Category Archives: Lose Weight Fast

Sunlight and bleach can both kill the novel coronavirus, a federal official told the daily White House briefing on Thursday. But US President Donald Trump turned what should have been a simple scientific summary into a puzzling stream of dangerous ideas about somehow streaming light into the body and suggestions about injecting disinfectants.

Here's what was said: Bill Bryan, a senior official at the US Department of Homeland Security, said studies on the virus showed bleach kills coronavirus in about five minutes, and isopropyl alcohol destroys it even faster.

He also said the virus dies quickest under direct sunlight, and that temperature and humidity affect how long the virus survives.

This was Trump's take:

It was not immediately clear how Trump would propose bringing light into the body.

Scientists were horrified by his claims. Multiple experts warned after Trump's briefing that nobody should ingest disinfectant, and that it simply doesn't work.

The World Health Organization says on its website that exposing yourself to the sun or high temperatures does not prevent Covid-19, and warns specifically against using ultraviolet lamps, including tanning lamps, to try to kill virus.

"UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation," the WHO cautions.

Too much UV light damage can lead to skin cancer.

And chlorine bleach is toxic: it can and does kill people who drink it. The US Food and Drug Administration regularly warns the public against drinking bleach, or even inhaling fumes from bleach. It's also irritating to skin.

Read more here.

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Coronavirus pandemic: Updates from around the world - CNN

A few months ago, I was just like many other people who relied on the gym to keep up my fitness. A trip to my local fitness center was a built-in part of most mornings for me. After many years of working out to keep an extra 25 pounds off my 5-foot frame, I relied on my treadmill time not just to maintain my weight loss but also as a way to burn off stress.

Around New Years, I was feeling uninspired by my gym workouts I was doing the same cardio all the time and I was no longer looking forward to it. Coupled with the fact that my gym felt more like a senior center with dusty, worn out equipment that often didnt work I started to wonder why I was paying a monthly fee (plus annual dues) for something I didnt like or maybe even need. I noticed that when I went running outside, I sweated harder and my mood was brighter. Plus and this was a big bonus #outsideisfree! Mustering up my courage, I turned in my cancellation request to the gym and never looked back.

If youre one of those people who are missing your gym time in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak I get it. Not having a place to go where you can exercise and be part of a fit community can be a scary thing. Its normal to wonder if youll lose your current level of fitness or abandon a weight-loss regimen thats been working for you. But before you resign yourself to eating cookies and watching Tiger King, Im here to tell you it doesnt have to be that way. I actually quit the gym two months before all of this sheltering in place started, and the fact is, you can make it work without shelling out for tons of expensive equipment.

I spoke to two strong, female owners of two of my favorite boutique fitness classes in NYC Sadie Kurzban, founder and CEO of 305 Fitness, and Amanda Freeman, founder and CEO of SLT and Stretch*d, for their advice on staying active without the gym or in-person classes.

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There are so many free resources out there right now, said Kurzban, whose own company is offering free cardio dance workouts on its YouTube channel every day. Many fitness professionals are hosting free or donation-based classes on YouTube, Instagram Live and Zoom. Whether people are sticking to a tight budget or have more to spend, theres something for everyone.

After cancelling my gym membership, I started running outdoors most mornings and loving it. But then one morning, after a run, I felt my knee make a decidedly not-normal pop. I quickly realized that I needed to find a different form of exercise, something with less impact that was still easily accessible.

After doing a few trials with different apps, I homed in on the My Fitness app by Jillian Michaels. I have loved Michaels since her days on The Biggest Loser and remembered doing her DVDs back in the day (her fast feet move still kills me!). Her app seemed to offer one of the most comprehensive, customizable plans, plus I love her tough-but-informative, tell-it-like-it-is training style. The workouts are all around 20 to 30 minutes long and pack a serious punch.

Since being quarantined, Ive learned that the best way to squeeze my exercise sessions in with work and two home-schooled kids is to go into my kids playroom and work out first thing in the morning. Freeman agreed that this is the way to go. Its helpful to choose the one time of day when you have the most energy and the fewest obligations pulling at you and stick to that time, she said. For me, its best to work out an hour after I wake up, so Ive had my green tea, but I havent gotten too involved in work yet. I love checking it off my list first, so I can focus on work and my kids for the rest of the day and night.

Freeman also advised putting workouts into your calendar just like you would any mandatory meeting. You wouldnt skip a virtual meeting with your boss or your childs teacher, so view it the same way, she said.

And while some people might decide to use this quarantine time to get in shape, a better way to look at it might be to let go of those expectations and just focus on moving your body every day in a way that feels good.

As we navigate this new time, lets be kind to ourselves, take it one day at a time and choose to move for the sake of feeling something, Kurzban said. Take the pressure off.

If youre juggling more right now, aim for shorter but still impactful workouts, suggested Freeman. Think 20-minute runs or 30-minute bodyweight HIIT sessions. If you have the time to commit, find an hour-long sweat session youve always wanted to try or double up on 30-minute classes. For example, you could pair an abs class with a cardio blast class.

I dont think theres just one single machine, app or workout thats the solution to exercising without the gym during this unusual time its about finding the activity that works for and inspires you, and then making the time to do it non-negotiable.

Its really your mindset thats going to keep you feeling fit, looking good and staying active and take heart that this same philosophy will still hold true when the world opens back up. Maybe youll be first in line to hit the gym, or maybe youll have found a whole new way to move that feels right for you.

Read more:
Workout tips from a woman who quit the gym before quarantine - TODAY

This article originally appeared on VICE US.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At least thats what many of us were brought up to believe. But a growing body of research is seriously undermining that idea. Fasting, in one form or another, is all the rage as evidenced by the volume of ripped bros on YouTube who are itching to share the fasting secrets that have finally gotten them over that thing that happened in high school.

For most people, a fast amounts to missing breakfast. They break their fast later in the day. Others chose to skip dinner instead. Either tactic will will result in a 16/8 fast. This means that in every 24-hour period, you fast for 16 hours and do all of your eating in an eight-hour window. Another popular variant is alternate day fasting, in which adherents typically eat no calories one day and whatever they want the next.

Some of the reported benefits of fasting regimens include a reduction in inflammation, decreased blood sugar levels and even a prolonged life spanalthough that last one has only been proven in rats so far. It wasnt long before people started wondering if longer fasts would yield more pronounced results. I should remind you, if youre considering doing this, to examine your intentions since any extended period of voluntarily skipping meals can be a sign of disordered eating.

Ive tried to reconcile all the anecdotal fasting with conversations Ive had with with doctors and dieticians to figure out what might happen to my body if I commit to this increasingly popular fad-within-a-fad and eat nothing for 72-hours straight. Oddly, I havent tried this personally, but based on the below, I just might.

For many of us, skipping breakfast is NBD, particularly when youre sufficiently distracted and quaffing black coffee all morning. Skip lunch, however, and by mid-afternoon your brain is screaming at you to refuel. Its not literally screaming, of course. It just makes you behave like an irritable and petulant toddler until someone else recognizes the tell-tale signs of hanger and shoves a donut in your face.

A recent study looked into why hanger is a thing and concluded that a disruption in homeostasis of the brain can provoke complicated emotional response involving an interplay of biology, personality, and environmental cues. This, perfect shitstorm along with flagging energy levels, and a talkative abdomen can and do make getting through the first part of a 72-hour fast extremely challenging.

But if you can ride it out, things tend to greatly improve at day two or three. The gradual decrease in hunger is well documented in physiological studies showing gradual decrease in ghrelin over multiple days of fasting, says Jason Fung, Toronto-based nephrologist and co-author of The Complete Guide to Fasting. Ghrelin, he explains, is a hormone that makes you feel hungry. Its secreted in greater amounts when your stomach is in a non-stretched state. Fung goes on to explain that an abatement of hunger happens more often than not during an extended fast.

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I should probably mention here that 72 hours is a much shorter duration than it would take a healthy person to starve to death. In an editorial published in the British Medical Journal, a review of the pertinent literature on the subject found that humans can survive without any food for 30-40 days provided they are adequately hydrated.

As Alan D. Lieberson told Scientific American, how long a person survives without food really depends on factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. Dying of thirst, however, can happen within mere hours. In another Scientific American article, professor of biology at George Washington University Randall K. Packer, said that an adult in comfortable surroundings could potentially last a week sans-liquid.

When Fung talks about your body using your fat for fuel, hes talking about ketosis. To get into ketosis, you dont give your body any of its preferred grabn go fuelglucoseand force it to look for alternatives. When theres nothing coming into your piehole, the body will start shaking down fat cells for energy. Thats why all those ripped bros are so into fasting and the ketogenic state it puts them in. Theyll tell you that fasting and ketosis is whats gotten their body fat percentage down into the single digits and studies have shown that they may be right about that. What they dont talk too much about is that those abs may have come at a high price.

A byproduct of that conversion of paunch into available energy are ketone bodies. One way the body releases ketone bodies is through exhalation therefore making the breath sweet and fruity, says New York-based dietician Amy Shapiro, putting somewhat of a positive spin on the odor. Research has shown that breath acetone is reliable indication that you have gone into fat burning mode. You release ketone bodies through your breathand the smell is often unpleasant enough that the people you hangrily scared away by threatening to flay the next person you find pilfering your yogurt will stay away in fear of having their faces melted by your hellacious mouth farts.

Keep in mind, Shapiro doesnt consider the 72-hour fast as a way to achieve meaningful weight loss. You will likely lose more water weight than actually fat as your body uses its glycogen stores for fuel before dipping into actual fat, she says. As you release glycogen, you lose water and that is usually the reason for the rapid weight loss. Losing fat takes more time. Fasting proponent Fung, however, disagrees and maintains that you could lose 1.5 pounds of fat over a 72-hour period. For that reason, he recommends that people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 20 could put themselves at risk of malnutrition. Most people have much more fat than that, he says.

Traditionally, not eating for three days would be seen by most as a not smart move. In fact, in times and places of food scarcity, it would likely be viewed at the last word in stupidity. Provided you can get something to eat on Thursday however, padlocking your pantry on Monday may actually improve brain functionaccording to rodent studies, at least.

Researchers at Yale started injecting ghrelin into mice and found that their performance in learning and memory tests was increased by 30 percent. Another study at Swansea University in Wales added the hormone to mouse brain cells grown in a dish. The infusion it switched on a gene known to trigger neurogenesis, a process in which brain cells divide and multiply.

As mentioned, ghrelin production tapers off after a few days of not eating. In the interim, the stomach is secreting plenty of it. Shapiro says that this could be an adaptation from a time when food was often scarce and getting at it had as much to do with your cognitive ability as it did with how well you could throw a spear. During times of starvation, the body preserves two organs and then shrinks the rest, she explainsthe preserved organs are the brain and, in men, the testicles. Biologically, this is likely linked to the necessity of mental clarity to get out of starvation times or to survive long periods without food and to continue to grow the species.

Fasting is said to be a mental, physical, and spiritual reset, says Virginia Beach-based dietitian Jim White. He explains that people who have fasted for three days often report that it causes them to face their bottled-up emotions so that they are more mentally stable after fasting is completed. Additionally, those who fast learn to appreciate the little things that they may take for granted in everyday life, such as having a cold glass of water to drink or a bed to sleep in at night. By focusing on spiritual and mental connections during fasting instead of food and life inconveniences, mental clarity can be achieved.

Read more:
This Is What Happens to Your Body if You Don't Eat For Three Days - VICE

Want to know how to lose belly fat fast? Well you can't. But there are ways to torch fat, shed the dreaded visceral fat and maybe even reveal your abs. During lockdown it's a problem a lot of us are facing but then again, its a problem a lot of us were facing before lockdown.

Contrary to what a lot of websites will tell you, directly targeting 'belly fat' is largely impossible outside of surgical procedures. It's more of a matter of knowing how to lose weight in general some of which will be around your belly. It can also be useful to work on your abdominal muscles, so that when the fat is finally gone, your stomach will be properly flat, not fat. Although there's no magic bullet to slay belly fat, there are ways to burn visceral fat or belly fat that are tried, trusted and true.

And, as you have probably guessed, we have a list of them. So if you want to burn belly fat and get fit, this is our 'six-pack' of tips, cheats, technologies and strategies. Oh and if you want to round it up to a lucky 7 tips, try this one blindingly obvious way to avoid lockdown weight gain.

Important note here, everyone: Belly fat these days is often referred to as visceral fat because that sounds scarier. If you really need to shed visceral fat because it's endangering your life, that is an area where you should probably be seeking medical advice, if that is at all possible. But while this guide is more about slimming down a bit, or avoiding ballooning during lockdown, belly fat loss also has an element of visceral fat loss.

Our lose belly fat tips aren't necessarily quick, and this is not about telling you how to get six pack abs although we have plenty of guides to that, too. No, this is just a 'six pack' do you see what we did, there? of tips to getting a healthier life and feeling comfortable with the girth of your mid-riff. We're not looking to fat shame anyone here or totally bro out, we're just offering advice.

We've got some great tips, a few cheeky shortcuts and key strategies to lose belly fat quickly, healthily and sustainably. As we just said, there are no quick fixes here; we want you to develop habits that ensure you'll stay trim for good.Weve also got the lowdown on the best exercises to lose belly fat, and all the gear youll need to get started although, of course, the most important 'gear' is the bit between your ears.

There's no hard-and-fast rule for slim-down success: the best way to lose belly fat is the way that works around your lifestyle. If you follow an unsustainable plan, you won't last: it's as simple as that. In this article we lay out six principles that are applicable to everyone, whether you're a total beginner starting your weight-loss journey or a seasoned pro who fell off the wagon over Christmas.

These guiding lights will keep you on the straight and narrow, even during a lockdown situation. Dont try to take on more than you can reasonably fit into one day. And, despite the name of this feature, don't fixate on 'belly fat'. It's important to reduce visceral fat, which does tend to lurk around the belly area, but that is best achieved by trying to slim down and tune up overall.

Here are six strategies to help you start losing weight.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The short answer to the question of how to lose belly fat is to burn more calories than you consume on a regular basis. In the fitness world, this is known as achieving a "calorie deficit".

If this sounds like a waking nightmare, there's a trick to it: what you need to do is ensure youre eating the correct kind of food to make sure you feel full and sated, even when consuming fewer calories than you're burning off.

Certain foods are "empty calories" while others release energy slowly, keeping you fuller for longer. This is a big danger, especially while you're at home, with all your food within easy reach.

But before that, you'll need to find a good way to track your calories burned and calories taken in. The free MyFitnessPal app is one of the best ways to record your calorie intake, but to track your calories burned, you'll need a dedicated fitness tracker. If you already own a smartwatch, most will offer calorie tracking as standard, but for those yet to make the plunge, the Fitbit Versa Lite is the best activity tracker you can buy right now. Check out the deal below.

Oh, and staying hydrated is crucial, as well

Fitbit Versa 2 | was 199.99 | now 159 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa 2 is getting regular price cuts in 2020 and is currently 22 off at Amazon and various other fine online retailers. The Versa 2 features advanced cardio tracking as well as the usual steps and sleep stuff, and has Alexa built in. It's also unusually stylish for a Fitbit.View Deal

Fitbit Versa Lite | was 149.99 | now 128.89 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa Lite is the best affordable fitness tracker or smartwatch you can buy.It tracks deep and light sleep, steps, distance and calories, but that is barely scraping the surface of its capabilities. Via Fitbit's excellently presented app and sprawling ecosystem, you can use it as the basis of a complete fitness and diet programme. You can also enter your meals to log calories consumed, so you can have all your dietary data in one place.View Deal

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S'Well Marble Drinking Water Bottle | now 17.50 at John LewisIn this case beauty is more than skin deep. This bottle is vacuum sealed, which means it should be able to keep liquids warm for 12 hours and cold for 24 hours. Its stainless steel, has a capacity of 500ml and requires handwashing, and its definitely one for one-upping your co-workers boring flasks and supermarket specials.View Deal

BEEFIT Biltong, 10 x 30g bags | now 16.99 on AmazonLooking for a calorie-dense but highly nutritional snack? Swap your bag of crisps or chocolate bar for jerky or biltong, a cured meat snack high in protein. BEEFIT comes in handy 30g bags, to keep yourself fuller for longer. It's packed full of protein to help build muscle after a workout (Over 20g per pack, to be precise), and is even gluten free too.View Deal

Intermittent fasting is becoming more and more popular. It involves significantly cutting calories or abstaining from food altogether for a portion of the day or week, and then cramming all your calories into a much shorter time window.

The best-known intermittent fasting plan is the 5:2 diet, where you eat as you normally would (although hopefully a bit healthier) for five days a week, then scoff no more than 600 calories two days a week.There are also variants of this diet where you consume almost no calories, two days per week. This is much more doable than it sounds, so long as you are in good general health, but it's not exactly fun.

However, for trainees who are serious but not that serious, there's the 16:8 diet. With this diet you have only 8 hours a day to fit all your meals in, but can only drink water (and maybe some black coffee, if you're feeling naughty) within a 16 hour fasting period outside of those 8 hours. Most choose to eat from 10am to 6pm, but as long as you stay within an eight hour window, you can start and finish at any time of the day. This isHugh Jackman's strategy, so if you have ever wanted to be in Wolverine shape

Why try fasting, though? Well, during the fasting period the body will run out of sugar to run on, and so will start eating up the bodys fat stores. The big negative is the adjustment period: if you're used to a big breakfast or an early dinner, a 16-hour fast feels tough at first, especially if you're exercising. You're going to get seriously cranky.

Soylent Nutrition Shake, Cacao (Chocolate), 12 Pack | now 35.00 on AmazonMarketed as a 'complete meal in a bottle' soylent is a perfect on-the-go quick feed for breakfast or lunch. With 20g of plant protein - to keep you going and slow-burning carbs to help you stay full, Soylent is vegan, gluten free, nut free, dairy free and low GI. At under 3 a shake, it's an ideal replacement to your usual hurried, bland supermarket meal deal.View Deal

Dead set on having chips? An air fryer can deliver a lot of the delicious taste with less of the not-quite-so-delicious oil

(Image credit: Future)

If you eat fried food all the time, switching to an air fryer will definitely cause you to lose weight unless buying one causes you to start eating loads of chocolate because you've reduced your fat intake. No, it doesn't taste as delicious as proper fried food of course not but it turns out meals with a good fried/roasted taste, but with up to 80% lower fat content.

If you don't eat fried food all the time but like to treat yourself now and then, switching to an air fryer could still help with you to lose weight. Even with a solid balanced diet and a good workout ethic, there will come a time when your willpower will falter and you'll want to fall back on your old favourites, like fried chicken, fish, chips and all the other foods you love normally dripping with grease. If you schedule in cheat days and do this in a controlled way, it's good to know you're cooking these foods in a way that still helps you hit your goals.

Enter the air fryer. The best air fryers are revolutionary pieces of kit that use hot air combined with a teaspoon of oil (as opposed to the gallons of oil found in the deep-fat variety) to cook your crispy favourites. If kitchen space and budget is no object, you can cook a whole chicken in the Philips Airfryer XXL, but if you're after something a little more economical, Pro Breeze Airfryer 1400W is lightweight, versatile and cheaper, perfect for portion control. It also seems to usually be sold out all the time at present, so perhaps everyone has already taken our advice, here.

This is just one way to have your (fried) cake and eat it too. Swapping high-calorie pints of ice cream to the low-calorie versions like Halo Top or Oppo, or switching out cholesterol-laden butter for a healthier olive spread, are other easy ways you can make relatively simple lifestyle choices and still keep weight off.

Weight training is a great way to tip your muscle-fat ratio the right way

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There are two main types of exercise: cardio training and weights, otherwise known as resistance training.Although cardio burns a lot of calories while you do it, weight training builds muscle which burns more than fat as you go about your day. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you'll burn even when not working out.

Resistance training may seem scary if you're doing it for the first time, especially in the gym when the area's dominated by serious lifters, but you dont have to start adding big plates to the bar right now. There's plenty of ways to get started at home with smaller weights such as dumbbells, kettlebells and even medicine balls.

Were not going to list every single lifting exercise, so why not pick the body part you want to start toning up and check out some of our muscle-building how-tos. One you've done that, grab one of the best dumbbell sets on the market. They're not just for arms: you can use a dumbbell to work your core, shoulders, and even your legs with combination movements.

The only issue you will find right now is that most of them are sold out, but this store still has home gym equipment for online delivery. By the time this lockdown ends, you'll be ready for the gym.

If everything for the home gym has sold out which happens a lot lately consider doing bodyweight exercises. If that idea makes you think of muscular men working out in prison, try our guide to the best bodyweight exercises for beginners and ease into it gently. Before you know it you'll be ready for the Navy SEAL workout. None of these require any specialist equipment.

BodyPower 20 kg Cast Iron Spinlock Dumbbell set | was 59.99 | now 49.99 from Fitness SuperstoreYou just can't beat a good old pair of cast iron weights, and a testament to this is the fact they can be found under the beds of dads and granddads up and down the country. Get your own and they will last a lifetime and for all of their noisy, palm-chafing downsides, there is a kind of nostalgic loveliness to the spin collar set-up.View Deal

All of this aside, dont neglect cardio, as regular cardio workouts are important for fitness and stamina.

Electric Muscle Stimulation can help your muscles recover faster

(Image credit: PowerDot)

It may seem gimmicky when you unwrap your new six-pack vibrating belt, complete with a picture of Ronaldo on the box, but don't roll your eyes just yet. While you can't just sit there eating crisps and expect to get ripped, Electric Muscle Stimulators can help as part of a controlled dietary and exercise plan.

EMS can cause the muscles to contract, essentially tensing and untensing rapidly. During downtime post-workout, you can continue to encourage muscle growth with EMS, while the right bit of kit can also encourage faster recovery, allowing you to get back in the gym all the quicker. According to the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, EMS stimulates the muscle in the same way as a massage, prepping it for the next go-round.

It's not a bona fide shortcut to a six-pack, but it can speed up the muscle-building process with regular use.

(Image credit: Sixpad)

Our top choice is always SIXPAD as used by Cristiano Ronaldo, a man who takes great pride in his body. Perhaps a little too much pride, the unkind or jealous might say. Amazon also sells all manner of abs belts by brands we have never heard of, for about 20. Needless to say we dont recommend these.

PowerDot 2.0 - Smart Electric Muscle Stimulator | now 185 at AmazonAlternatively, the PowerDot 2.0 is a smartphone-controlled muscle stimulating monster.This neat muscle stimulator works from your phone, allowing you to control intensity, stimulation and goal. Reduce your recovery time and increase muscular performance, as the PowerDot working to support your gym schedule. This model has two stimulators, but you can scale up to four for 325View Deal

Planks are a tough abs workout and a great end-of-workout finisher

(Image credit: Taco Fleur from Pixabay)

As well doing both muscle-building and cardio exercises, if you want to lose belly fat its also important to switch up the pace of your workout.

Every time you workout, you should exercise using both steady state (working hard but not at max capacity, such as during brisk jog) and high intensity (going flat out, like sprinting) to torch your abdominal fat.

Steady state or aerobic exercises include cycling, running or uphill hiking.Its a crucial part of losing belly fat because it burns through your fat stores. However, it also uses your sugar stores for energy first, so you need to do steady-state for long enough to use up all that sugar before it eats into your fat reserves.

High intensity workouts use mainly sugar for fuel, so they don't hit the fat right away, but it does help in building muscle, which will help you torch fat even on days you're not exercising. Explosive weight lifting, sprinting and HIIT-friendly exercises like mountain climbers are all great high-intensity exercises.

A good fitness tracker will help you to gauge the intensity of your workout by monitoring your heart rate. For overall fitness trackers, check out the Fitbit Versa Lite above, but for a dedicated running watch, you can't beat the Garmin Forerunner 645, the best on the market right now.

Find out more about heart rate zone training

Garmin Forerunner 645 | now 342.37 at AmazonGarmin dominates the running/fitness watch category so totally, it's almost embarrassing for the competition. The most recent addition to their premium line, the Garmin 645, incorporates GPS and wrist heart-rate tracking, which is good for monitoring your resting and all-day rates. The 645 crunches a lot of data to suggest recovery times, make a decent stab at estimating your VO2 Max, tell you how optimal your training load and lots, lots more.View Deal

FitBit Aria 2 smart bathroom scale | now 119.99 on AmazonThis clever scaletells you your weight, BMI and body fat percentage which is all a lot of people want. It then reports this to your Fitbit account, so you can monitor your weight trends and use it alongside your Fitbit wearable's daily calorie-burn estimates. Add MyFitnessPal or Fitbit's own dietary features and you can then sync your meal-plans, daily calories consumed and weight goals, if you want.View Deal

The most important thing to bear in mind is this: losing weight takes time. You'll have setbacks and slip-ups, but if you stay committed to your goal, you'll be fitter and healthier in 2020, building up great habits for many years ahead.

Need some help to get started? Check out all the latest deals on the kit you'll need to get fit in 2020.To start with, you'll need a killer playlist and a good set of workout headphones to listen to it on:

Beats By Dre Powerbeats Pro | now 194 on AmazonPowerbeats Pro are a 'game changer' for Beats; the quality of them is over and above anything the brand has produced before. Designed for workouts and running, the clever design of these true wireless buds means they stay still in your ears during even the most arduous physical jerks. Battery life is way better than most true wireless buds at 8-9 hours and they recharge incredibly fast.View Deal

Originally posted here:
How to lose belly fat fast in lockdown: try this six pack of tips - T3

There's also a good reason why many fitness experts keep saying that "abs are made in the kitchen." Even if you do circuit training, resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic exercises, you might fall short of expectations if you fail to eat the right types of food.

April 22, 2020 by Jim Bevin Leave a Comment

If youre just starting with your weight loss or muscle building journey, you might feel tempted to focus on exercises that target the specific body parts. For most people who want to lose weight, these body parts often include the abdomen and the arms. After all, doing crunches and bicep curls should help you achieve your goals, right? This concept is called spot training, also referred to as spot reduction. While it might seem to make sense, the truth is that spot training is anatomically impossible.

When you want to have bulging biceps, you perform isolation exercises involving your arms such as pull-ups and bicep curls. When you want to build huge pecs, it follows that you need to bench press or do push-ups. This is one of the reasons why most people feel inclined to do sit-ups when trying to lose their belly fat. While its possible to see some improvements over time, the reason for those improvements isnt what you think.

Fat forms a layer between your muscles and the skin. You probably know that the body converts fat into energy, but do you think the body cares where exactly it burns fat? The human body just doesnt work that way. Even if you burn enough calories by doing crunches exclusively, it doesnt mean the body only burns fat in the area immediately surrounding your abdomen.

Theres also the fact that humans are genetically predisposed to store fat in certain areas of the body. This explains why when most people accumulate fat, they develop larger bellies and arms. These two body parts are the most common problem areas, but targeting them with isolation exercises wouldnt help you reach your fitness goals any quicker.

Ever wondered why people who do nothing but run or jog experience noticeable weight loss? Its all a matter of understanding how the body works. Running and jogging are just two examples of aerobic exercises, which are known to aid weight loss as they help the body burn a lot of calories in a short period. As long as you stay consistent with your exercise routine and make healthy eating choices, you should be able to reduce your weight over time. According to doktorfit.edu.pl, this can even help people who want to build muscles since the layer of fat that hides the muscles is removed, thus enhancing muscle definition.

Theres also a good reason why many fitness experts keep saying that abs are made in the kitchen. Even if you do circuit training, resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic exercises, you might fall short of expectations if you fail to eat the right types of food. Its also vital that you stop depriving yourself of food in an attempt to lose weight quickly. Instead, make it a habit to eat whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. Foods rich in carbohydrates and sugar arent helpful in your journey, so its best to keep them to a minimum.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Why the Perpetual Idea of Spot Training Needs to Stop - The Good Men Project

Photo (c) SIphotography - Getty ImagesRecent studies have highlighted how both obesity and not getting enough sleep can lead to any number of negative health consequences. Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say that one can cause the other.

Sleep is intricately connected with metabolism, the researchers said. Acute disruption of human sleep results in elevated appetite and insulin resistance, and chronically short-sleeping humans are more likely to be obese and diabetic.

The researchers conducted their study on the C. elegans worm to determine the link between obesity and sleep. They began by manipulating the neuron responsible for sleep. They observed that the worms energy levels dropped quickly and drastically without sleep. However, they also noticed an increase in fat storage.

We think that sleep is a function of the body trying to conserve energy in a setting where energetic levels are going down, said researcher Dr. David Raizen. Our findings suggest that if you were to fast for a day, we would predict you might get sleepy because your energetic stores would be depleted...That suggests that sleep is an attempt to conserve energy; its not actually causing the loss of energy.

In the second part of the experiment, the researchers modified the worms genetic expression again. Because a lack of sleep was associated with increased fat, they manipulated the way fat was stored throughout the worms'bodiesand allowed them to rest as they typically would. With a more direct expression of where to store the fat, the worms returned to their normal sleeping habits.

Ultimately, the researchers think there is a communication issue between the storage of fat cells and the bodys ability to sleep that can be translated to humans struggling with both sleep and obesity.

There is a common, overarching sentiment in the sleep field that sleep is all about the brain, or the nerve cells, and our work suggests that this isnt necessarily true, said Dr. Raizen. There is some complex interaction between the brain and the rest of the body that connects to sleep regulation.

Read the rest here:
Study finds another link between excess weight and sleeping issues - ConsumerAffairs

Strokes, seizures, loss of smell and taste and other neurological deficits are showing up in patients critically ill with the coronavirus.

Although the virus is classified as a respiratory disorder and primarily damages the lungs, clinicians are seeing patients with a wide array of symptoms, from seizures to hallucinations, brain inflammation, disorientation, delirium and loss of smell and taste.

I had a patient, a young guy, 48, who attended a party in New Rochelle two weeks before and came in with hallucinations and confusion, said Dr. Pooia Fattahi, regional chair of neurology for Trinity Health Of New England. The patient had no fever and only a slight cough. Still, aware some COVID-19 patients show up at hospitals with seizures, strokes and confusion, Fattahi suspected, correctly, that the patient had COVID-19. Three of those who attended the same New Rochelle party ultimately died of the virus.

A third of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Wuhan, China, suffered neurological symptoms, according to a Chinese study published April 10. Moreover, many of the patients developed these symptoms early; in some cases, the brain abnormalities were their only symptom. Because of that, study authors encouraged front-line clinicians treating patients with brain deficits to consider COVID-19 to avoid delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis and prevention of transmission.

Precisely why and how the virus attacks the brain penetrating the protective blood-brain barrier is complex and not well understood, said Dr. Jennifer Moliterno, chief of neurosurgical oncology at Yale Department of Neurosurgery and Yale School of Medicine. Other viruses can similarly affect the brain, so its not completely surprising but it is somewhat surprising, she said.

Moliterno speculates that the brain dysfunction seen in COVID-19 patients could originate in two different responses. First, the hyperactive immune system response that physicians have observed in COVID-19-positive patients known as a cytokine storm could trigger an inflammatory response that could cause widespread clotting throughout the body_ That would explain why hospitals are seeing so many patients who manifest with stroke and later test positive for COVID-19.

Second, experts believe COVID-19 infects cells through ACE2 receptors, which are also present in the specialized endothelial cells that make up a critical part of the neurological netting that comprises the blood-brain barrier.

That can allow the virus to leak into the brain, Moliterno explained.

It is also possible that COVID-19 enters the body through the olfactory system, close to the frontal lobes in the brain, which controls cognitive skills, Fattahi and Moliterno said. Inflammation of those lobes is known as encephalitis, whose symptoms include memory loss, behavioral changes, confusion and irritation.

Fattahi noted that anywhere from 5 to 24 percent of COVID-19 patients experienced a difficulty with smell. We dont know but we suspect there are ACE2 receptors that attach the olfactory nerves, which pass through those nerves into the brain, he said.

Those who present with brain disorders, Moltinero said, have a particularly dangerous infection. These patients are really sick, she said. A lot of the patients with the neurological symptoms have the more severe COVID-19 cases.

In Italy, the neurological damage has been so severe among affected patients that a neurologist at the university of Brescia has opened an 18-bed neuro-COVID-19 unit to treat these patients exclusively. Dr. Alessandro Pezzini, associate professor of neurology at the University of Brescia, has advised U.S. doctors to consider the possibility that these brain events are another effect of the virus.

So is a pronounced loss of smell. In South Korea, China, and Italy, about a third of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 have reported a loss of smell known as anosmia often as their only symptom. That has led some experts to speculate that those who experience a loss of smell might be unsuspecting carriers of the virus who have unwittingly transmitted it to others.

British researchers recently advised doctors to consider loss of smell among the first symptoms of the virus.

There is potential that if any adult with anosmia but no other symptoms was asked to self-isolate for seven days we might be able to reduce the number of otherwise asymptomatic individuals who continue to act as vectors, not realizing the need to self-isolate, Professor Claire Hopkins, president of British Rhinological Society, said in a joint statement released late last month with the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology. Hopkins noted that because these patients do not have the dry cough, fever or shortness of breath that are hallmarks of the virus, they may not meet criteria for testing or self-isolation, though they could be spreading Covid-19.

Dr. R. Peter Manes, a rhinologist at Yale New Haven Hospital, said it was possible that people who lost their sense of smell in the absence of anything else, it can be one of the first signs of COVID-19.

At Saint Marys, Fattahi said he was perplexed to see a seizure in a relatively young patient. I thought, This is a guy who is not a drinker, has no personal history of seizure, so why is he having seizures?' Fattahi said of his 48-year-old patient. I was worried he was maybe exposed to COVID-19 at a party. Unwilling to wait for lab results, Fattahi said he ordered a CT scan, which confirmed his COVID-19 diagnosis. The patient was treated with a battery of antibiotics, anti-seizure medications and hydroxychloroquine and released.

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WATERBURY Brain malfunction is also a feature of many young, obese patients who are rapidly emerging as at high-risk to contract COVID-19, said Dr. Juan Diego Holguin of Alliance Medical Group.

Once they become infected with the virus, it seems to make their neurological effects more pronounced, Holguin said.

He points to the propensity for the obese to have abnormal pressure of the cerebral spinal fluid. He noted those with a body mass index more than 50 who contract the coronavirus also tend to deteriorate more rapidly.

The progression is unusually fast, Holguin said. We dont know why it progresses so quickly.

Because of the rapid deterioration, he recommends that those younger than 60 with a BMI over 40 should be tested as soon as they develop symptoms: You run the risk of progressing too quickly.

A 6-foot male with a BMI of 50 would weigh 370 pounds. A 54 woman with a BMI of 50 would weigh 290 pounds, Holguin said.

They already have restriction of their thorax from the excess weight. They already have problems getting air to their lungs, he said.

A series of new studies have found obesity may be among the most important predictors in severe COVID-19, particularly among young people. A study from NYU Langone study of patients under age 60 found that those with obesity were twice as likely to be hospitalized. was the second-highest reason why patients were hospitalized with COVID-19. Tracey OShaughnessy

Related

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Not just the lungs: Some COVID-19 patients show signs of neurological ailments - Waterbury Republican American

A headache is one of the most common and irritating types of pain. In order to relieve your headache, its first helpful to know whats causing it.

There are two main types of headaches. A primary headache occurs independently of any other medical condition. Whereas a secondary headache is a side effect of another health issue such as a sinus infection or high blood pressure.

Secondary headaches are most effectively treated by addressing the underlying medical condition. But there are many simple ways to get rid of a primary headache. Heres how.

When it comes to primary headaches that have no other underlying cause, figuring out your headache triggers and avoiding them is the best defence, says Vernon Williams, MD, director of the Centre for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute.

Headache triggers can be a specific part of your lifestyle like diet, stress, or sleep habits that bring on the pain of a headache. Here are the best ways to avoid or get rid of your triggers:

Most headaches are episodic, meaning they are infrequent and dont require medical attention, says Williams. One of the treatment methods above may provide relief, or the headache can even resolve on its own.

However, more severe or persistent head pain should be checked out by a doctor. If your headache occurs three or more times in one month, Williams says, then its a good idea to speak with your primary care provider.

In addition, headaches that follow physical injury or include other concerning symptoms may require serious medical attention.

If a headache follows a blow to the head, is accompanied by sudden, excruciating pain, a stiff neck, fever, convulsions, confusion, loss of consciousness, or associated with severe pain in the eye or ear, then immediate medical evaluation is crucial, says Williams.

Finally, you may want to see your doctor if you experience headaches alongside blurring of vision, double vision, facial numbness, or any cognitive changes. Even if these symptoms go away, its important to get yourself checked out.

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How to get rid of a headache: 4 ways to quickly relieve head pain - Business Insider Australia

It was a time of peak naval aviation of sorts, with President Reagan's military buildup having drastically expanded the Navy's fleet, the movieTop Gunhaving become a pop culture sensation, and the Soviet Union sputtering towards its eventual collapse. To call it a colorful time in military and world history would be a vast understatement. It was here, during the twilight of the Cold War, that Kevin Noonan found himself hunting submarines from the cabin of a carrier-based S-3 Viking.

We followed Noonan through the trials and tribulations of training and learning the shadowy art of chasing submarines from the sky. Then went along with him on his first cruise aboard an aircraft carrier where we got a full understanding of how he plied his deadly sub-hunting trade. Now, in this the third part of our four-part exclusive series, we strap-in beside Kevin to see not only him, but also his beloved mount, the S-3 Viking, mature into wiser and more potent weapons of war.

After a major deployment, a carrier and its air wing tended to get a solid month of restrest being a relative term. At the squadron, during the first days at home, our sister squadrons would stand our hangar and Squadron Duty Officer (SDO) watches. But even for the first month, we operated with a skeleton crew with many of the squadron members on leave and a good portion more being transferred to their next duty station. Some, after a Mediterranean (Med) cruise, were more than happy to get out of the Navy if their enlistment was up.

Those fools!

We did very little flying during the first month back home at NAS Cecil Field. In fact, a returning squadron sometimes gave up their best birds to the squadron that was in line to deploy next. Other aircraft, particularly the notoriously broken hangar queens, might be sent for major repair at a high-level maintenance station. My impression of this time around was that I had somehow rejoined the Naval Reserves! It was so quiet, but neither squadron nor aircraft carrier rests for long.

Oh, wait, we no longer had an aircraft carrier, at least for the time being.

USN

S-3 Vikings based at NAS Cecil Field flying over Jacksonville, Flordia in 1988.

It was one hell of an interesting culture shock when we arrived aboard the then-latest Nimitz class aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in February of 1988. She was to be Air Wing Eights (CAG-8) new home.

One might think that one Nimitz class carrier is the same as any other Nimitz class carrier. They, however, would be wrong. Granted, the various decks remain the same and to the untrained eye, the ship's outward appearance seems the same, but the personality of the ship, her crew, and the ships 'soul' are entirely different.

My fellow enlisted Naval Aircrewmen (AWs) and I of Sea Control Squadron 24 (VS-24) Scouts were excited to be aboard a brand-new boat. That is, until we discovered we did not have a special aircrew berthing or a space for our aircrew shop.

Misery quickly set in.

No one from CAG-8 had bothered to think about the needs of VS-24 other than the acquisition of Ready Room Four that occupied the same deck and spaces we had aboard Nimitz, as well as the maintenance shops required to allow our squadron to function. If memory serves, they failed to provide us with a place for our Personnel Department as well. As a result, that misery quickly transformed into being pissed off.

USN

A squadron ready room aboard a Nimitz class carrier circa 1988.

For our aircrew shop, we ended up getting a paint storage spacethat had no air conditioning and no heat. Wed be in the Caribbean in a few days and above the Arctic Circle in a few months. Worse still, we ended up sharing sleeping spaces on the O-3 level that berthed over a hundred other sailors in the stern or in the bow. We moved back and forth between these two locales several times over the next two years.

The space in the bow was the most difficult to adjust too. That berthing lay just beneath the bow catapults. Every time an aircraft would be launched, wed be entertained with resonating sound of the shuttle running the length of catapult track ending with a powerful THUMP!' as it stopped at the water brake.

If we slept, it was a fitful, angry sleep.

It may sound like Im whining, but aircrew sleeping habits were dictated by NATOPS (Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization) and we actually needed a small, isolated space like we had on Nimitz that allowed us to sleep around the clock since we flew around that clock. Granted, we couldnt avoid the bow catapult sounds and the Air Wings Officer Country sleeping area was also in the bow on the 0-3 level, so us enlisted guys werent subject to that issue alone. What we could have avoided was the noise made by a whole bunch of sailors coming and going throughout the day and night slamming stand-up and coffin lockers, laughing, and doing the things tired sailors do.

Yes, this is mestill whining some 30 years later!

Otherwise, TR was a really great ship. Over the months ahead we adjusted to the black shoe crew (those that ran the ship), and they to us, and learned to commune with the spirit of this brand new, mighty aircraft carrier.

The culture shocks kept coming, however. On the flight deck, an airplane that looked suspiciously like a lawn dart had replaced that lovable, combat-proven Short Little Ugly Fucker, or SLUF, that was also known as the A-7 Corsair II. No longer did we share the flight deck with the Marauders of VA-82 and Sidewinders of VA-86.

USN

F/A-18 Hornet taking to the catapult aboard the'TR.'

After a week or so of carrier qualifications for all the air wing aircraft, including the hybrid fighter-attack squadrons VFA-15 'Valions' and VFA-87 'Golden Warriors' and their shiny, new, low-viz grey F/A-18 Hornets, we headed to the Gitmo Op Area (just off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) for a shakedown cruise. Although it took time, ship and air wing began to find a mutual rhythm.

Oh, heres something you all may not have considered: every time an Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier pulled out of Norfolk or Mayport requiring its Air Wing to embark, the poor VAQ bastards (electronic attack squadrons) had to fly their EA-6B Prowlers and their squadron all the way across the length of the United States and meet their particular ship. And us Florida-based squadrons bitched and moanedconstantlyabout our comparatively very short trek off our coast to the ship.

Since I had joined the Nimitz back in 86, a month prior to her last Med deployment from the East Coast, I missed all the fun of the work-up cycle, which found a carrier and her squadrons going to sea very often. Sometimes, it lasted just a couple of weeks while at other times wed be at sea for a month or two. The process of going back and forth made going to the boat a genuine pain-in-the-ass. Looking back, of course, Id gladly haul cruise boxes up and down narrow ladders and through endless numbers of knee-knockers just for the chance to serve aboard today!

Sometimes, the ship pulled out of Norfolk without us. Consider this brief, interesting at sea period described in the Roosevelts official Command History:

Standardization and deceleration trials were conducted with David W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center observers at HECTOR RANGE on 23 and 24 April. Resulting data determined maximum speed for CVN-71 and filled in tactical data for NIMITZ class carriers.

USN

The TR underway during training.

As is the nature of an aircraft carriers flight deck, tragedy is just one distraction away, no matter how well the crew gels. On the morning of March 13th, we happily welcomed the arrival of a C-2 Greyhound COD. After she unloaded her mail and supplies and reloaded passengers who were leaving the boat, the E-2 squadron maintenance personnel started her up for taxiing to the cat where she would launch with the next cycle.

I was in our ready room and for some reason my eyes were glued to the PLAT TV screen, which was filled with the COD getting in position for launch. Then, to my horror, a young VAW-124 plane captainmesmerizedwalked into one of the C-2s spinning propellers.

I just couldnt understand what I just saw.

I do not remember much more of that day except the haunting sound of the call for a FOD (foreign object debris) walk-down on the flight deck after TR lost her first crew member.

Despite our tragic loss, we successfully completed a period of operations that had us learning how to work as an air wing again. The Roosevelt then sailed north out of the Caribbean and dropped anchor off of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 31st. Some of the aircraft and most of the CAG-8 personnel disembarked to make room for an oddly-timed Tiger Cruise that saw over 1,500 dependents join the Navys newest aircraft carrier.

USN

At the end of the following month, we once again joined the TR for ops off of Virginia, Jacksonville, and in the Caribbean to accommodate the Reactor Departments major readiness inspection known as the ORSE (or Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination). This at-sea period lasted from the 23rd of May to the 28th of June.

Once again, tragedy struck the flight deck. This time it was a member of my own squadron and a friend. William Berry, a young airman, was working to become an Aviation Electrician (AE), if memory serves. He was one of the most promising, gentle, professional, and kind individuals I had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Despite the admonishment to keep your head on a swivel on the flight deck to see what is going on all around you at all times, you cant account for everything, including not seeing a Tomcat turning its two powerful engines toward you. Berry was lifted off his feet by an F-14 and blown over the side of the flight deck, falling 90 feet into the ocean, the surface of which acts as essentially concrete from such a high fall.

Some said they witnessed him struggling, while others stated he didnt move after impact. As the ship mustered for the man overboard, the plane guard helicopter searched and searched for him. Sadly, everyone quickly lost sight of him.

USN

An SH-3 with rescue swimmer aboard circa the late 1980s.

Once the ship-wide muster was completeconfirming he was the only soul missingI went out onto the starboard aft sponson in what daylight remainedand stood therewilling my eyes to see him... just over there

His body was never recovered.

It is a genuinely precious thing, when serving in the military and watching people die, to be forced to face the full weight of what it means to be humanparticularly at that young age when you are certain you are not only infallible and indestructible, but also eternal.

An interesting at-sea period took place without us having to embark on the 7th of July, 1988. Again, the ships official Command History describes what was a truly historic event:

The top Soviet military officer, First Minister of Defense and Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei F. Akhromeyev, and a dozen top-ranking Soviet military officers embarked. The Marshal's visit was the first time a Soviet military leader had been aboard one of America's sophisticated nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Guests of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral William J. Crowe, the Soviets were given a tour of TR, from galley to the bridge. Ship operations were explained by TR crew members. On the flight deck they observed aircraft being launched and recovered and Carrier Air Wing EIGHT'S air power demonstration.

USN via Kevin Noonan

First Minister of Defense and Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei F. Akhromeyev aboard the TR, S-3 Viking looming in the background.

A month later, President Reagan was giving a speech for the 70th Annual National Convention of the American Legion and described what took place aboard TR during the Soviet visit. His words still give me the chills:

We took Marshal Akhromeyev to visit our newest supercarrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt. We thought it would be a valuable education for him. And so he saw that magnificent ship go through its paces. He watched our superb aircraft perform. All in all, he spent a day on one of the technological wonders of the world, a floating airfield his Navy had nothing to equal; and yet, you know what he said he was most impressed with when he was through with the visit? Our enlisted men and women. I was told that he couldn't get over the fact that we had them doing work that the Soviets would reserve exclusively for officers, in many cases, very superior officers. And he couldn't believe that our enlisted people were so self-assured in speaking up when asked a question, so articulate in giving their replies, and so ready to add their opinions.

It was a great time to be an American sailor and a great, great time to be an AW.

Then, on August 25th, the USS Theodore Roosevelt joined up with her full battlegroup for the first time and set sail toward the North Atlantic on one of the most realistic exercises I had ever been on or would be a part of. Teamwork 88 most closely resembled what we would do in a war with the Soviet Union.

As we prepared to engage in a wartime penetration of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap on our way to the aircraft carrier bastions that were, and still are, the Norwegian fjords, we were joined by over 200 allied warships and auxiliaries and over 500 aircraft of all types. Some of those ships would form an amphibious strike force that would conduct a landing on the northern part of Norway on the 16th of September to practice repelling an anticipated Soviet invasion. German and Dutch warships would form a Task Group that would escort a resupply convoy sailing from England to Central Norway. From there, a Norwegian Task group would takeover escort duty and resupply allied warships and bases at Bodo and Narvik.

The United States first supercarrier, the USS Forrestal (CV-59) would join the nations latest supercarrier in a simulated battle. A third flat top, the U.K. Royal Navy's HMS Illustrious (R06), would meet us off Iceland as we ran the GIUK gauntlet.

The Brits would act as overall anti-submarine warfare (ASW) commanders for both carrier battle groups (CVBG) and the amphibious group.

To contrast a Cold War CVBG with todays Carrier Strike Group (CSG), allow me to list my carriers battlegroup elements:

USS South Carolina (CGN-37) our primary carrier escortUSS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) air warfare commander and towed array shipUSS Mahan (DDG-42)USS William V. Pratt (DDG-44)USS Moosbrugger (DD-980) our most excellent towed array shipUSS Comte De Grasse (DD-974)USS Charles F. Adams (DDG-2)USS Conyngham (DDG-17)USS Moinester (FF-1097) our towed array frigate.USS Detroit (AOE-4) a fast combat support ship that was our one-stop-shop for fuel, weapons, snacks, and cigarettes.

We also had two nuclear fast attack submarines (SSNs) escorting us: the USS Jack (SSN-605), an old Permit class boat that was still fighting strong, and possibly the very unique and super quiet USS Narwhal (SSN-671). Overall, more than 10 submarines would be participating in the exercise.

Again, this was just my CVBG! The Forrestal had a similar composition of warships escorting her, as well.

As we made our way up the North American east coast with the amphibious strike group, we were joined by a Canadian Task Force off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then, just south of Iceland, we were further reinforced by the primary NATO ASW Strike Force under command of the British on board the Harrier-carrier HMS Illustrious (R06).

Kevin Noonan

HMS Illustrious sailing alongside the TR during Teamwork '88.

Over the next few days, we fought an opposed penetration of the GIUK Gap, simulating NATOs failure to anticipate Soviet preparation for a war. Ideally, our forces would already be in the Norwegian fjords before the deployment of the Red Banner Northern and Baltic Fleets.ideally.

With the addition of some of our escorts with towed sonar arrays and the full Canadian task force, the NATO ASW Strike Force set about clearing the waters between Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe and Shetland Islands. The Ticonderoga class cruisers worked with our E-2s and Tomcats to defend against the various Soviet Naval Aviation threats that opposed us including:

Tu-16 Badgers (primarily the G and J variants) simulated by various aircraft including EP-3s, EA-3Bs, EA-6As, NKC-135s, British Canberras, and the unique EC-24 the DC-8 the USN modified for electronic countermeasure (ECM) training.

Tu-95 Bears (primarily the D and F variants) simulated by EP-3s.

Su-24 Fencers simulated by Norwegian F-16s and British Tornados and Buccaneers.

Various anti-ship missiles primarily those fired by Badgers, Bears, from Nanuchka class missile boats, and from nuclear-guided missile submarines (SSGNs)Charlie IIs and the sole Papa class boat, during wartime. These missiles were simulated by Buccaneers and Canberras.

It was quite the battle just to penetrate this famous group of choke points.

The second phase of this evolution began on September 14th as we fought to enter Vestfjord. This was when we were joined by the USS Forrestal just coming from a six-month deployment in the Med. Now, even more assets were making their way from Europe to become a tremendous combined battle fleet. These were composed of NATOs Standing Naval Force Atlantic and a German and Dutch Task Group that would add to our ASW Strike Force and escort actual convoys to reinforce the amphibious landings.

USN

An ominous shot of the TR and Forrestal battle groups sailing together during Teamwork '88.

The plan was to have our escorting SSNs creep into the fjord ahead of the CVBG and hunt any Soviet diesel submarines that would most assuredly be pre-positioned there. Also, the ASW Strike Force sent ships ahead to listen with their tails (towed sonar).

Once the carrier was safely tucked into the fjord, mines were laid to seal us in and keep additional submarines out. VS-24 and yours truly launched on several missions to radar-flood the Fjord in order to either catch a diesel snorkeling or a nuke boats periscope, or to keep them down, making them mission-ineffective.

Then the fun began.

There were definitely multiple sub-surface contacts made, some real and many false. We launched on these repeatedly and I got my first hard dose of reality of just how difficult it would be to hunt a diesel submarine in wartime.

On one particular mission we launched in support of an SH-3 sub-hunting helicopter from HS-9 that had gained intermittent contact on what appeared to be a CERTSUBa submarine that has been positively identified. We dropped a couple of SSQ-62 DICASS (Directional Command Activated Sonobuoy System) sonobuoys and I began pinging.

Holy shit! I didnt know what the hell I was looking at. I had never seen a display or heard echoes like I was now encountering. This was not the Med and it certainly wasnt anything that our systems trainer could reproduce. The uncanny environment that is the nature of the fjords simply unnerved me!

But I kept trying and pinging. Finally, I got a very mushy contact. I called it. We dropped another DICASS closer and when it tuned up there was a solid ping. We told the world that we were in hot for an attack and I got one more, weaker ping and that was it. I never saw another return off of any of my buoys.

Later evaluation would confirm that it was an enemy boat and we were credited with a kill.

My mind was spinning. I really began to worry, for the first time, about myabout our ability to fight a Soviet diesel submarine in very real-world conditions. In the Med, we expected to go against theEcho II or Charlie II SSGNs and possibly the Juliett SSG, but the waters in the Med were much more conducive for what we do than what I saw in this disturbing echo chamber.

Kevin Noonan

The TR inside the fjords.

My confidence would be shaken even more when, later, we went after a nuclear boat that had either been in Vestfjord lying in wait after the initial battles or had slipped past our minefields. The contact ranges were crazy-low one day and on the rare days when the water was a glass surface, we seemed to have ranges that went on forever. Among so many other realizations, it was clear that we werent preparing ourselves with detailed knowledge of how this body of water, and others like it all around the world, would play against or work for our sensors.

The good news was the submarines were having the same acoustic propagation problems as we were.

We spent several more days in the war against the Soviets flying many missions. Towards the end, the USS Forrestal joined us in Vestfjordthe first time, I believe, that two supercarriers had operated together in such an environment as part of a proof-of-concept showing that two full CVBGs could fight the battle of the fjords.

Ive got to tell you about my favorite mission while tucked away in the Fjordthe one where I got 'shot down. We were launching a full Alpha-Strike and, as usual, the E-2 and the S-3s were first to get shot off the pointy end of the carrier.

I watched the E-2 run down CAT 1 (catapult one). Then it was our turn. As we went down CAT 2, I noticed a sudden flash go across the windscreen, about 500 yards off the bow. We got airborne and then another flash went by followed by flares popping out everywhere it seemed. At that point, we heard the Air Boss on guard frequency yelling at the attacking Norwegian F-16s (simulating Su-24 Fencers) to get the hell out of HIS air space, because they were endangering the launching aircraft!

Well, two immediate things struck my mind. First, I didnt get the chance to hear what laughter sounded like in Norwegian because none of the F-16 pilots responded and the attack ended as quickly as it started. But Im sure there was plenty of laughter and joy because these great pilots left a flaming strike force on the deck of the mightyTheodore Roosevelt and my helpless S-3 got shot down, as well as the E-2 and another Viking that was launching off one of the waist catapults, in the process.

USAF

A Norwegian F-16A carrying an AGM-119A Penguin anti-ship missile.

On the other hand, I participated in the laughter in my cockpit as we all realized just how pure the brass was on the pair of balls each of those Norwegian pilots had. We also realized just how serious the people of Norway were (and are) about training for war since they lived under the shadow and certainty of attack from the Soviets and the memory of WWII. Those pilots didnt give a shit about the 'Bosss' precious air space. They wanted to teach the United States Navy and NATO the reality of the old adage:

You fight the way you train.

My crew and I were convinced and Id like to think that any protests that were offered to the Norwegians about this attack were presented with a knowing smile.

What an amazing time it was up there, above the Arctic Circle, training for World War III during the final throws of the Cold War.

After the intense ops in Vestfjord, the TR and her escorts made their way to Wilhelmshaven, Germany for a well-earned port call. The air wing was invited to participate in one of the legendary fly past airshows being held at RAF Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England. Feeling quite fortunate to have been picked for this event, I manned Scout 710 with pilot Lt. 'JT,' Co-pilot/Tactical Coordinator (COTA) Lt. 'SM' and because we were going to an unfamiliar airfield, an Aviation Electricians Mate, AE3 'JR' was joining us. He sat in the Sensor Operator (SENSO) seat, while I took the Tactical Coordinator (TACCO) seat.

We launched from the boat just as the TR entered the North Sea, an hour or so ahead of the other CAG-8 aircraftone aircraft from each squadron, except one from our embarked helicopter squadron, HS-9. The combination of being worn out from the high-tempo ops and having to wear our drysuits made the flight seem longer than it actually was. Of course, I had to play with the radar and was awed by the on-rush of history as my APS-116 painted the English coastline. I was sharing the airspace that had been traversed by He-111s, Spitfires, Bf-109s, Ju-88s and Hurricanes during World War II.

USN

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Fighting World War III In A Fjord And Chasing Soviet Submarines In The S-3 Viking - The Drive

From Men's Health

If you're stuck inside during the coronavirus pandemic, you're probably spending the bulk of your time sitting down. That also means that you might have been the type of person who logged your work days seated at a desk before quarantine. That's all to say that you're used to planting your butt in a seat looking at a computer for hours on endwhich isn't the best thing for your posture.

Get up, get moving, and get yourself in a better position with this set of exercises from trainer Charlee Atkins, C.S.C.S., who is always eager to help guide her office working clients to better posture. She knows how tough it can be to get right, after allthe trainer was once a SoulCycle Master Instructor, so she's spent her share of time in hunched over the handlebars.

"Attention desk warriors: Are you doing these exercises?" she asks. "Let's face it, we sit at desks and look at phones all day. Here are my favorite exercises that you can do at home to help train your posture."

You don't necessarily need dumbbells to take on the workout, like Atkins uses in her demos. Try using everyday items you have around the house like water bottles or bags of salt if you don't have traditional weights handy, and focus on your form.

Perform each exercise for 45 seconds, then rest 15 seconds.

Carries - "Great for the core and posture. My favorite cue: Puff your chest out like you're walking out of the gym on chest day."

Rows - "These work you back muscles, and help to retract and depress the shoulder blades."

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Y-Raises - "Great warm-up drills to do before any upper body day. In fact, you should do these before the start of any day."

T-Raises - see above

Scapular Pushups - "Mobilize the shoulder blades."

Around The Worlds - "Use a light weight and take the arms through their full range of motion. Tip: Try the exercise kneeling to eliminate the ankle and knee joints so you can put more focus on your arms and core."

Run through the series once as a warmup for an upper body day, or three times through for a quick standalone corrective series.

Want to learn more moves from Atkins? Check out our series full of her workout tips, Try Her Move. You can also take on her new 30 day challenge in our streaming All Out Studio app, check out her Le Sweat workout app, and follow her on Instagram to find out when she's hosting live workouts from her living room.

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