Posts Tagged ‘Training’

House Training Dogs

Whether you’re a first time dog owner or this is another addition to your family from a long history of pet ownership, there is one habit that a dog has that is the most unpleasant of them all. House training. How do we effectively and QUICKLY house train our pup or dog? When I first started out breeding Labrador Retrievers, the one question that came back to me again and again from new puppy owners was “House training dogs – How do I do it, FAST?!?”

Having a new puppy in the household can be the most wonderful time of both you and your new  pups life. I am yet to meet a pup that doesn’t make your heart melt each time you look at it. And often, therein lies the problem. When it comes to house training dogs, quite often owners feel very reluctant disciplining their pup because they are so besotted with them and are afraid to “hurt” the pups feelings. Enter exhibit A: the wet patch on the carpet. Enter exhibit B: the steaming pile of love on the kitchen floor. Not so pleasant for you or the household now, is it? What really is at stake here is the way in which we teach the pup acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and set her up for life with clear boundaries for each.

The way in which we discipline dogs needs to be demystified. As a child I distinctly remember my mother rubbing our new pups nose in  his pooh. Oh Lord, if only I could go back to that day and explain to my mother that this was one of the cruellest things she could have done to that poor pup! Rubbing a dog (or cats) nose in its excrement is utterly cruel and does not house train your dog (or cat). There are easier, far more encouraging ways to house train your dog without resorting to archaic treatment. Smacking or scruffing your dog is also ineffective. But whats that? I can hear you ask “But those are the things that won’t work..How then do you house train your dog?”

Here’s the BEST piece of advice I can give:

YOU have to be trained YOURSELF.

No I don’t mean YOU need to be house trained, ( however, if you think it would help – be my guest!) I mean you need to learn all the signals and cues that your pup will give you so you know when it is definitely time to go.  You will also need to learn that repetition is the key to training dogs young or old. You are going to need to COMMIT  to being consistent and spending the time to house train your dog , if you want to see results. Some of this means that you are going to learn cues, develop your dogs vocabulary with commands to go to the toilet, and also a schedule that you and your dog can work to so that both of you are in the clear as to when it is time to go and when it is not. This is important as nobody wants to be getting up to their dog 4 and 5 times an evening because they aren’t toilet trained!

Learning the proper technique will ensure that your pup is on the right path to long term house trained success. You will feel more confident in training your pup to perform other commands and your dog will have boundaries set for him or her that are firmly established, because of the consistency and time you have applied to your pup to learn them.

Having a puppy is a commitment that should not be taken lightly. Proper, informed training can mean the difference between your dog being a welcome member of the family or a nuisance that cant be trusted inside. House training dogs can seem like a monumental task at the beginning but the rewards are there if you can get the right information and stay consistent with implementing it.

I wish you every success in house training your dog and many years of happiness for you both. 

Dwayne Johnson Training: Get Buff With Dwayne Johnsons Training Routine

Have you ever wondered what Dwayne Johnsons training routine is?

I know I have.

I remember seeing â??The Rockâ? on TV in his early wrestling days, coming out of college football as a bulky 280 pound defensive lineman.

Now he graces the silver screen at a lean and ripped 225 pounds.

So what is Dwayne Johnsonâ??s training regime that has enabled him to get so lean?

Well as you could imagine, Dwayneâ??s training has changed a lot since his football days. Back then, his training was all about becoming bigger, faster and stronger.  Big heavy lifts and eating like an animal. He jokingly referred to himself back then as â??The Samoan Michelin Manâ?.

However, once he became a wrestler, Johnsons training routine changed, because he realised his flabby 280 pound body just wasnâ??t going to cut it, in the â??superheroâ? world of pro wrestling. So he tightened up his diet and changed his training to lighter weights for higher reps with supersets and very little rest between sets to get the heart rate up and burn fat.

Doing this he dropped 20 pounds, and got down to 260.

Then as he was about to leave wrestling and pursue his acting career, he knew that being bulky is definitely something Hollywood frowns upon.

So he hired a new trainer, and managed to slice his body fat in half in 4 and a half months, going from 260 pounds, to a lean 245.

Here is Dwayne Johnsons training regime during this time.

(Note: Taken from Menâ??s Health Magazine April 2004)

 Monday, Wednesday, Friday-Resistance training:
Chest, back, biceps, calves: 5 sets, 15-20 reps, 30 second rest periods
Cardio: 5-minute warmup, 12 minutes at high intensity clip, 5-minute cool down.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday -Resistance training:
Quads, hamstrings, shoulders, triceps: 5 sets, 15-20 reps, 30-second rest periods
Cardio: 5-minute warmup, 12 minutes at high intensity clip, 5-minute cool down.

Sunday-OFF

Nowadays he weighs in at 225 pounds and here is what Dwayne Johnson himself says about his training…

â??My workout is my cup of coffee in the morning, my sanctuary. I do a lot of cardioâ?¦I keep that consistent, because I like having my heart rate between 120 and 130 for the entire hour and 15 minutes. I combine cardio with resistance training, weights and core training. It is all non-stop and the goal for me is to challenge myself every day with different workouts,â?

Now although he works his butt off he wouldnâ??t have lost a pound of fat if his diet was messed up.

His diet staples are protein shakes, beef, chicken breast, and vegetables.

So here is his diet taken from the April 2004 issue of Menâ??s Health.

Meal One- 10 egg whites, scrambled, 3 servings cream of rice or 1 cup oatmeal, 3 rice cakes, 24 oz water
Meal Two- 6-oz skinless grilled chicken breast, 1 cup grits, 6 oz yams, 1 cup of steamed asparagus, 24 oz water
Meal Three- 6-oz water-packed tuna, 1 cup brown rice, 1 sliced cucumber, 24 oz water
Meal Four- 6-oz perch fillet, 1 cup barley, 6-oz baked potato, 1 cup steamed green beans, 24 oz water
Meal Five- 6-oz pork tenderloin, 1 cup brown rice, 6-oz sweet potato, 1 cup peas, 24 oz water
Meal Six- 10 egg whites, scrambled, 3 servings cream of rice or 1 cup oatmeal, 24 oz water

Now if you are anything like me, you have probably just looked at his diet and thought â??Screw that!â?.

I remember seeing this, thinking â??Damn The Rock must have some discipline!â?

Nothing but super clean foods like brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potato, and lean, fat free meat. I remember back when I was dieting obsessively and I got to the point where I was struggling not to vomit as I chewed through my egg whites and tuna!

Yuck!

But it is good to see that Dwayne Johnson is human. Here is what he says about his diet.

â??My diet is simple and very clean. I stay away from fried foods and fast food. But every third or fourth day, I do give myself the opportunity to completely gorge and I indulge in a little gluttony. I eat pizza or whatever I feel like. I do like a drink or two,â?

I also remember Peter Berg, the director of The Rundown say that once a week, Dwayne would have half a dozen boxes of donuts to his trailer. He would share half of them with the crew and eat the other half himself!

Now thatâ??s cool.

Dwayne Johnson still loves all those everyday â??badâ? foods that so many of us love. He just has them sparingly.

 

Well what if I told you could lose as much fat as you want, without EVER having to give up the foods that you love?

You could get as lean as you want, all while eating absolutely whatever you want every day, even if it was pizza, chocolate, ice cream ,donuts, burgers or cereal.

You see I have been overweight my whole life, and spent 7 years dieting obsessively trying to eat super clean like the Rock. But no matter how hard I tried I failed because my love for the â??forbidden Foodsâ? was just too much to stand.

Fortunately for me though, after 7 years of effort, I stumbled upon a way to lose 35 pounds of fat and get a six pack for the first time in my life, eating my favourite foods every day. Not once did I have to deprive myself or stop myself from having something I wanted.

For photo proof and more information as to exactly how I did it, (so that you can do it too!) head on over to http://www.junkfooddietsite.com

Stop doing it the hard way.

If you want to get lean and ripped like Dwayne Johnson, but you have been struggling to come to grips with dieting (because you absolutely love food!), then go now to http://www.junkfooddietsite.com because I my website will be perfect for you.

Training Help Needed for my puppy?

My Toy Fox Terrier Scooby is 6 months and the problem is he was doing well with his potty training at one point and I think this is beacuse we CARRIED him out the door..and this is before he knew how to walk down my hardwood steps without slipping because he could not get his traction. Now he is a pro at the steps..we have two sets of steps in my home and he is triained to use the steps that goes to the back of the house leading to the dining room where he goes out to potty..BUT he won’t go down and let us know so we automatically take him out after he eats and drinks..has anyone tried that doorbell that you can install anywhere and some people train their dogs to press it to get out? It makes a barking noise..I was thinking I should install the button downstairs near the door and the speaker upstairs..because my house is so big we may not even know if he just goes to sit at the door so I am thinking this would be good to sit the speaker upstairs in the family theater room where everyone is most of the time..please give me some suggetions..we had a bell on the door but we can’t hear it in certain parts of the house..or I thought about a baby monitor to see when he is at the door..but how can I get him to actually go to the door by himself? HELP ME..he sometimes just goes in the downstairs living room near the dining room and we never know because he darts down and comes back up..I AM TIRED OF STEAM CLEANING EVERY DAY..PLEASE HELP ME FIX THIS!!

Bodyguard Training Must be Physical

Bodyguard Training Must Be Physical – Close Protection Officers Must Be Fit For Purpose

I was reading in a bodyguard training manual recently and noted that physical fitness was not mentioned at all in the text. However, the manual contained a picture of the author, which made it clear that he had no interest in physical fitness. Or maybe the author just took it as a given that anyone wanting to become a bodyguard would be fit. Let me be clear; an unfit bodyguard is a liability, not only to himself but also to other members of his team, and, of course, to his principal. It can be difficult to find the required amount of time needed to maintain your fitness when working long hours, especially in a stressful environment, with a demanding shift pattern.

Note that I said difficult; it is not impossible. No one is so busy that their day cannot include a half-hour maintenance fitness session. Prime ministers and presidents find time for it, and so should you. A fit protection officer will have more self-confidence and this confidence will ooze for others to see. He/she will look the part, and will instill confidence in others. What message does an unfit, overweight bodyguard convey? It screams words and phrases like, lack of self-discipline, unprofessional, slob and incapable. Who would trust their security to an ill-disciplined, overweight, unprofessional, incapable slob?

A fit Close Protection Officer will be much more able to deal with stressful situations than will his unfit counterpart. The effects of adrenalin on the unfit are catastrophic; they will be drained of energy very quickly, and just when a quick decision needs to be made, fatigue will hinder choosing the right course of action. Bodyguards need to be fit.

It can sometimes be hard to find the time to exercise when you are on the road with the Principal, living out of a suitcase, moving from hotel to hotel. That said, with a little planning you can keep up with your fitness regime. Many hotels these days have a gym; some of these are large, airy affairs with a steam room and plenty of equipment, while others consist of a smelly basement room, an old StairMaster and a couple of dumbbells. In between these two extremes there are plenty of hotels that are more than sufficient for what we need.

If there is no gym then we can make use of the road or the stairs for some aerobic exercise and use our own body weight for some resistance and strength work, such as push-ups and sit-ups. You need only minimal equipment to keep your fitness ticking over and, additionally, it will only take up a small amount of space in your suitcase. So if you are heading some place where there is no gym, think about taking a basic bit of kit with you to stay on top of your fitness. Always remember to take some running shoes and suitable running kit. A stability (Swiss) ball is perfect to carry out core exercises and you can also use it as a bench and seat for upper body exercises. It is compact when deflated and the few minutes that it takes to inflate can be effective as a short cardiovascular workout! A skipping rope and an exercise mat are easily fitted into a suitcase, as is a chin-up bar, so you have no excuse!

James Brown BEM is the UK’s renowned trainer of Bodyguards and the author of The Bodyguards Bible – The Definitive Guide to Close Protection – He can be contacted at http://www.bodyguardsbible.com

Potty Training Your Goldendoodle

My Goldendoodle dog urinated Inside, Now What do I do?
The issue  has been happened  and now you can’t go back after your Goldendoodle has urinated inside of the house. When your lovely Goldendoodle  companion decides to use your carpet as a toilet, it can be disturbing and confusing for both you and your doodle. You’ve got to do something about what has transpired,  but what should you do? Should you spank him or her? Should you tell him or her  no? Or will punishing him or her  damage your poor doodles’  psyche?  Never fear!  Like any other challenge,  this one is surmountable, with time, love, and a whole mountain of patience.

Step #1: Go Outside

The first thing you should do when your doodle urinates  on the carpet is to take him or her immediately  outside. Yes, that’s right, even before you clean up your doodle’s nice  mess you need to take your lovely companion out  to the yard. If you can catch your doodle and stop him or her  in the middle of its  business this is even better, because your Goldendoodle  will have enough urine  left over  for the outdoors. Taking your doodle  outside after an accident is a crucial step because your Goldendoodle  needs to associate going potty  with the great outdoors.  If your doodle immediately urinates  when you take him or her  out to the yard, its important that you  praise him or her  generously. This will give your Goldendoodle  the positive reinforcement that will make him or her  want to go  outside again to use the bathroom. Try hard to avoid scolding your dog for accidents in the house. It’s sometimes frustrating training a young puppy or retraining an adult dog,  but you must exercise restraint and be patient.  Becoming angry or upset could lead your doodle into  thinking that you hate to see elimination at all,  which could cause your dog to start hiding his or her potty all over the house. If it’s going to happen inside, you at least want it in plain sight where the mess is easily cleaned up.

Step #2: Clean the Carpet

Of course, now your next step is to clean the carpet.   If you have family members or a partner  living in the home with you, make sure to  assign one person to potty-outside duty  and the other to carpet cleaning to ensure both get done in a timely manner.  You can always make a schedule for your Goldendoodle and rotate family members to be responsible.  With children,  this teaches them responsibility for their new pet.  You want to remove the scent of the accident as completely as possible, because the scent will attract your doodle  to eliminate in the same  place again. Instead of scrubbing the spot, gently pat it with a towel to soak up the excess accident. Then use a carpet cleaning agent of your choice, usually sprayed on and left for a couple minutes. When this has soaked in, gently pat the area again. Never rub, because this will spread the scent around.

Another alternative to manual cleaner is to buy a steam cleaner. If you have multiple pets this is probably a good idea, because they also tend to track in a lot of dirt. Sometimes the cost offsets the time you would have spent manually cleaning the area.  There are many great cleaners to remove urine scents.  Visit OMAHA VACCINE COMPANY for various products.

Tips and Tricks

One thing you must remember is that small puppies have small bladders and bowels  and can not wait too long before having to use the bathroom.  Puppies have the most difficult time in the beginning at potty training.  They have to go mutiple times during the day and this is something that small puppies simply cannot help.  Their sphincter muscle has not completed in development which is why it is difficult for them to hold the urge to use the bathroom right after eating.

Make sure to feed your puppy nutrtional food such as PEDIGREE.  Make sure to place your Goldendoodle on a routine and schedule.   In addition to helping your doodle  grow to become  big and strong,  quality meals  will also help keep your growing Goldendoodle’s  system regular which will in turn help keep the  potty needs regular. High quality food also helps preserve the health of your doodle  in the long run, resulting in less vet bills and a longer life.

Just like a real baby, puppies and young adult dogs  do best when put on a schedule. Feed your Goldendoodle  at the same time(s) every day and make sure your doodle is on a potty schedule.   Reptition is the key to success!
A good basic schedule would be when you wake up in the morning;  after the first meal;  in the afternoon;  after the dinner meal and right before bedtime.  This way your doodle  will be on  a routine that feels comfortable for him or her as well as  lets your doodle  know when to do  business.

The final trick is simply to have patience. Dogs  are complex beings, not just dumb toys bought for our amusement. Like any person, all Goldendoodles  will take time to learn something new. Do NOT expect miracles over night!  Nothing will happen overnight. There will be multiple accidents  and sometimes you may want to tear out your hair. Resist the urge to swat your doodle  in frustration  and think about the fun your parents must have had potty training you.

In the end it’s simply a phase that will fade with time. Enjoy your Goldendoodle and your Goldendoodle enjoy you!

Five Bodybuilding Tips To Boost Your Training And Fat Loss

5 Bodybuilding Secrets to get you in beach shape in double quick time

Bodybuilders often have a hard time of it. Set up as pariahs because of rampant drug usage, and ridiculed for their ridiculous fashion “sense” (genie pants and do rag anyone?!), any man who struts around with the old obligatory rolled up carpets under his armpits definitely has questionable social judgement. However, as ever with these things it’s the few misfits that give the rest of us a bad name. Steroids are rife in every competitive physical sport and there are arseholes everywhere – bodybuilding certainly doesn’t have the monopoly on losers that’s for sure. In fact, every man seeking to improve his body composition can learn an awful lot from bodybuilding. My company, Ultimate Performance, works with a range of self confessed muscle heads from the aspiring novice right through to the upper echelons of the Mr Olympia contest itself – a quick perusal of our website shows our credentials. Make no bones about it, bodybuilders, especially those with the guts and determination to step onto the competitive stage, are a rare breed and no one knows more about gaining muscle and losing body fat. Summer time is now upon us, so in this article we will examine five tricks from the sport of bodybuilding designed to get you into beach ready shape in record time.

Drop the Carbohydrates and Up the Fat
An obvious one I know, but many misjudge this. If you have two weeks to get ready for the beach then the quickest way to drop fat (and subcutaneous water that can blur muscle definition) is to drop your daily carbohydrate intake to 50 grams of fibrous carbohydrates. So say hello to broccoli, cauliflower and kale, and kiss goodbye to breads, cereals, fruit, rice and pasta.
Where people go badly wrong when dropping carbs is that they simply switch to eating lean proteins and don’t replace some of the lost carb calories with calories from fat. This inevitably leads to an energy crash and the subsequent blowing of the diet because the trainee simply runs out of steam and willpower. A few whole eggs, a piece of steak and plenty of supplemental Omega 3s (I prefer 10 grams a day for carbohydrate tolerant individuals, more if there appears to be insulin resistance) work wonders.

Ditch the Cardio, Increase the Weight Training
Cardio makes you fat, tired and stressed. Don’t believe me, then have a look at all the recreational marathon runner with their little cortisol bellies. The occasional long walk is good, but jogging great distances is a total no-no for optimal body composition.
If you want to blast your body quickly over a two week period then hit the gym twice a day, training your entire body in a three way split over five days. In the morning lift heavy weights for low reps (3-5), and in the evening train the same body parts but with repetition in the 9-15 range. The increased protein synthesis and elevated metabolism from the frequent training sessions will see your physique change at a rapid rate. One word of caution however, only follow such an intense programme for 2 weeks and then cut the frequency back down to once daily sessions in the 3rd week.

Flex, Flex, Flex!
One bodybuilding “secret” that works amazingly well is to simply practise posing your muscles. Provided that you are lean enough in the first place rapid definition can be gained by simply flexing your muscles as hard as you can, as often as you can.
Try this little experiment – every day contract the quadriceps muscles in your right thigh as hard as you can for 20 sets of 15 seconds. Take a photo on the first day, and then a photo after day 10. You will be amazed at the difference. Send in your before and after shots to Caroline@UPFitness.co.uk and the best example of this I will post up on my main Ultimate Performance website and/or in a follow up article to this one if the Editor allows it.

Drink Plenty of Water
An easy rule of thumb here whilst trying to get in shape in the shortest time possible is to drink a minimum of 1 litre of water per 25kg of bodyweight. Not only will this help flush out that subcutaneous film of water that lies between the muscles and the skin, but also you simply cannot lose body fat properly unless you are adequately hydrated. I am constantly shocked by the poor water intake of the general population – fizzy drinks and coffee do NOT count to your fluid intake!!

Get a BioSignature Modulation Assessment
If you don’t know what this is already then I suggest you refer back to previous articles where we discuss how your hormones can be optimised to radically improve both your health and body composition. In a nutshell, no system is as effective at creating rapid fat loss as BioSignature Modulation as it is tailored to your own unique body fat distribution and biochemistry. For anyone seeking to optimise their exercise and nutritional programmes I highly recommend you look up a local BioSignature practicioner.

In fact, BioSignature is one of the stock tools in trade for top bodybuilding coaches the world over – not only is it a staple for the personal training work we do here in London, but it is also heavily used by the best bodybuilding contest coach in the USA, Milos Sarcev who used it with at least two top ten Mr Olympia competitors last year.

Conclusion
Although these five so-called secrets will help you get in shape in record time, the real “trick” is the most basic and fundamental of all. Hard work and discipline are the key – be warned, there are no substitutes or short cuts away from this.

Marathon Training and Nutrition: How to Recover Faster With Antioxidants

So you’re training for a Marathon and find the runs getting longer and longer. You might be experiencing a greater fatigue both during and after the runs. Maybe you ‘re just sore for days after your long weekend run…even though nothing was hurting on the course.

Or do you just feel a low level of energy the next week. Then from this you might be susceptible to colds, flus, or other simple virus that are attacking your immune system.

All of these symptoms could be from not getting enough antioxidants in your system.

Antioxidants are necessary for athletes as intensive exercise creates high levels of free radicals in your body which can go on to attack your cellular health, internal organs, and can cause chronic inflammation.

From Dr. Keith Scott, medical doctor and keen cyclist, ” The body requires higher than normal levels of antioxidants to cope with the vastly increased quantities of free radicals produced during prolonged, strenuous exercise.”

He further points out the benefits of more fruits and vegetables, “As a result of exercise-induced free radical overload endurance athletes also need to boost their intake of plant-derived antioxidants. A number of clinical studies have shown that taking a wide range of plant-based antioxidants can help to counter free radical damage in endurance athletes. In addition they improve post event recovery and accelerate muscle repair – especially in older athletes.”

Here’s five high antioxidant sources that can help your recovery from long runs:

1. Berries. The darker the berry the more antioxidants it will have. Good berries to digest are acai, blueberries, billberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Our ancient ancestors ate a rich diet of berries. You can put berries in your morning smoothy, have some for desert, or just snack on them all day. Frozen are very good to buy also. Blueberries are the king of the crop for antioxidant value. I had only one cold last year and think daily blueberry consumption was a big reason for this.

2. Kale and Spinach. These two dark green vegetables have the highest antioxidant values in the vegetable kingdom. Both are great juiced, stirfried, or steamed and a favorite of SoCalRunning.com.

3. Green Teas and other Teas. Green tea has been keeping Asian people living long lives for centuries. Start dropping off the coffee consumption which is high in caffeine and acid and begin replacing with teas. White tea, Roobios, and oolong are all high in antioxidants.

4. Dark Grapes. Lots of new research has been coming out on the health benefits of grapes. But this is nothing that the Mediterranean people have not known for thousands of years. Have a whole bunch of grapes one morning for breakfast and notice how you feel all day.

5. Daily MultiVitamins. After my first ultramarathon, a guy in his sixties who had run four! one hundred mile races that year brought me over to his car to make sure I was taking Vitamin C after the race…of course, I had my own supply but you get the point. Really you should taking a multivitamin rich in antioxidants which is easy to find at any health food store.