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Under Armour Shoes: Under Armour Proto Speed Trainer Review | Athletic Shoe Reviews

Under Armour Shoes? Answer Fitness takes the Under Armour Proto Speed Trainer shoe for a run and tells you whether they’re worth the price.

Product Reviewed: Under Armour® UA Proto Speed^TM II Trainer Shoes

Style: 1200280
MSRP (Priced from Under Armour Outlet): $89.99
Availability: Men’s, Women’s, Youth

Manufacturer: Under Armour®

Pros:

• Durable and well constructed
• Good shock absorption, especially through the heel
• Great ventilation and moisture wicking
• Light-weight and comfortable
• Attractive styling and design

Cons:

• For specific types of training - not intended as an all-around “cross-trainer” shoe in the usual sense of the term. Not really a “con” — it’s just important to understand this up-front.
• Unclear Product Differentiation: Product info on website and accompanying the shoes in retail stores not clear about the differences between the shoes and what types of training they are best suited for. But they do explain it better than Nike and Reebock do with their trainers.
• Doesn’t run true to size.

Ratings (1-4 Scale: 1 = poor, 2= fair, 3= good, 4= excellent)

Fit: 3 (Due to issues with the shoes not running true-to-size.)
Comfort: 4
Durability: 4
Product Options: 3.5
Price: 3
Does It Do What It Claims? Yes
Would You Buy It Again? Yes

Overall Rating: 3.5

Under Armour UA Proto Speed II Trainer Shoes Review

When you think of Under Armour, you probably think of tight-fitting, high-performance athletic clothing worn under things like football pads, out for your morning run or to the gym. You probably don’t associate Under Armour with shoes or athletic footwear. But in May, Under Armour rolled out their new line of performance cross-training shoes, entering into the risky, but potentially-lucrative performance footwear market.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Under Armour’s high-performance ColdGear®and HeatGear® lines — especially the compression gear.  I have a drawer full of the stuff, from running shorts and pants, to ColdGear mocks and a couple seasons-worth of collected HeatGear. Once I tried Under Armour, I was hooked and can never imagine going back to cotton exercise gear again.

But I do have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I heard about the Under Armour shoes.

After all, the performance athletic and running shoe market is already dominated by big brands with strong, existing loyalties like Nike and New Balance. So while I was curious about what Under Armour had up their compression-geared sleeves around their Proto Trainers, I wasn’t sure exactly what they were going to bring to the high-performance athletic shoe market that other manufacturers hadn’t already offered. Granted, they had already carved out a pretty significant niche in the cleats market, but could it take hold with the Proto Trainers as well?

So after a wait and see approach over the summer, last month I ended up with a pair of Under Armour Proto Speed II Trainers in black and graphite sitting in a box on my desk from the Under Armour online store.  I’ve been training in the shoes now for about a month, so I feel like I have a pretty good sense for how the Proto Speed Trainers stack up to my previous training and running shoes, a pair of New Balance 805s.

The question, of course, is whether Under Armour has made me a convert, or whether I’ll be going back to my New Balances in the future. But before I get to that, let’s actually take a look at the Under Armour shoe line, and specifically the Under Armour Proto Speed II Trainers I’ve been putting through their paces for the last month.

Under Armour Proto Speed II Trainers: Bringing The Cross Trainer Back?

Under Armour’s master plan is to bring the cross-trainer back, but with a twist.

Continue reading Under Armour Shoes: Under Armour Proto Speed Trainer Review | Athletic Shoe Reviews…

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Are Raw Eggs Safe To Eat? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Is eating raw eggs healthy, or even safe? Just because Rocky did it, doesn’t mean you should be using raw eggs in your diet. 

Dear Fitness Nerd,

One of the guys at the gym recommended drinking raw eggs in place of one of my protein shakes. He said eating eggs raw, instead of cooked, is more natural and healthy and makes more of the proteins available to the body. Is there any truth to this? I’ve heard that eating raw eggs can make you sick. Who is right? Thanks - Mark (Shaker Heights, Ohio)

Great question Mark.

The whole idea that athletes, boxers and bodybuilders should drink raw eggs is one of the most persistent and enduring diet myths out there. While it certainly is true that some athletes do eat or drink raw eggs, this isn’t necessary, or even healthy. Just because someone does something, doesn’t mean it makes sense.

Eating Raw Eggs: How Did It Get Started?

The idea that eating raw eggs is a better way to build muscle or become strong goes back over a century. 

In the 1890s a fitness and nutrition guru named Bernarr Macfadden recommended eating a diet of raw eggs, coupled with whole grains and fruits. Bodybuilder Charles Atlas – father of the Dynamic-Tension training plan popularized by  ads in comic books — was a big fan of eating raw eggs, and included them in his diet recommendations. Ironically, Atlas probably picked up the idea of eating raw eggs from Macfadden, who dubbed Atlas “The World’s Post Perfectly Developed Man” in 1921. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger advocated drinking raw eggs mixed with cream when he was preparing for his first Mr. Olympia.   

However, the idea that eating raw eggs is somehow more healthy and will make you get bigger in the gym really got a boost in the PR department in 1976 when millions of people watched Rocky Balboa down pitchers-full of raw eggs while he trained to take on Apollo Creed in the the original Rocky movie.  The enduring popularity of the movie ensures that new generations of Rocky-wannabes get re-exposed to the raw egg myth nearly every weekend on cable T.V.  After all, if it worked for the Italian Stallion or Arnold, it must be a good idea, right?

Not so fast.

Continue reading Are Raw Eggs Safe To Eat? | Ask The Fitness Nerd…

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Salmon Patties Recipe | Healthy Recipes & Snacks

A salmon pattie recipe made extra-healthy without sacrificing flavor … and it’s even lightly fried!

Whenever I sing the praises of my salmon patties recipe, people who have never had a salmon patty always seem surprised that salmon can be “pattied.” After-all, isn’t salmon something you eat filleted on a cedar plank? They also get that same weirded out look that people get when they first find out escargot are snails.  The thought of fish shaped into a patty probably brings back bad memories of “fish fillet” day in the elementary school cafeteria, so I supposed you can’t expect to turn someone into a salmon patty lover over night.

Unless, of course, you can get them to try one — which usually involves me comparing them to crab cakes, which nearly everyone loves. Or, you can just call them salmon “croquettes” and the substitution of a French word for the word “patties” makes them sound gourmet and upscale. Suddenly, people think they are chic and want to try one.

Here’s the thing though: Salmon patties are wicked healthy, especially if you make a few modifications to the traditional salmon patties recipes floating around out there.  So if you are trying to add more healthy fats from things like fish into your diet, it’s worth your time to at least give this salmon pattie recipe a spin. If you like it, it will probably become a staple recipe in your clean eating diet.

First, a few things you should know about salmon patties and this particular salmon patty recipe.

Salmon Patties Are Easy!

One of the great things about salmon patties is that they are one of the simplest dishes to make, and they don’t take any special ingredients or equipment. Think meatloaf, but made out of salmon and pressed into little discs.

You literally can put this salmon patty recipe together in less than 10 minutes with canned salmon and six additional ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and refrigerator.  All you need is a glass bowl, a fork and your hands (that’s why they call them “patties.”) Cooking time is about 15 minutes, so you can have a healthy, clean meal in less than 30 minutes. And if you make extras (which I would recommend) you can either eat them for lunch or dinner the next day, or freeze them for a later meal.

If you want to make them with fresh salmon the preparation is a little more involved. Since we are trying to limit your time in the kitchen, so you can instead spend it running, working out or staying physically active, we’re going to use the tried and true canned salmon, which makes preparation very fast.

Continue reading Salmon Patties Recipe | Healthy Recipes & Snacks…

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Does Whey Protein Help With Weight Loss? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Is the whey protein-weight loss connection fact or fiction? Find out from the Fitness Nerd if using whey protein for weight loss is “yeah” or “nay. “

Dear Fitness Nerd,

I have a question for you around whey protein and weight loss.

I would consider myself to be pretty fit. I lift weights, run and do Body Pump and am pretty lean already, although I don’t know my exact body fat right now.  I’d really like to make this the year that I get flat abs, but I still have some belly fat I’d like to make go away. Nothing major, just a little “pooch” and a smidge more side and back fat than I want …. we’re not talking a muffin top or anything like that though.

My girlfriend suggested that I try drinking more whey protein to lose weight. Her boyfriend is in really good shape and drinks a ton of protein shakes and she seems to believe that’s why he is so lean. She’s in great shape herself and uses a lot of whey protein, so I’m inclined to believe her.

What are your thoughts here?  I really just want to lose those last couple of lbs of belly fat. I’m fairly tall and already pretty toned, it’s just my damn belly that I want to tighten up. Can whey protein help with this?

By the way, I already drink whey protein powder once a day in soy milk, usually in the morning and sometimes after I work out.  Thanks for your time. Alicia (Long Island, NY)

Alicia, this question pops up a lot on discussion boards and in places like Yahoo Answers and Yedda.  So you’re not the only one who is trying to figure out if there is really a connection between whey protein and weight loss.  I probably see a variation on your question at least 2-3 times a week.

There are definitely a lot of “opinions” floating around out there around whey protein for weight loss. There’s some truth to them, but they are also tied up in a lot of myths, as well. So the trick is to understand exactly what whey protein is (and isn’t) so you can come to your own conclusions based on the facts.

What Is Whey Protein?

Whey is just a form of protein that is naturally-present in diary products like skim milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. If you drink a glass of milk, you are already consuming some whey proteins. The whey protein that you are talking about is in a powdered form. Basically, the manufacturer takes liquid whey and “dries it”, making whey protein powder – a form of whey that is portable and easy to reconstitute.

So What Does Whey Protein Do For A Person?

The main benefit to whey protein is that it is easily and quickly digested by the body.

The body is also able to quickly utilize most of the amino acids in whey protein to help with tissue repair and recovery after exercise.  The protein in whey has a high biological value (BV), meaning it’s easily absorbed by the body. Unlike other proteins, like casein (another form of protein in milk), the speed at which whey protein is digested makes it an ideal source of protein immediately following workouts when your body needs amino acids quickly to aid with recovery.

Whey protein, especially whey protein isolate (an even more concentrated form of whey protein vs. whey protein concentrate), is also very low in fat and carbohydrates. This is because the refinement process used to create whey protein powder removes nearly all of the fat and sugars in the liquid, leaving a final product that is almost 100% protein by volume.  So this makes whey protein popular among dieters and people who are trying to limit carbohydrates or fat in their diet.

Whey protein has other properties that may have health benefits, including the presence of certain biologically active compounds that may improve immunity and even stave off muscle wasting. However, the main reason people consume whey protein is to encourage lean muscle growth and sometimes as a meal replacement.

Using Whey Protein For Weight Loss

Okay, now that you know what whey protein is, let’s tackle your question about whey protein and weight loss.

First, it’s important to understand that there is nothing particularly magical about whey protein that will directly cause you to melt off that last pound or two of belly fat and get abs like Jessica Biel. Whey protein is not an anabolic steroid — it’s a food.

In fact, the goal of drinking whey protein is usually to add weight (in the form of additional muscle), not to lose it. 

That said, because your real goal here isn’t to lose scale weight, but to lose body fat and change your body fat percentage to favor lean tissue, including some additional whey protein in your diet could help you become leaner overall … and yes, that would probably include losing some belly fat.

Continue reading Does Whey Protein Help With Weight Loss? | Ask The Fitness Nerd…

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True Lemon®: Get Real Lemon In a Powder … With No Rind! | Healthy Food of The Day

True Lemon has everything you’d want in a lemon juice … sans the juicer or rind. Learn why True Lemon deserves to be in every Clean Eating pantry.

A question for you: What food has zero calories, zero fat, zero sugar, less than one gram of carbs and 25% of your U.S. recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C?

If you answered lemons (which I bet you didn’t), you’d be only partially right.

It’s called True Lemon® , and it’s one of those foods that once you discover it, you can’t really imagine not always having some of it around.

Not only is it a healthy way to make plain old water taste better, but you can use it in place of fresh lemon juice in things like tea and healthy recipes (for example vinaigrettes for dressing your salad.)

The best part? True Lemon is the ultimate portable flavor-enhancer. While carting around a whole lemon to add to your tea isn’t really practical for most people, a packet of True Lemon can accomplish the same thing with less effort.  And because it’s crystallized, the True Lemon people can put it in tiny, 0.8 gram packets that you can litter around the places where you’d need it the most, like the car glove box, your laptop bag, your desk drawer and even your coat pocket.

In other words, True Lemon is like carrying a fresh lemon with you in your pocket — without the bulk, rind, and lemon juicer implement to contend with.

What Is True Lemon? And is it Real Lemon?

True Lemon is real lemon — it’s made from lemon juices and the volatile oils in lemon rinds which give lemons their fragrance, vitamins and sour “punch” that we all love in drinks, teas and recipes. The difference between real lemons and the bag of lemons in the green or yellow mesh pouch that you buy at the grocery store has to do with the portability of it.

The folks at Real Lemon have developed a way to take lemon juice from whole lemons, as well as the oils from the lemon’s rind, and crystallize it in a way that preserves the natural flavor, tartness and properties of lemon juice. They then wrap it up in a tiny package that is more economical and convenient than carrying around a bag of lemons (or grabbing one of those possibly unsanitary lemon wedges off from the drink station at a restaurant.)

Want a little lemon kick to your iced tea or sparkling water? No problem. Just pull out a packet of Real Lemon, tear it open, and dump it in. Honestly, I’d challenge anyone to tell the difference between Real Lemon and the “real” stuff in the heavy yellow rind.  I know a bunch of “lemon-in-my -tea” fanatics who have switched to Real Lemon because they can control the tartness, and add lemon flavor, even when a restaurant doesn’t have fresh lemon wedges available.

True Lemon and Recipes and Baking

True Lemon is also a great stand-in for fresh lemon juice in things like marinades, coating or salad dressings.

Case in Point: While I always try to keep some fresh lemons on hand, a few nights ago, I ran short when I was whipping together a vinaigrettes.  I was actually a bit apprehensive about substituting Real Lemon powder in for the fresh stuff, but really didn’t have much choice. In the end, I was surprised at what a great stand-in Real Lemon was for fresh lemon juice. I have a suspicion that most people, including myself, would never be able to tell the difference.

Continue reading True Lemon®: Get Real Lemon In a Powder … With No Rind! | Healthy Food of The Day…

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Creatine and High Blood Pressure | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Can Creatine increase your blood pressure? The Fitness Nerd takes a closer look.

Hello Fitness Nerd,

I was inquiring into the possible connection between creatine use, and high blood pressure. 

I had been using creatine for about 4 weeks, not over-doing it, just a scoop a day after every workout.  Recently, I applied for a Police Force in my city, and when they took my blood pressure, they were somewhat shocked. 

Assuming I was nervous (which I wasn’t), they told me to take a few deeeeeeep breaths, in through your nose, out your mouth, yada yada yada…even calmer now, they took my blood pressure again, and they said, “it actually went up!” 

They were unable to let me do the fitness part of the test based on this, and I find it quite embarrassing since I don’t smoke, and I’m 5′ 10″ 175lbs.  I know we have a history of high blood pressure in our family (not something I’m going to put on my resume exactly!), but I think this is different. How can I feel calm, yet my bp says otherwise?  I went to a drug store last night, feeling pretty calm….my score was 133/69….heart rate 71….   From what I understand, that is unusual.  I took it a few minutes. later, it was 122/something…so I wasn’t sure if it went down, or it was just the machine giving inaccurate numbers…
Any help you’re willing to offer is appreciated. Brian.

Brian,

While the literature on creatine has found it generally safe for use among healthy adults, there are a number of reported side-effects associated with creatine supplementation. And guess what? One of them is high blood pressure.

So the elevated blood pressure that you saw at the Police Academy certainly could bethe result of creatine use.

But before I get into creatine and its possible impact on blood pressure, let’s talk a little bit about about creatine for my readers who may be new to it.

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally-occurring amino acid that is plentiful in skeletal tissue like muscle.  Fifty percent of the creatine in your body comes from diet (primarily from the consumption of red meat and poultry) and the remaining 50% is produced in the liver, kidney, and pancreas.

About one-third of the creatine in your body is bound-up with phosphate (also known as creatine phosphate or phosocreatine) and circulates freely in your body.

Your body essentially uses creatine to fuel high-intensity, short-duration exercise like weight lifting or sprinting.  Creatine phosphate plays a critical role in regenerating ATP, which is the process that the body uses to fuel muscle contraction, as well as protein production.

Creatine supplementation (typically via creatine monohydrate or one of its variations) basically increases the pool of available creatine phosphate, and in theory, reduces the amount of time required to regenerate the necessary levels of ATP to fuel an additional muscle contraction.

So people who supplement with creatine report being able to pump out an additional rep or two before fatiguing. It’s important to stress that creatine is not an anabolic steroid, but rather a natural vehicle for increasing the ability to perform work without fatiguing — which eventually may lead to increased muscle mass and athletic performance by performing more work, and progressively overloading the muscles.

Creatine also draws water into the muscle, which is one of the reasons that people often not only experience body weight gain during supplementation, but also observe an increase in the appearance of muscle volume. This may also be a mechanism for increasing blood pressure (since the body is retaining more water, which may impact blood volume — and thus, blood pressure.) However, a review of the scientific research cannot confirm this.

A lot of people who try creatine report that it makes them look larger, but not necessarily more “ripped.” This is because much of the initial gain comes from water retention in muscle tissue — and not from additional muscle mass. However, over time, the gains in additional work performed during weight training, can increase muscle growth and size (hypertrophy) that persist even after stopping creatine supplementation.

Continue reading Creatine and High Blood Pressure | Ask The Fitness Nerd…

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Perfect Pushup Review: Is The Perfect Pushup Hit or Hype? | Fitness & Exercise Gadget Reviews

The Perfect Pushup promises to help you achieve better results from your pushup workouts. But is the Perfect Pushup a hit or a just a bunch of hype?

Product Reviewed: Perfect Pushup Basic
Manufacturer: BodyRev/Perfect Pushup
MSRP: $39.99
Place of Purchase: Dick’s Sporting Goods 

Perfect Pushup Pros:

• Ergonomics protect against wrist strain associated with flexion at wrist during standard pushups
• Well-constructed, sturdy; foam hand grips are comfortable
• Rotation may protect against shoulder strain
• More challenging from a stabilization standpoint than fixed-position pushups
• Novel and fun; breaks up the monotony of the usual pushup

Perfect Pushup Cons:

• Price may be a little high for some people
• Perfect Pushup workout plans are limited with the basic model
• Perfect Pushup routine included on the poster required some deciphering
• Marketing claims that you’ll “get shredded” with the Perfect Pushup are unrealistic

Ratings (1-4 Scale: 1 = poor, 2= fair, 3= good, 4= excellent)

Construction: 3
Comfort: 4
Durability: 3
Price: 2
Does It Do What It Claims? Yes, with qualifications
Would You Buy It Again? Yes, with qualifications

Overall Rating: 3

Perfect Pushup Review 

When it comes to bodyweight exercises, the standard pushup is pretty much already perfect.  Not only does it help strengthen and condition the chest, triceps, shoulders and back, but it also improves core stability, improves balance, and can even help contribute to a tighter mid-section.

So when the Perfect Pushup says that for $39.99 (less, in some places) it’s improved the lowly, but already wicked-effective pushup, it’s difficult to not respond with some skepticism. And it doesn’t help that the Perfect Pushup gained much of its initial fame courtesy of “As Seen On TV” type advertising and infomercials — a label that’s been attached to countless useless fitness devices and gadgets ranging from the Thigh Master to Tony Little’s Gazelle.

But here’s the thing: People who have rolled the dice and actually bought the Perfect Pushup uniformly have good things to say about it.  So in the interest of making myself a human guinea pig so you don’t have to be stuck with a basement full of ineffective fitness contraptions, I decided to spring for the $39.99 and put the Perfect Pushup through it’s paces myself.

The Standard Pushup Not So Perfect After-all?

Pushups should be part of every person’s workout routine, regardless of gender or experience level.

They are the ultimate portable body-weight exercise, and can be performed anywhere that you can find a 6′x3′ swath of open floor - whether that’s in your apartment, dorm room,  hotel room, living room or the gym. 

While pushups themselves are very simple exercises to perform, they are actually bio-mechanically a very sophisticated exercise, recruiting nearly every major muscle group in some way to support the body during the movement (provided you are doing them with correct form.)

The pushup is also extremely versatile, letting you emphasize certain muscle groups by simple changes in hand-arm positioning (wide versus narrow), incline or decline, or through elevation of the hands, which deepens the range of motion.

But even the nearly-perfect standard pushup has a kink or two.

The main sticking point with pushups is the strain that they can put on the wrists.

When you perform a pushup with standard form, you hands placed flat on the floor and bent at the wrist. While you aren’t supporting 100% of your body-weight with a pushup (the floor takes some of the load for you), you are balancing a fair amount of your total body-weight on your toes and wrists.  The wrists are actually quite strong when they are in a neutral position, but once you bend them backwards, they are weakened, and the risk of strain to tendons or Carpel Tunnel Syndrome is increased dramatically. In fact, many people simply can’t comfortably perform standard pushups because of the discomfort it causes the wrists.

The other point of possible strain or injury during a pushup is in the shoulders. While many people are able to comfortably perform pushups without any discomfort in the shoulder girdle, for some people, having the hands fixed in a single position in relation to the shoulders, can stress the rotator cuff. This is especially troublesome if you’ve had past shoulder injuries or if you perform the exercises with your hands position wide in relation to the shoulders.

Finally, the because the floor naturally limits your range of motion, if your goal is to maximize muscle recruitment during a push-up, you need to find a way to allow yourself to go beyond parallel — in other-words, allow your chest to move below the horizontal plane of your hands. This is typically accomplished by elevating your hands on platforms (or less safely, stacks of phone books as I’ve been known to do) or pushup bars.  The main issue here is around stability of the platform that you choose. Some of these elevation mechanisms can occasionally slip, causing potential injury.

The Perfect Pushup to the Rescue?

The manufacturers of the Perfect Pushup claim their device is designed to overcome these three issues associated with the plain-vanilla pushup, and then add a twist (literally) to how you perform pushups. This “twist” is really their “secret sauce” even if the other characteristics of the Perfect Pushup are really no different than what you could get with a pair of pushup bars.

Continue reading Perfect Pushup Review: Is The Perfect Pushup Hit or Hype? | Fitness & Exercise Gadget Reviews…

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