Building Stamina for Swimmers

If you’re a novice swimmer, one of your biggest challenges is stamina. Not having the strength to finish more than a couple of laps at a time before taking a break will negatively affect your weight loss goals.

Beginner swimmers lack technique and often waste a lot of energy with their movements, tiring easily. A well-seasoned swimmer will actually use less energy than a beginner because of their perfected technique. But if you’re tiring too easily, then your technique is going to suffer and you’re just going to get frustrated. Spend a couple of days in the gym to build up your stamina and upper body strength to ensure you’re going to get a rewarding workout in the water.

Stamina Building Workout

• Pull-Ups to failure
• Squats/Lateral Raise Combo with lightweight dumbbells (12 reps)
• Squats/Overhead Shoulder Press Combo with lightweight dumbbells (12 reps)
• Preying Mantis Push-Ups to failure – starting position is with your forearms flat on the floor
• Reverse Flyes with lightweight dumbbells to failure
• Cable Woodchoppers to failure each side
• Overhead Triceps Cable Extensions to failure
• Bench Dips to failure
• Biceps Cable Curls to failure

Perform 3 – 4 sets of this circuit, moving straight into the next exercise with little to no rest (less than 30 seconds in between). At the end of the circuit, rest for 120 seconds and repeat. You will want to perform this circuit a minimum of twice a week for the next six weeks to build up strength and stamina.

To improve your stamina, you must also focus on your breathing. Work on a three-stroke breath with your front crawl. This means that you will be alternating sides when breathing. This is known as bilateral breathing. What this does is forces you to get more out of your breath and ensures you’re more relaxed in the water so you’re not wasting energy. Compared to a two-stroke breath where you tend to gasp for air too quickly, bilateral breathing makes you more aware of your breath and you’ll relax into your stroke with more ease.

You will also want to focus on lengthening your strokes, making each one count from entry to exit. Reach as far forward as you can, using the full length of your stroke and bringing your arm back as far as you can.

For each lap, switch up your stroke so that you avoid using your legs too much. Swimming is mostly all upper body strength with the legs and torso acting as stabilizers. By switching up your stroke each time you push off the back wall and change directions, you’re giving your legs time to rest and ultimately, you’ll have more energy to finish your targeted number of lengths.

Meal Timing is Everything

So last night I decided to drop in on a friend of mine on my way back from hiking in the park with the dogs.

Usually, I’m really strict about getting home and eating at a set time, but last night I was feeling spontaneous and I hadn’t spoken to my friend in a while and it was time to check in.

I stayed later than I intended and when I returned home, I was ravenous. I had a fillet of fish and chicken breast in the fridge that I could’ve cooked up, but it was 40 degrees outside and that always kills my desire to cook. So I started munching – first cheese and crackers, then some nuts, a peach, some watermelon, more cheese and crackers, more nuts, half an avocado and finally a bowl of bran cereal and raisins. I went to bed feeling bloated and disgusted with myself.

It suddenly dawned on me that this must be the single most reason why people do not stick to their diets or why people have such a hard time losing weight. Busy people living busy lives. If you have to take your kid to soccer practice straight after work, your diet is going to suffer. If you have to go to a networking event after work, your diet is going to suffer.

Most of us don’t even think about what we’re eating, but let our emotions and cravings guide us. If you’re at soccer practice, popping a few coins into the vending machine for a chocolate bar just to tie you over seems reasonable. If you’re at your networking event that is usually held at a pub somewhere downtown that offers delicious greasy food and you’re hungry and there’s beer on tap – what do you think is going to happen?

By the time you get home, you’re starving and you think – what the heck, all I had was a plate of fries and two beers, that’s not enough to keep me going till morning. So you eat again. When you get home from soccer practice, you have to feed the family and you only had a chocolate bar and that’s not enough to keep you going, so you eat again.

The problem is now that your blood sugar is so low, your brain tells you to eat and eat and eat some more because there must be a famine because you haven’t fed your body for hours. That’s what our bodies and brains are hardwired to do. Instinctually, our brains are a little paranoid, always thinking that famine is around the corner, so when you mess with your meal times and your sugar levels, you screw with your mind and that causes you to overeat. Not only this, but the longer you go between meals, the more likely you are to pack on the fat. Your brain thinks there’s no food, so when it finally gets that nourishment, it stores it just in case.

So what do you do?

Eat less but more frequently. You still have your main meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – but you want to add a healthy snack in between each meal and yes, even have a little something before you go to bed to stop your blood sugar dipping during the night. If you know you have something scheduled straight after work, take a packed meal with you. It’s better that you eat a healthy sandwich on your way to the event than not eat for eight hours and gorge yourself once you do.

To some this sounds like too much work and not something you’ll stick to, but all it takes is a little planning and discipline. If you plan out your grocery shop properly, you can make it easier for yourself to have food at the ready for such emergencies and I say emergency, because ultimately, this pattern of eating is not only bad for your waistline but your overall health and it will affect your longevity.

I’m really anal when it comes to meal planning, but if I don’t make sure I stick to the plan then I’m eating when I shouldn’t and not eating when I should and it even affects my moods and levels of energy. So it pays to be strict with yourself. Here are some tricks I’ve learned that keep me on track and never without healthy food:

1. Batch cooking – this doesn’t mean that you have to eat the same thing every day. What I’ll do is take some skinless chicken breasts and cut them up into bit-size pieces and fry them in a little oil with some seasoning (I’m a big fan of Worcestershire Sauce). I’ll cook the chicken to the point where it is just done, so that when I use it in the next coming days, it won’t be overcooked and rubbery and lacking nutrition. I can now use this chicken in a curry, or a Caesar salad or soup. The options are endless. I make no more than 3 days worth in a batch. Any larger and I’ll freeze it for another time, but rarely do I do that because I like to keep it fresh. If I had a large family though, I would definitely freeze it.
2. Buy in bulk – I buy yogurt, nuts and dark chocolate in bulk so that I’m never short of a healthy, portable snack and nothing makes me grumpier than running out of chocolate!
3. Plan lunches ahead of time – that way I’m not scrambling in the morning. Again, I use batch cooking. Lucky for me, I have a few recipes for sandwich stuffers that I love so much I can eat it every day. I’ll do that for three days out of the work week and then by Thursday and Friday, I’m onto the next option. I usually always take a whole wheat wrap for lunch and stuff it with either fish that I’ve cooked ahead of time with some lemon, dill, olive oil and garlic in the oven for 20 minutes (just another little tip there) or a spicy turkey burrito or grilled chicken. It’s all good and mixed with some leafy greens and herbs like cilantro, it’s better than anything you could buy.
4. If I’m going out after work, I always eat beforehand to avoid giving into temptation when I’m out and to avoid dips in my blood sugar.
5. Avoid anything that comes in a box. Processed foods are your enemy. Always buy fresh and make food from scratch so that you can control what goes into every meal.
6. Don’t keep any junk food in the house – just in case you do succumb to bingeing.

I hope some of these pointers will help keep you on track. Nutrition should never be overlooked and the more you give in to temptation the easier it becomes to do it again and again and again.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Three Key Factors to Bodybuilding Success

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours and hours lifting weights only to find your muscles are not getting as big as you’d like.

Well, there’s more to muscular growth than just training.

While everyone is unique and what works for one person will not work for another, there are some basic guidelines you can follow to ensure you’re getting the most out of your workouts.

For bodybuilding success, you need to follow these three  key factors:

1. Training
2. Nutrition
3. Supplements

When you train, you set in motion the building blocks for muscular gains. But your training efforts will amount to nothing without the proper nutrition. So, once you’ve decided on a workout program, the next thing you need to do is reinvent your menu plan. Make sure you’re getting enough protein and the appropriate supplements to help with muscular growth and repair.

The demand that your muscles undergo through training should be enough to stimulate muscular growth, but the keyword here is “stimulate.” Training is just the first step. Changing up your routine and surprising your body will cause it to work harder, putting more stress on the muscles, resulting in increased muscle tear. Increasing your lifting weight is another way to increase the demand on your muscles. But is it enough? Maybe in the beginning, but without proper nutrition and supplementing, you will plateau out pretty quickly. When the body is properly fuelled with the right amount of nutrition to meet the demands of your workout, then your muscles will get bigger as they repair and build themselves .

In order to put on a pound of muscle, you need about 700 calories and the best way to get these extra calories is through a readily available supply of nutrition and supplements. This is why meal timing is so important. By eating several small meals throughout the day at 2-3 hourly intervals, blood sugar levels remain constant. Your muscles will use this excess energy to build and repair, rather than instinctually going to its stores of energy like fat and muscle. The trick is finding out how many calories you need for maintenance and how many more you need for muscular growth.

While some people experiment with different food options and amounts of protein and calories, trying to find the right balance, most of it boils down to your genetic make-up. Assessing your body type is a good place to start. For instance, if you’re a hard gainer and have a high metabolism, you’re going to have to consume way more calories than someone who is a mesomorph. Once you start gaining muscle, your energy demands will go up and you will need even more calories to maintain.

Once you’ve determined your training program and nutritional needs, you can use supplements to signal growth hormones and reduce stress levels. Supplements that boost testosterone and insulin levels are recommended for successful muscular gains and some of the more reputable brands include anti-stress, anti-cortisol compounds in their formulations.

Taking your supplements at the right time is also crucial to your bodybuilding success. Pre-workout supplements often provide the boost of energy you need to power through your workout, while post-workout nutrition (within 45 minutes) helps stimulate the growth hormone and prevents your body from going into a catabolic state where it starts to feed off itself to get the energy it needs to repair and build the muscles. This is also true at night when you’re sleeping. Your body goes through various metabolic processes during the the night and it will turn to your muscles and catabolise them for energy to fuel these biological functions. Make sure you eat a slow-absorbing carb like waxy maize before bed to keep your body fuelled and packing on the muscle, even while you’re sleeping.

Remember these three key factors – training, nutrition, supplements – and you’ll reach your goals faster and with more success.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Calorie-Pinching Pizza

When you decide to live a healthier lifestyle, one of the hardest things to do is giving up your favorite foods.

Who doesn’t love pizza? Some families make a night of it – a special event to be shared by the whole family and maybe a movie to go with it and who wants to give up on all that fun?

With a little innovation, you can still enjoy your favorite foods without sacrificing on flavor. Whenever I crave pizza, I throw some of my favorite ingredients together on a tortilla shell and slide it under the grill. Not only is it super quick and easy to make, it’s healthier and I’m not clutching my bloated belly and reaching for the Tums about half an hour afterwards.

Ingredients

• 1 wholewheat tortilla shell
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 oz black olives
• 1 oz skim milk mozzarella cheese
• 1 sprig of fresh basil – sliced (chiffonade)

Preparation

Place your tortilla shell on an oven-proof pie dish or plate. Slice the tomatoes and spread out evenly on your tortilla shell. Top with black olives, basil and cheese and throw under the grill until the cheese has melted.

There are so many ways to prepare this pizza. Sometimes I make a sauce or sometimes I will mix the herbs with a little olive oil and fry that up with thick slices of tomato just for a few minutes to get them started or if I’m using lots of different vegetables, as the cheese will melt faster than they take to cook.

This recipe is the super-slimmed-down version. So go ahead and experiment and don’t let the black olives put you off if that isn’t your thing. Choose your favorite ingredients and if you’re a meat-loving pizza connoisseur, try substituting grilled chicken breast for pepperoni.

This baby, if you can finish it all, weighs in at about 330 calories, which leaves you lots of room to add more cheese if you wish. Considering your average pizza joint pie will set you back by as much as 1000 calories, this is a much more pleasing option.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Michelle Rodriguez Machete Workout

Known for her bad girl roles, Michelle Rodriguez has an enviable body that she’s bringing again to the screen this time in Machete.

Rodriguez trains hard for her action roles and spends months training sometimes in the boxing ring, sometimes on a surf board. She also does Yoga to increase relaxation and flexibility.

To get into Michelle Rodriguez shape, here is a high energy boxing workout that will reshape your muscles and burn off layers of fat.

This workout should take less than 30 minutes and for optimum results should be performed four times a week.

Dynamic Warm-Up

• 1 minute of step touches
• 30 seconds of jumping jacks
• For a total time of 6 minutes

Punching Circuit

Left/Right Jabs to a count of four, followed by left/right jabs at double the time for 8 counts. Continue for 2 minutes. Don’t forget to move your legs in true boxer fashion – float like a butterfly –bring your leg forward (left leg/left jab; right leg/right jab).

Right/Left Jabs to a count of four, changing your lead hand, followed by right/left jabs at double the time for 8 counts. Continue for 2 minutes.

Left/Right Jabs to a count of eight, rest for 5 seconds and repeat for 2 minutes.

Jump Rope Circuit

Nothing elevates your heart rate and burns calories quite like jumping rope. Make sure you’re powering the rope from the wrists not your whole arm and keep your jump under 2 inches off the ground, landing with soft knees to cushion the blow.

When you feel comfortable, graduate into the boxer’s shuffle, alternating your legs and shifting your weight from side-to-side so that your lead foot kicks out a little. Continue for 3 minutes.

Strength Circuit

Boxer Twists – Balancing a stick on your shoulders with your arms draped over top, twist side-to-side, exhaling with each twist. Perform two sets of 30 seconds, resting for 15 seconds in between.

Squats – Begin with no weights and hands on your hips, adding light hand weights once you’ve built up your strength. Perform 32 reps, holding the last squat for 20 seconds. Rest for 15 seconds.

Push-Ups – Perform as many reps as you can in one minute, then rest for 15 seconds.

Dips – Using a chair or a bench, perform as many dips as you can in one minute, then rest for 15 seconds.

Boat Pose – Working your abs, hold this pose for 1 minute, then rest for 15 seconds.

Cool Down

Triceps Stretch – Raise your arm above your head and bend at the elbow to bring your hand behind your back and hold for 30 seconds.

Quad Stretch – Bending your knee, grab hold of your foot and hold for 30 seconds.

Cobra – Lying face down, place your hands in line with your shoulders and gently ease yourself up keeping your elbows bent, taking care not to crank your back. Hold for 30 seconds.

For a more intense workout, return to the beginning and repeat each circuit three more times.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Drink Water to Lose Weight

New research says that drinking water is the safest way to lose weight.

We’ve known for a long time that water helps to lose weight, so what’s so special about this new evidence?

It’s all about timing. The trick is to drink two 8-oz glasses of water before each meal. Now, I know what you’re thinking – that’s just a trick to fill me up before I start to eat. Well, it’s a bit more scientific than that.

Results published in the journal Obesity from a study conducted out of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg showed that participants lost an extra 4.5 lb compared to the control group.

This study was conducted on 48 overweight/obese men and women aged 55 – 75 who were on a calorie controlled diet. Half drank water before meals and half didn’t. After just three months, the water group lost an average of 15.5 lb compared to the control group who lost 11 lb. After a year of dieting and drinking water, the water subjects continued to lose an extra 1.5 lb and managed to keep the weight off compared to the control group who gained back about 2 lb.

While scientists can’t offer an explanation why water affects weight loss, there are a few benefits to following this advice.

1. Drinking two 8-oz glasses of water before meals keeps you hydrated and you’re less likely to drink sugar-laden soda pop, juice or other beverages.
2. Water helps rid the body of toxins that can build up and cause excess weight. It is also a sure way of keeping you regular.
3. Most people don’t get enough water in their diet and suffer from dehydration, which leads to eating more and weight gain.
4. Drinking two 8-oz glasses of water before meals is a great way to ensure you’re getting enough water during the day.
5. Drinking two 8-oz glasses of water before meals is also a great way to suppress appetite and chances are, you will be too full to finish what’s on your plate.
6. Eating high water content foods like fruits and vegetables is another healthy way to get enough water in your diet.
7. Water is essential for delivering valuable nutrients to cells and organs in the body and helps in maintaining a healthy body.
8. Drinking enough water is good for your nails, hair, skin and complexion.
9. Drinking water is a surefire way to cure bloating.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

How to Avoid the Freshman 15

With summer coming to a close, it’s an exciting time of year for students entering college for the first time.

You’ve checked everything off your list from clean socks to an unlimited supply of breath mints, but I bet there’s one thing you’re not planning on ~ putting on weight!

Like it or not, statistics say that 30% to 70% of students will gain weight often within the first semester and you can expect to put on as much as 15 lb and as little as 3 lb.

Being away from home for the first time and having to rely on yourself for meals is one of the reasons for this shift in weight. Most students have a limited supply of cash and given the choice between a case of beer and a prime rib, the latter is going to be tossed-up for cheaper, fattening options like Pot-o-Noodle and Kraft Dinner.

Living away from home is also a very tempting time and the act of binge drinking that is so prevalent among college students is bound to catch up to your waist lines and pack on the pounds. It’s also worth noting that binge drinking can have long-term detrimental effects on your health and is something you may want to keep in check. Often a night of drinking is followed-up with a visit to the nearest fast food joint and lots of greasy food, which doesn’t help the situation.

It’s not just the partying that will set you back. Statistics out of the Indiana University say that 76% of females and 33% of males give into stress-related bingeing. Staying up late to meet a deadline or to study for an exam is bound to have you ordering pizza at 3 a.m., but if you’re prepared, you can avoid this by stocking healthy options in your dorm.

It’s almost a rite of passage among some students, eating poorly and drinking too much, but it all adds up and some continue to pack on the weight well past the first year.

I’m not here to ruin the party and cast a black cloud over your exciting new life ahead, but there are a few things you can do to help combat that weight gain and retain your killer physique:

1. You’re in college to expand your mind and become more knowledgeable. So why not extend these smarts to your diet? Monitor your portion sizes. Cafeteria or restaurant meals tend to be exaggerated. Look at it realistically and wherever possible, make two meals out of one, which will also save you money. Ask for a doggie bag every time.
2. Schedule a weekly shop and stock up on healthy snacks. This will help to reduce the number of visits you make to the vending machine.
3. Spread out your calories into smaller, more frequent meals. This will help curb cravings in between meals and keep you feeling fuller for longer. Eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day also helps to balance blood glucose levels, so you’ll have more energy to study (and party!)
4. Exercise some discipline and say NO to the fries. You don’t need all that grease at every meal time and all that fat is not going to do your hardworking brain any good at all. Even in the cafeteria, healthier food options are available, you just have to be smart about it. No, pizza is not a healthy option.
5. Every college has a gym. Take advantage of your amenities and make time to stay fit.
6. Set aside a cheat day every week to indulge yourself. This will help keep you motivated when you’re surrounded by all those tempting fast food options and protected against peer pressure. There’s nothing wrong with watching your waistline. It’s not vanity you’re giving into, but a healthy lifestyle that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Nobody is an angel and it is not easy when you’re the only one eating carrots. Just remember that college doesn’t last forever and whatever weight you put on will only get harder to work off once you enter the workforce and are assigned to a desk job. Do yourself a favor now and get ahead of the game. Peer pressure or not, people will revere you and marvel at your well-toned physique.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Calcium Supplements Linked to Heart Attacks

When I was a strict vegetarian, I had to supplement my diet with essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Calcium was on top of the list.

As a woman, I am told by my doctor that I need to supplement with calcium and have, in fact, been taking a Cal-Mag-Zinc tab for several years now. So, I was rather alarmed when I heard the news that calcium supplements can cause heart attacks. I thought, this can’t possibly be true, so I decided to investigate a little further and this is what I found out.

The findings from 11 research studies out of the University of Auckland School of Medicine, New Zealand, which was published in the British Medical Journal, show a relationship between calcium and heart attacks. This study was conducted on nearly 12,000 people.

There were 6,166 subjects who took calcium supplements and 5,805 people in the placebo group who did not. Of the 6,166 calcium subjects, 166 had heart attacks compared to 130 out of the placebo group. These findings remained constant from study to study regardless of age, sex or brand of calcium supplement.

Based on these results, it is fair to say then, that calcium supplements increase your relative risk of heart attack by 30% and your risk of a stroke by 20%. To put this into plain terms, this translates into a 1-2% absolute increase in risk. It is also important to note that these heart attacks were not fatal and the real increase relates to a rise in the diagnoses of heart attacks.

Needless to say, this study sparked controversy with Osteoporosis Australia, whose argument was backed-up by the Nurses Study of 85,000 women that showed calcium to have a protective effect on the heart.

Researchers argued that calcium supplements for people suffering from osteoporosis have little effect on preventing fractures and anyone taking prescription drugs for osteoporosis should not also supplement with a calcium tablet before talking to their doctor. While calcium supplements positively affect the density of bones, they do little to help to reduce fractures.

Given the modest benefits of calcium supplements on bone density and fracture prevention, a reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management is warranted ~ Prof. Ian Reid, Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

While Osteoporosis Australia has been advised to re-evaluate their evidence, the fact remains that the only safe way to avoid these complications is to eat a healthy, calcium-rich diet and lead an active lifestyle. As for me, after this last bottle of calcium supplements, I’m going to trust that my diet is rich enough in calcium, especially now that I’m eating meat and dairy again.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Thermogenesis Combatting Obesity

Thermogenesis is something we talk about a lot on this site. It is the science behind fat burning in the absence of exercise.

Unlocking the secret to thermogenesis could be the answer to getting control over the worldwide problem of obesity.

Research out of the UT Southwestern Medical Center is getting closer to finding the answer. A recent study published in Cell Metabolism identifies an enzyme in the brain called P13 kinase that is triggered during the digestion process and is responsible for burning excess fat found in the bloodstream after consuming a meal high in fat.

Researchers found that mice lacking this enzyme were more likely to put on weight because they were not equipped to burn off the excess fat and thermogenesis was not triggered after eating. Regardless of their activity levels, these mice still put on weight.

While this P13 kinase thermogenic response is targeted towards brown fat – otherwise known as baby fat – the fact remains that eating a high caloric meal produces heat in the body that ultimately burns fat. When this enzyme is lacking, the thermogenic response doesn’t happen so the energy-burning, fat-burning effect doesn’t do its job and extra calories are accumulated as fat.

This enzyme doesn’t work alone and is dependent on leptin and other hormones like estrogen to be effective. More research is underway to determine how these hormones affect the role of P13 kinase and how thermogenesis can be triggered to effectively burn away unwanted fat.

Originally published @ FITLODE.COM

Rest-Pause Training for Massive Gains

Whether your goal is to blast through that dreaded plateau or you want big muscles and fast, then consider rest-pause training.

Not for the faint-of-heart, this kind of training will test your will and stamina and elevate your training to a whole new level of intensity.

The success of this training lies in the delivery and the kinds of exercises you choose – you must first develop strength before you can gain mass. Here’s where the Big 3 come into play. Bench press, dead lifts and squats are a good place to start with rest-pause training as they are compound exercises that incorporate several muscle groups, while placing the maximum amount of demand on your body.

Starting with one of the Big 3 exercises, choose your heaviest lifting weight and perform 6-8 reps. After a 20-second pause, lift the same weight again till failure. You should be struggling around the 6 rep mark and if you make it past 8, then your lifting weight is too light. Rest for 20 seconds and lift the same weight again till failure. By this time, you should be feeling the burn (and the PUMP!) and you will begin to lose it around your second rep (or fourth rep if you’re an animal!)

Placing this much demand on the body with little rest in between triggers those lazy muscle fibers that never seem to get any attention. The body’s natural ability to adapt to change is called into play and the intensity produces a compound called phosphocreatine that drives rapid recovery and response from the muscles to contract. Magically, this rapid recovery process is able to quickly rid the area of lactic acid build-up, so you’re able to perform again and again without too much pain. (Oh, you’ll be sore tomorrow!)

There are a few other things you need to know before you can get started with this training.

Rest-Pause Training Tips

• Your first set should be a true 8RM – perform one complete set of 8 reps using your heaviest weight.
• Use rest-pause training sparingly to avoid overtraining and injury. This kind of training is too intense to use all the time for every workout.
• To kick it up a notch and shock your system, use rest-pause training every third workout – once or twice a week ought to do it.
• Use rest-pause training for any body part, but particularly your legs to activate those fast-twitch muscle fibers.
• Add a few sets of rest-pause training to the end of your workout to make sure you’re well warmed-up and prepared to deal with the demand.
• Make sure your nutritional regime matches your training demands. Supplement with leucine before you work out to help with anabolic signaling and to reduce muscle tissue breakdown during training.

Sources:
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia – Professor of Sports Medicine Bob LeFavi on Rest-Pause Training.

Originally Published @ FITLODE.COM