WyoFit

Face it, your diet sucks. You drink too many calories, your dinner portions are too large, and a “handful” of chips is really half a bag. You may even be starving half the day. The problem is you’re eating the wrong stuff.

It’s now well-established that resistance training is of benefit to most of us; it’s no longer the realm of professional athletes and strongmen. But to think you’ve got to run out and join a gym is taking it too far. Gyms are convenient, provide focus, and can provide some level of inspiration, but they are not necessary.

There are myriad fallacies about fitness floating around out there, but one of the most prevalent is that squats are bad for your knees. There are plenty of exercises that have been shown to be very damaging to knees, jumping and running and explosive movments for example, but the full squat exercise is not.

Recovery nutrition has been called the "most important factor in improved performance." The better you can refuel your muscles, the quicker they'll be ready to train next time. Athletes are best able to digest and process replenishing foods within 15-60 minutes after exercise, a time period referred to as the "recovery (or glycogen) window."

Originally used as counter-weights in Russian markets, the kettlebell first became popular as an exercise tool around 300 years ago. A hundred years ago, the strongmen of the day regularly used them in training and performance. They remained in common use for several years, but saw a substantial drop in popularity in this country concurrent with the rise of machine training.