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As more and more teenagers are being classified as ov

weight and obese, many parents are looking to fast food as a possible cause

children and teenagers who are overweight has more than doubled in the past 30 years

a trend that seems parallel with the growth of the fast food industry

McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder hamburger without fries or a drink can provide 730 calories, 40 grams of fat and 1,330 milligrams of sodium. When combined with a 590-calorie order of French fries and a 1,330-calorie milk shake, it is easy to see how even infrequent visits to fast food restaurants can add to the amount of calories and fat a teenager consumes on a regular basis.

A lot of times we think a chicken sandwich is better, or a fish sandwich is healthier, but a lot of times those chicken or fish sandwiches are fried and not always the better choice,

Go green. Give some thought to ordering a side salad instead of the fries.

Skip the mocha-frappe-espresso-cino-with-whipped-cream coffee drink.

To increase your intake of other food groups at coffeehouses, try ordering some 100 percent fruit juice or fat-free milk, or try having a protein-rich egg on your bagel instead of cream cheese.

Step away from the soda.

account for as much as 10 percent of the typical teen’s daily calories.

When placing your order, consider water

carry with him throughout his life.

Step 2

write down her plan for meals and snacks

plan a day's worth of food that fits within a healthy diet by helping her write down what she will eat and when she will eat it.

eat often enough to keep her energy up

Step 3

Discuss eating fast food

how to make healthier choices at fast food places by showing him how to look up the nutrition information for the items he usually chooses.

Step 4

Pack your lunch together.

to show her what makes up a healthy lunch that fits into a diet plan

Variety is important

Emphasize the importance of including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and lean sources of protein.

Step 5

Enjoy family meals together. This can be dinner or breakfast

will begin to understand what goes into cooking a healthy meal.

GOALS Create mini goals. Don't just expect to put on a ton of muscle in one year without checking yourself along the way. Set weight-gain goals every 2-4 weeks and evaluate the results. If you fall short, make an adjustment for the next goal. When you stop setting goals, you stop critical thinking and stop making gains.

MAINTAIN Every 8-10 weeks, take a couple of weeks to prevent a plateau. Don't stop training, but back off a little and let your body recover. Stop trying to get stronger and don't push sets to failure. After two weeks of maintaining your previous gains, go back to 110%. Reduce your calories during this back-off phase as well. This gives your body a break from digesting and utilizing all the food you nee

FST-7 This is the advanced training technique I've used with all my athletes.

Basically, you train that bodypart heavy as you normally would on any given day, keeping the rep range at 8-12, but on the last exercise you perform the 7 sets to finish off that particular muscle, with minimal rest in between to get the best pump possible.

Alternate the first exercise between dumbbells, barbells and machines. Use them all each workout, but change the order and angle. On all chest moves, you must arch your back, throw your chest high and keep your shoulders back. This takes the shoulders out of the movemen

Low-rep flat-bench presses (fewer than eight reps) are a quick way to tear a pec. Use a full range of motion on all exercises. The only exceptions are intensity multipliers used on the last set. When you reach failure, push your muscles further with assisted negative reps or partials. Lean forward on dips to emphasize chest.

Work the angles. There are three sides to the shoulder muscles and countless angles to hit them. Sit, stand, lean; barbell, dumbbell, machine; use them all. Start the workout with a press. Hit the big compound movement while you're strongest. Don't be afraid to work your rear delts near the beginning or middle of the workout. If you always do them at the end they will never grow!

Warm up your shoulders, chest, triceps and rotator cuffs before training. The shoulders are vulnerable to injury. Try seated lateral raises to really isolate the side delts. This is my favorite move to build round shoulders!

BALANCE YOUR PROTEINS: Take in protein of all types from all sources — fast acting, slow acting, whey, casein, egg, fish and animal proteins (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.).

WHERE'S THE BEEF: Beef is great for offseason growth. In addition to the amino acids, you get tons of B vitamins, iron and testosterone-boosting fats.

JUNK IT UP: Don't be afraid to eat some junk food once or twice per week. This boosts your metabolism and gives your body a different type of fuel. Stick to the "clean junk." These are calorically dense, but not super greasy foods. Examples are pasta, burgers, steak, sweet potato fries and cheesecake.

If you want to grow, insulin spikes are your friends. You just have to time them correctly, like breakfast and postworkout. These are the times to have some fast-acting carbs that quickly replenish glycogen stores.

Eating Breakfast Out

choose the apples, pears, grapefruits, strawberries, and/or blueberries because they are lower in sugar. Avoid fruit juices because they are filled with excess sugar, calories, and sodium.

Rule 2:  Eat slowly and savor each bit. Enjoy the conversation at the table. Put your knife and fork down between bites. Don’t pick it up again until you've completely swallowed the last bite - allow your body time to digest.  

Beware:  Portion sizes in restaurants can be more than you need.

Drink water: 

Most of us inhale the bread basket while waiting for our entrée.

usually the more expensive the steak, the less fat it contains.

Share your dessert. Never, ever eat the whole dessert yourself.

Because these are not physically intensive, you should try to fit these in every day. They’re meant to develop muscle memory and teach your nervous system and muscles how to efficiently work together, so the more repetitions you can get in of form drills, the better.

Form drills are very important, but it’s essential that you take the skills that you learn from them and apply them to actual speed and endurance drills.

There are different types of speed and endurance training workouts that you can incorporate, such as participating in extensive intervals, which means completing a high number of sprinting repetitions, or you can use intensive intervals, which require you to do less repetitions but at high-speed, very intense sprints, perhaps with added resistance such as running hills, or using a parachute for drag.

Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day—not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you’ve done something disciplined and good for you

Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity—a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends. Exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you’re snoozing.

Assuming you make exercise a true priority, it shouldn’t be a major problem to get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier—especially since regular exercise generally means a higher quality of sleep, which in turn means you’ll probably require less sleep.

When you exercise at about the same time every morning—especially if you wake up regularly at about the same time—you’re regulating your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Your body learns that you do the same thing just about every day, and it begins to prepare for waking and exercise several hours before you actually open your eyes. That’s beneficial because:  Your body’s not “confused” by wildly changing wake-up times, which means waking up is much less painful. (You may even find that you don’t need an alarm clock most days.) Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc. Your metabolism, along with all the hormones involved in activity and exercise, begin to elevate while you're sleeping. As a result, you’ll feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake up.  Many people find that morning exercise has a tendency to regulate their appetite for the rest of the day. Not only do they eat less (since activity causes the release of endorphins, which in turn diminishes appetite), they also choose healthier portions of healthier foods.  People who consistently exercise find, sometimes to their great surprise, that the appointed time every morning evolves into something they look forward to. Besides the satisfaction of taking care of themselves, they find it’s a great time to plan their day, pray, or just think more clearly—things most of us often don’t get to do otherwise.  Exercising first thing in the morning is the most foolproof way to ensure that other things don’t overtake your fitness commitment, particularly if you have a hectic family life. (It’s so easy to wimp out in the evening, when we’re tired or faced with such tasks as rustling up dinner and helping with homework.)  More than 90% of those who exercise consistently have a morning fitness routine. If you want to exercise on a regular basis, the odds are in your favor if you squeeze your workout into the a.m.  Non-morning people can always trick themselves in the a.m. Having trouble psyching yourself up for a sunrise jog? Do what I did—tell yourself that you’ll still be so fast asleep that you won’t even remember—much less mind!  

Breakfast is an important meal for everyone, especially teens.

keep their brain sharp and focused through lunch time.

scrambled egg on a whole wheat bagel for the next day.

items such as oatmeal, skim milk and fruit for one day

lunch option may be a lean ham and low-fat cheese Panini, half a cup of grapes and a yogurt.

Dinner could be a vegetarian lasagna, garlic bread and Italian salad

Consideration

Avoid having a lot of pre-made or processed snacks and foods in the cupboards.

make meals in advance such as casseroles, trail mix, granola and snacks that are free from preservatives and excess sugars and salt.

Benefits

Utilize leftovers whenever possible to turn into other meals.

Young Women's Health suggests that a teen should always have balance in her diet including eating nutrient rich food at regular times and staying away from high fat and fast food meals.

Bend the opposite knee to the ground so the front of the knee almost touches the starting line. Take the hand that is to the "quick" leg side and place it on the ground (I have seen college athletes do this backward!). Place the opposite hand near the hip so it is "cocked" and ready to "fire!"

A poor first step is the result of a poor stance. Having your feet too far back will result in a step that may not pass the starting line which results in one extra step to run the sprint, which could add 0.1 seconds to your time! If flexibility (addressed above) is not an issue, practicing the start from the new stance is the next step.

Set a hoop or line of tape on the floor to help as an aiming point. How far should the athlete step? I was pretty flexible and was able to get a large first step without sacrificing body angle.

The 40-yard dash is a test of acceleration and top-end speed. Research suggests that top end speed can be maintained in elite sprinters for about 2 seconds and occurs around the 50-meter mark

Forward Body Lean The athlete needs to keep an exaggerated forward body lean for 30 yards. The forward lean keeps the athlete from reaching full speed too fast. During this acceleration phase, the athlete should focus on keeping arms bent at about 90 degrees and focus on "pulling" the elbows back and "pushing" with the feet. Trying to "pull" back may result in a hamstring pull and also a slower time.

The final common mistake is that players take way too many steps. The 40-yard dash should be over in about 18-20 steps for high school players and older (If you have seen programs to reduce 40-yard time by 0.2 seconds, they take 20 strides and try to reduce ground contact time but 0.01 seconds x 20 strides = 0.2 seconds). However, counting an athlete's strides is not an easy task.

Plyometrics is a protocol used to develop strength, speed and power for various types of sports.

Plyometrics require your muscles to contract while overcoming a lengthening phase and producing maximum strength in the shortest amount of time. According to Denis Knowles of Coachr.org, the faster a muscle is stretched, the greater the power output during the contraction phase of the muscle.

Hansen states that to perform faster and with greater strength and speed, stretching helps to elongate your stride or ability to move.

Stretching should concentrate on elongating your muscle overall and focus specifically on the sport you engage in. This is for two purposes: passive stretching elongates your muscles and helps them warm up and also cool down from everyday activities and training.

Second, dynamic stretching related to your sport works on the elastic properties of your muscles and connective tissues.

Dynamic stretching works on your nervous system that coordinates movement, power and strength so you can produce more power, strength and speed.

Just Because You're Skinny Does Not Mean You Will Have A Six-Pack

Abdominals Are A Muscle, Too! You want your arms to be bigger, your shoulders to be broader and your chest to be fuller, correct? And what is the solution to making these muscle groups increase in size? High intensity weight training, overload, consistency and a healthy surplus of calories. Starting to sound familiar? The same goes for your abdominals. Your abdominals are a muscle group that requires the same formula and attention and are not any different from other muscle groups. For some reason many consider abdominals to be a 'special' body part that requires a different set of rules and a completely different formula for training.

To get thick, dense abs - the ones that 'pop' out - you must train them with intensity and overload. Here are some practical tips you can apply to your program so that you can be the 'man' or 'gal' at your gym with a ripped and muscular six-pack. Then I will provide a sample

If your abs are your worse body part, then why do you keep training them last, at the end of your workout? Which muscles group will receive the highest priority when you train? The ones done at the start of your workout or the ones done at the end of the workout? Of course, the exercises done at the start of the workout while you have the most energy and focus.

he typical response is "Nobody does abdominals first..." That is pure BS. This just supports the notion that many people who work out don't ever question what they hear or do. They want to be spoon-fed answers and follow the trends of others without thinking for themselves. I ALWAYS train abdominals first in a workout if they need the highest attention.

What's going to receive better results? A muscle group that is trained one time a week or two times a week (assuming you recovered prior to the second workout commencing)? Of course, the muscle that is trained 2x a week. The more stimulus on a muscle, the more growth. That is why professional athletes are professional athletes. They have conditioned their bodies to such a high amount of stress that they are able to train more frequently.

Right now some of you can see a perfectly set of staggered abs that are wide and thick and separated by a line down the middle. Some of you have the classic four-pack which is four big abs with a smooth lower section. Some of you have tiny cubicle boxes sitting high on your abdominal wall. Some of you have the picture perfect eight-pack that makes people's jaws drop.

If building a sexy six-pack is on your 'to do' list for 2007, then start training abdominals 2-4x a week. I will teach you in a moment how to split your abdominals up into two different days based on movement.

To train your abdominals safely and effectively you must know the basic movement patterns of your abs and train them within all sub-categories: Truck Flexion (upper abs) Hip Flexion (lower abs) Rotation (obliques) Lateral Flexion (obliques)

Perform this workout at least two times a week separated by at least 48 hours rest. You should experience a deep muscle soreness after each one of these workouts. Focus on using a load that causes failure within 8-12 reps and then move to the next exercise. This is a non-stop circuit. Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat until you reach 4 sets total. Exercise Sets Reps Tempo Rest Hanging Leg Raises 1-4 8-12 311 - Rope Crunch 1-4 8-12 311 - Reverse Crunch 1-4 8-12 311 - Weighted Ball Crunch 1-4 8-12 311 1-2 minutes

As said earlier, buiding razor sharp abs is not the easiest task in the work but nor is it the hardest. The above abdominal exercises will help you build a deeply separated and evenly placed set of abs in little time. The truth is that if you can't see your abs, then the best exercise for your abs will be better diet.

In this way you risk maintaining or worsening an eating disorder

We have noticed that when a patient begins to regain weight this vicious circle is interrupted

Excessive exercise risks are linked to the induction of a fasting effect that leads to further protein-calorie deficit and then to a worsening of the malnutrition situation.

Doing exercises in a weak physical condition can be very dangerous