eat as much damn food (read #3) as you can. You will not only gain weight but your strength will also increase along with muscle size.

1: Never stop learning

Like all things in life, the moment you stop allowing new thoughts, training ideas or others access to your methodologies, you will stop progressing. Health and fitness is no different. If you learn of a new training system that counters everything you have been taught, don’t ignore it, give it a try, maybe you will learn something that will go a long way towards improving yourself.

The Bottom Line

Weight training is as vital to a body as breathing, without it, you can never achieve your full potential as a human being.