Men’s Health Advice you can actually trust

Nobody gets a 7% body by accident, unless he’s a genetic wunderkind or an athlete. To do it, you’ll need to track the foods you eat closely and make sure you’re getting the right amounts of each macronutrient (proteins, carbs, and fats).

To start, multiply your current body weight by 12 to determine the number of calories you should eat. So, if you’re 180 pounds, start eating 2,160 calories daily.

If, however, you’re very overweight—as in, your belly hangs over your waistband—calculate your calories with the body weight you’d like to be. So, if you’re 220 pounds but want to weigh 180, you’d consume 2,160 calories (not 2,640).

Begin consuming one gram of protein per pound of your body weight every day. So a 180-pounder would eat 180 grams (and a 220-pounder who wants to be 180, likewise).

Get 30% of your calories from fat—meaning, Mr. 180 would then eat 648 calories. To make these easier to count, convert them to grams. Since a gram of fat contains nine calories, divide 648 by nine to get 72 grams of fat. The rest of your calories come from carbohydrates.

To calculate these, subtract your fat calories and then your protein calories from the total. Protein and carbohydrates both contain four calories per gram.

So, in the case of the 180 guy, that’s 720 protein calories (180 x 4 = 720). His equation to find his carb allowance would then look like this: 2,160 calories – 648 calories from fat – 720 calories from protein = 792 calories, or 198 grams of carbs.

Let’s chat about lemon balm. Not only is it good to help ease your mind a bit, but research shows it has some other potentially wonderful impacts on our lives as well.

What is Lemon Balm?

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family. Its leaves smell like lemon and are used for medicine and flavoring. Lemon balm can make you feel relaxed and calm. It could also help fight certain viruses and bacteria.

What Does Lemon Balm Do for the Body?

It might give you mental peace, ease headaches, improve your memory, help your kids sleep better,..

Reduce Stress and Anxiety

Research has shown that lemon balm can make you feel less stressed out. Related to this is its ability to bring down your anxiety.

Ease Headaches

Speaking of stress …who among us hasn’t dealt with a stress-induced headache? Lemon balm might be able to help ease that pain.

Improve Memory and Alertness

Some research has shown that lemon balm can help with alertness and memory but at low doses. In a study, it worked great at 0.3 grams, but a higher dose led to fatigue, so if you try it, keep it low.

May Help Insomnia

Do you have kids that are nervous and restless? Lemon balm might help!

Could Help Cold Sores

Cold sores can be unsightly and uncomfortable. An old study shows lemon balm can lead to fewer symptoms like pain, size of the sore, and number of blisters. 

Lemon Balm Side Effects

When you eat lemon balm in regular amounts, it’s generally safe. Some dishes use the unique taste in their recipes. There could be mild side effects like increased appetite, nausea, dizziness, or wheezing. We’re not sure if it’s safe for longer than six months though.

s for adults using the essential oil on their skin … it’s usually fine.

Final Thoughts

Lemon balm’s ability to potentially calm the mind, soothe headaches, and help your young kids sleep is enough reason to give this a closer look. 

Is it the golden ticket to a stress free life? No, nothing is. It may give you a lift at the end of the day and relaxation and if any daily enhancement helps. Do your research on the quality of what you are buying however, don’t over pay for low quality products!

Strength training with these strategies will help you get stronger so you can lose weight, run faster, and hit harder.

1. Own the “big four”

The squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press are the best strength-training exercises, period. The chinup and row are great moves too, but don’t make them the focus of your workout—they can be assistance lifts to complement the bench and shoulder press, keeping your pulling muscles in balance with the pressing ones.

2. Use barbells first

Forget all the fad equipment. The barbell is king, dumbbell is queen, and everything else is a court jester—they may have their place, but they’re not essential. Start your workouts with barbell exercises, such as the “big four,” as described above. Barbells let you load a lot of weight, and lifting heavy is the first step toward getting stronger. Once your heaviest strength exercises are out of the way, you can move on to dumbbell and bodyweight training.

3. Keep it simple

Some trainers make their clients lift with a certain rep speed, like three seconds up, one second down. That’s great for advanced lifters, but if you’re just starting out know this: There’s no need to count anything but reps during a set. Simply focus on raising and lowering your weights in a controlled manner, pausing for a one-second count at the top of the lift. Using an arbitrary tempo can lessen tension on your muscles or force you to use varying amounts of weight, slowing your progress. The only way to be sure you’re getting stronger is if your loads consistently increase.

4. Maintain a log

Write down your exercises, sets, reps, and the fate of each workout. Keep track of your best lifts and the most reps you’ve done with a certain weight on an exercise. Constantly strive to improve those numbers.

Don’t overdo it

Try to stick to three or four lifts per workout. Keeping your workouts short helps you take advantage of hormonal surges. When you do too many exercises in a session, at least some of them get done half-assed. All you need is one main lift per workout (one of the big four), one or two assistance lifts (for keeping the body in balance and further strengthening the muscles that perform the main lift), then core or specialty work at the end. Doing any more lessens your results.