The Tak Team Blog

If a farmer plants the same crop three seasons in a row he might like to have the non-terminating, but if he plants winter wheat and regular wheat he gets paid by the purity as part of his yield and therefore, would prefer the terminating, having no left over seeds growing within his ranks. Also he can plant GM one year when needed for Ethanol and then another type later for another purpose. Which means it is a very good thing not to mix and this solves a need of the market, purity of product and higher prices paid to the farmer (who is leveraged on the commodity side also so he is downside protected in case of poor yields that season), it ain’t easy being a farmer these days. Farming is a tough row to hoe these days nearly 50% of the family farmers in the US were unable to make it in the couple of decades, it is a travesty.

In years of droughts certain GM seeds use less water, saving the farmer from a massive hardship as less water often means poor yields. Monsanto must have some ROI on their R and D otherwise they will stop trying, and last time I checked we need GM drought resistant corn for ethanol which uses little water without turning the World into a Giant GM one size fits all crop. We need to solve hunger problems with less water for a growing world population, Monsanto and companies like them are able to help.

Should the farmer plant GM Terminator seeds from Monsanto? Well lets let them decide that and let them make that decision for what is best for the farmer. They have had enough hardships over the years, if GM seeds help them and there are buyers of GM crops around the world, then that in itself answers the question; Should Farmers Plant GM Terminator Seeds? Sure they should if they so desire.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Saturday Evening,

November 12, 2005,

Tel Aviv -

100,000 gather at the annual Rabin official memorial ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin. Included were me and twelve of the bravest and best Jews Israel has to offer. Here’s how we got there:

In late September, I vowed to gather people to come to the ceremony with signs demanding the Rabin truth. The call to gather was made more urgent by the promised appearance of the disgraced ex-president Bill Clinton. By mid-October the Committee To Reinvestigate The Rabin Assassination was on board and two meetings were held to plan the rally. It was decided that preceding the rally, they would hold a press conference, with all members and me speaking for five minutes and then all taking questions.

I prepared myself for the fiasco.

As I expected, you couldn’t get any of the speakers off the platform with a hook for forty minutes each. When my turn finally came, I announced the rally and got off the mike in five minutes. Then I got out of the place, or at least I planned to until who walked in but Yigal Amir’s sister Hadas, phoney wife Larissa and their Shabak tagalong named Nachum.

So I spent a little time watching and talking to the official Amir gang. What was clear was they had no intention of ever freeing Yigal Amir. There was no family desperation to liberate an innocent brother or husband. So I told them off for their ingratitude and got out of the ugly atmosphere pronto.

Once I had left, the tagalong took the mike to explain what a dangerous Shabak agent I was. Then the “wife” announced that she would have nothing to do with anyone who considered Shimon Peres a suspect in the murder.

I was told that sealed their fate for almost everyone in the room. The Amir family is doing the Shabak’s bidding. Like I didn’t know that anyway.

This was a press conference with almost no press and it had nothing to do with organizing a presence at the memorial rally. And in fact, only one member of this committee even showed up at the rally and he left after half an hour, once the dirty work began. The real planning of the rally belonged to me and Tova Rubin. I wrote and she printed 6,000 flyers asking relevant questions about the murder in Hebrew and English. I brought a five foot long sign asking Who Really Murdered Yitzhak Rabin in both languages and wore my tee-shirt with the same message.

Now add the twelve best Jews in Israel and we really rocked the place.

Stage one - We handed out the flyers to the tens of thousands of rally goers coming at us up Ibn Gvirol Street. Most took mine and read them. Three threw them back in my face. And one called the police to stop us. Fortunately for us, Attorney Dov Eben-Or had arranged a city permit to be there and he was nearby to scare the cops away. We were free.

Stage two - When the traffic thinned out and the proceedings began we began parading. We proudly walked with my sign, two of the men brought their own signs and I was wearing my shirt. It was too crowded to get to the front of the gathering but we found our perfect spot, under the screen where the ceremony was being projected. Facing several thousand rally-goers we stood firm and proud.

Then Peres began his speech and I took out a horn to blast his words away. I was politely warned that this went too far and desisted. Another in our group but a hundred yards away, David Rutstein, apparently didn’t take the warnings and was manhandled to the ground by the police and briefly arrested.

When the despicable Clinton began his speech, I booed long and loud. This led to a ruckus. We were surrounded by a pretty angry crowd and lots of cameras. The star of this moment was a tiny Haredi lady named Reena, who stood her ground like a tiger.

After that, we were followed by the cameras wherever we went. When the rally ended, we stood on the raised traffic island as the proudest group in Tel Aviv and let 50,000 passers-by see our message. We brought the truth to the lion’s den and the negative cost was low. Twice the sign was ripped from our hands, and twice we fought to get it back. But now, consider the plusses:

The next day, the IDF radio station broadcast our activities and then interviewed Rabin’s daughter Dahlia. She admitted that she also was dissatisfied with the official version of her father’s death and wanted answers.

Then the popular Tel Aviv station FM103 reported our work and interviewed a political scientist who concluded that because Rabin’s murder was political, we had every right to be at the memorial service doing what we felt was right. The station was then barraged with faxes and e-mails commenting on his controversial conclusion. We didn’t make world news as we had hoped and as we would have if only another hundred people had joined us. But we accomplished something undefinable and after the ceremony was over, six of us sat together at a Tel Aviv pub to figure out what happened that night. Here are some of the notes I quickly took:

- Far, far more people read our flyers and politely ask to know more than resisted them. When I spoke to the young people who wanted to know what I meant by Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, I saw the same faces as the settler youths who had asked the same question at their rallies. The difference between these kids is really minimal.

- The only people who violently opposed us were old men. And there weren’t many of them. If there were 100,000 people at the rally, easily half were wearing uniforms of the Scouts or political youth movements. If these groups hadn’t been organized to come en masse, there would have been almost no one in that square mourning Rabin.

- And I was a hero to dozens of those kids, Peace Now included, who saw me recently on television and had read my books. And these kids, yes Peace Now as well, helped us all night long by explaining our cause to those who didn’t understand it. And by the way, the press photographers took rolls of film of this magical encounter without being able to explain it to themselves.

- But as for the leaders of these kids…Here’s Noar Avoda at work. To stop us from distributing the flyers, two Labor Youth leaders volunteered to distribute them. After wasting a few hundred we figured out they were ending up in the bins. So the next generation of Labour is already being prepared for lying and deceit. Anything for the right cause.

- And who should pass by me but Rabin’s Health Minister, Ephraim Sneh. “Hey Sneh,” I shouted to him. “Was it two bullets or three?” He knew what I meant. Bet he didn’t expect me there to ask. He thought he was in hallowed territory, protected from Israel.

- And, just like any other rally, I met people who admired my work and passed on information. One young man proudly showed me where I mentioned him in my Rabin book. Amir knew him from school and ran to the other entrance of the sterile zone when he saw him. He noted that he had a tiny role in history. Another Laborite in his fifties told me, “You don’t know what you did in the last two weeks. Peres was thrown out of leadership because of the suspicions that he murdered Rabin. I know people who switched to Peretz just to get rid of the murderer.”

The lion’s den was filled with my people and most were good. All they needed were a few facts leading to an awakening. And the twelve of us provided it to tens of thousands of our people. Of the twelve, two were over sixty, and three were middle-aged women.

Now, let us ask where everyone else was.

Where was the Committee To Reinvestigate The Rabin Assassination? Weren’t they taking credit for planning this counter-event? And where were the other Rabin investigators and writers? It turns out it’s much easier to be brave behind a computer screen. And where were the fine people of Kedumim who I spoke to just a week earlier and told them this was a way to save your homes. I guess they really want to be uprooted without a fight.

And where were the Gush Katif activists? They had a chance to arrive en masse and show the world what was done to them. But they were far too busy having their winter coats stolen from them by the Shabak and gathering in Jerusalem to talk to themselves in an auditorium to take real action. And that goes for all the right/religious protest leaders. It struck us all at that Tel Aviv pub, that they are all too cowardly to face the Israeli left. They are actually afraid of confronting scary groups of teenage leftists and a few angry old men.

And that is why they are losing.

The Kempler video

For more than a decade, you the American taxpayer have been burdened with my disability assistance. Why? Because my high-profile employer, a member of the bar and a politically connected entity in this area along with the assistance of his insurance carrier, insurance investigator and other members of the bar as well as a president-elect of a national civil rights organization at the local level assisted my former employer to get away with denying multiply sustained on-the-job injury and infirmities.

When one has never experienced this type of almost instant change in one’s life and comes up close and personal to the negative illegal machinations of officialdom one may not be able to digest the level to which one’s honorably titled employer official will stoop to get away with stepping up to the plate to assume his responsibility for his employee, who before accepting the hard earned position which was offered to her after weeks and weeks of waiting while other applicants were interviewed for the open position and was finally offered to her, was a healthy normal breathing, sturdy legged, strong back individual.

No high blood pressure, no acute respiratory dysfunction due to indoor air pollution and no injury to leg or back.

Inexperience can sometimes demand a heavy paying price for not seeing what can happen to one’s right’s in these circumstances.
It is a very hard pill to swallow or believe.

Especially when one is dealing from a “Do No Harm” mentality.

One’s integrity, veracity and value is all but eliminated by lies and omission.

One learns that those with honorable titles will not necessarily employ honorable methods when deciding to deny an employee’s work related claims.

Insurance company investigator’s do not show up until three months after the injury/infirmities first began. Wearing nice clothes, being well coiffed and wearing high heels, she acted like a two legged pitbull, attacking your claims, calling you a liar and accusing you of fraud. A well dressed, articulate bully, who just chewed up and spit out your rights.

So many improprieties. So much illegal machination. Waiting fifteen months to offer the surgery required for the damaged knee. Waiting too long. During the interim from the time of the injury to the surgery, the employee fell constantly, reinjuring her legs and back over and over and over again.
The knees and back damaged and poorly functional.

Needing 9-1-1-assistance numerous times. Requiring emergency hospitalization for acute respiratory dysfunction, kept on oxygen for five and half days until the oxygen level of the blood had reached a safe level.

Years of physical theraphy, counciling due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Numerous surgeries. Inundated with medications that blew up the body, like prednisone and theophylline. Being taken for more than five years. Inhalers, and prescribed medications to help keep one breathing. The price charged for inhalers is off-the-chart.

None of this was in effect before accepting the position of legal accounting at this law firm.

The denigrating treatment from some intake worker’s while being processed for consideration of state assistance. Racism open and in your face. Obstruction of one’s rights, over and over and over again.

The Equal Rights Commission losing your file for two years, then advising you that time had expired on one’s claim, even though they admitted losing one’s file for two years. A favor for my former employer, member of the bar.

No attorney willing to take the case, because of personal and professional association with one’s former employer.

The A.C.L.U. claiming they did not have the funds to take on another case. Yet a few days later, there was an announcement on the news that they had received a 25 million dollar grant.

When one is dealing with any entity who appears to be able to manipulate other entities into doing his dirty work for him, those with no power, no connections are thrown to the wolves.

Their lives soundly sundered. Meeting too many people in the system who continuously violate the rights of many and the law and no one seems to have the power to put a stop to it. It would appear that they are above the law.

My employer and his insurance company have stolen, looted more than half a million american taxpayer dollars from all of you.
From city, state and federal sources.

There appears to be no way to ferret out employer’s and make them responsible for their irresponsibilities and fraud.

Otherwise, why is my former employer and his insurance company still benefiting from their denial? Each time a deposit from ssd is made to me or Medicare and Medicaid provide prescriptions and medical care my employer and his insurance company have in the furtherence of federal law violation defrauded funded programs of benefits and taxpayer monies.

So I put it to the potential reader’s of this article. Are there any answers? Why aren’t politician’s looking into these frauds? Each state stands to lose thousands upon thousands of Medicaid dollars, funded by federal source. The Medicare programs are diminished by many more thousands and thousands of dollars, weakening the solvency of said coverage. Then we come to the Social Security Disability funding. There is so much fraud it is mind boggling and it appears to be so very easy to get away with.

And our most illustriously perceived title holders are the perpetrator’s.

Any answers?

Julia-estelle (ginger) Ferrer, II

Finding a means in funding a university education can be difficult and will certainly need time. These scholarships are not the same as a regular student loan in that the funds are a grant, and consequently, do not need to be paid back. When looking for means of funding your college instruction, investigate the many more other alternatives, for instance left hander scholarships.

Funding for Southpaws: — It may seem a little unusual to offer a grant based on a predominant hand, however do consider these facts: Bill Gates is left-handed, so is the president of the United States, Barack Obama. Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Paul McCartney also Charlie Chaplin were also left handed. Approximately eleven percent of the population are left handed. Unfortunately in the past left handers have gone through considerable discrimination, in modern times they are frequently considered to be gifted intellectually and more artistic. Stigmatisation is not a problem any longer, lefties are no longer thought of as unusual, and may even have many qualities in common with the exceptional individuals mentioned above. If you’re a southpaw and exploring scholarships for lefthanded scholars, numerous left-handed scholarships are accessible which you could obtain. The Beckley Scholarship for up to a thousand dollars is presently available at Juniata College stuated in Huntington, PA. For students of Juniata College and it was founded in the late 1970’s, this particular bursary helps a lot of southpaws through university.

For in-depth information, we recommend you review this fantastic renowned source for age specific scholarships removing the boundaries in education tips!

When you are looking for scholarships, do be aware that many of them have requirements and limitations. Sometimes certain grades may be involved or particular financial prerequisites have to be satisfied. Do go for for the maximum number of scholarships feasible to increase your chances of finishing with a minimum level of debt. You should also consider community organizations, clubs and even groups affiliated with hobbies. Southpaw grants aren’t the only case; grants are accessible in other cases for example to the scholars from military households or if you have a disability.

Exploring scholarships can be time-consuming, all the same the payoff may be sizable. Used in conjunction with student loans, they are efficient in cutting the student debt that a college degree can generate. Be extremely thorough and research each opportunity. Do remember the different options as well as southpaw scholarships — be inventive! Go for every last grant you may possibly qualify for, you may keep your academic costs to a an absolute minimum, additionally you will very likely be facing better prospects on graduation.

You may have heard it said that a cell phone is only as good as the network it communicates with, and that is a very true statement. So although choosing the right cell phone for your personal use will be important, the most important decision you can make when buying a cell phone is which network you plan to use.

Unfortunately, it’s not very easy to compare cell phone providers head-to-head. This is because most phones that work on one network will not usually work on any of the other cell phone networks. So it’s hard to make a direct comparison using the same equipment. It’s also hard to compare cell phone providers because service can vary dramatically from one location to another. So how can you make an honest comparison of cell phone providers regarding their performance and service?

Perhaps the best way to compare cell phone companies is through massive consumer surveys that get opinions from people all across the country on the various cell phone provider networks. Actually, several of these consumer surveys have been conducted by some well-known consumer groups and magazines. One such survey collected information from over 50,000 people in 18 major cities across the US. Another polled over 24,000 households regarding their cell phone usage. So by compiling the data from these large consumer surveys, some very clear patterns began to emerge that can be useful for the average person when they are buying a cell phone.

On most of the surveys that were conducted, two companies did extremely well in both performance and customer service, and they are Verizon and T-Mobile. It also became apparent through most of the surveys that the companies offering the cheapest service plans are usually not able to offer the best service or cell phone network performance, so essentially you get what you pay for in a cell phone plan.

These independent reviews establish that both Verizon and T-Mobile had excellent reputations for performance with fewer dropped calls and circuit overloads than most of the other carriers. In general, several reviewers were of the opinion that Verizon’s service was slightly better than T-Mobile’s, but the differences were very slight, and hardly worth mentioning.

It should be noted that T-Mobile uses a GSM network that is compatible with most networks overseas, making it an excellent choice for consumers who travel internationally and want to be able to use their cell phone when they do. Verizon on the other hand works on the CDMA network instead, and is not compatible with other international cell phone networks.

If you would like to examine the results of the cell phone surveys even closer, you can find them at the web sites for Consumer Reports, PC World, and J.D. Power and Associates, as well as others.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including communication. You can find a cell phone plan comparison and cheap cell phone plans and more by visiting our communication website.

If you’re a beginning weight lifter, you will want to know how to get the most from your workouts. A recent study from the University of Sydney in Australia shows that you benefit either from increasing the number of sets of repetitions or from training faster. Weight lifters were divided into four groups:

1) one set fast

2) three sets fast,

3) one set slow

3) three sets slow.

A control group did no lifting. A set was the heaviest weight that they could lift six to eight times in a row. They trained three times a week for six weeks (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, September 2005).

The group that did one slow set increased strength by 25 percent. Three sets produced twice the increase in strength of one set. Fast training resulted in a greater increase in strength than slow training. There was a benefit of training with three sets or fast speeds, but there was no additive benefit of training with both. So unless you are an athlete who needs speed to compete, you can follow a regimen that emphasizes increasing weight, rather than moving faster.

If you want to become strong, check with your doctor to make sure that you do not have a condition that will be aggravated by heavy exercise. Then pick several different exercises, such as a bench press, upright row, and so forth. Start out with a weight that you can lift comfortably six to ten times in a row. Do one set in each exercise, and repeat this workout three times a week. As you become comfortable with this workout, increase to three sets of 6 to 10 repetitions. When you are comfortable with this workout, increase the weight that you lift.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

Free weekly newsletter on fitness, health, and nutrition.

Mobile phones are a great device to talk to anyone in the planet from just about anywhere. Mobile phone designs are the most basic attraction feature for consumers. They are used as a fashion accessory nowadays because of the interesting features like the radio, polyphonic ringtones, games, wallpapers, etc. Mobile phones may be seen not only as a necessary accessory but also as a communication device that reflects and embodies the user’s style. Most of the users want mobile phones for the style rather than functions. So mobile phones are now being sold as status and fashion symbols. Many people feel that their phone defines their personality and their individuality. As you plan your wardrobe for the seasons ahead, you also accessorize your mobile phone with accessories.

The ever-growing mobile phone industry is transforming the consumer’s perception about mobile phones. Mobile phones today serve a completely new purpose. No longer is it used only to call the people you know at any time or place, but also take pictures and send emails etc. What appeals to the majority of consumers is the uniqueness of a handset, the colour, the appearance and the design. They look for entertainment features like music player, ringtones, games, video clips. They want to go with the most up to date ringtones and wallpapers. These ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers have become an essential part of their mobile phone’s life. They are looking for pretty, pleasing, small, colourful, sleeker, mobile phones. The newest mobile phones are definitely designed to give a new meaning to today’s communication world. With the consumers responding positively to the latest technology, the mobile industry is continually evolving with more and more advanced features.

Consumers tend to change their handsets whenever they find a new feature or technology launched in the market. A good design makes products easier to use as well as interesting to look at or comment on. But the height of fashion doesn’t always mean good design. The growing number of mobile-savvy, style-conscious consumers want more than just modern technology,they want a mobile phone that reflects the latest fashion trends and appeals to their highly individualised sense of style.

Alen
xpert4u.co.uk
UK mobile phone directory

Kismet is a wireless network detector / sniffer which can give you a vast amount of information about wireless networks. Wireless network security flaws are well documented but often very hard for the common person to understand. I will be showing you how to use kismet with out even having to install Linux, or compile kismet.

First you need to proceed to remote-exploit.org and download and burn their Auditor CD. (IF you don’t know how to burn an ISO image, go to Google). This version of Linux doesn’t install or modify your hard drive; it will boot from the CD and use a Ram Drive (On your Memory).

Auditor is not only a great tool for testing wireless network security with kismet but it also has many other computer security tools on it as well.

Client Window

Next, to start Kismet proceed to the Linux version of the start menu, and press Auditor.
Now proceed to the wireless /scanning/kismet tools/kismet.

Once you click on Kismet it will ask you for a default location to place the Kismet log files for analyzing later, just press the desktop or temp file.

Now I will show you how to use Kismet. When kismet initially opens you will see a greenish box with numbers and network names (If any are near you) clicking away don’t be overwhelmed. (Also I can’t show you how to use kismet if you don’t have the correct wireless adapter, get an ORINICO Gold Classic Card off EBAY.) The Orninco gold classic card will be automaticly detected by auditor linux.

The Kismet columns will show the wireless networks SSID (Name), Type of device (Access point, gateway) Encryption or no Encryption, an IP range and number of packets. Kismet will pick up hidden networks with SSID broadcast Disabled also, Netstumbler will not.

Now Press H, to bring up the Help Menu. This will give the nuts and bolts on how to use kismet. If you tab down to the network you are auditing and press “C”, Kismet will show you all the computers that are using that wireless access point / gateway. This Kismet screen will show you the clients MAC address, Manufacture of Wireless Adapter, IP address range and traffic.

Kismet: Help Menue

Now to get out of that screen press “Q”. Tab Down on the Main Kismet Screen to another SSID and press “I”. This Kismet window will show detailed information about the wireless network. The Kismet detail screen will show the type of network (Infrastructrure / Adhoc), signal strength, channel, encryption type, and much more.

Kismet will also give you sound alerts when new wireless networks are discovered or security alerts or suspicious clients are in range. Suspicious clients would be people like you who are using Kismet or Networkstumbler. Unlike you these could be Wardrivers looking for venerable networks to hack into.

Kismet Alert Page

You can prevent War drivers from discovering your wireless network by performing a proper site survey which will help limit signal bleed off to unneeded areas. You should write down the suspicious MAC address and keep an eye on your access logs. If the War Drivers are really stupid just look out your window and look for cars with weird antennas.HA HA HA.

Kismet is more than just a tool to discover wireless networks; it can be used in conjunction with other tools to crack WEP/WPA. Many websites will claim that WEP can be cracked in less that five minutes. This is only half the truth because it could take many hours,days,months to gather enough packets to crack. Good luck and have fun learning the more advanced applications of kismet.

Keep your wireless network simple and secure. Join the most popular wireless networking newsletter on the internet http://www.wirelessninja.com

Medical professionals term an enlarged prostate gland benign prostate hyperplasia, or BPH. Put simply this entails that the prostate gland, a gland the size of a walnut sited just under the bladder and wrapping around the urethra, swells and this can compromise or even stop the stream of urine. The prostatic gland enlarges with age and may engender complaints such as micturition troubles, reduced urinary stream, and even a feeling of failing to void the bladder fully after passing urine. Frequent night time visits to the bathroom and inflammation of the urinary system may additionally be arise from a swollen prostatic gland. Prostatic Swelling - What Does that Mean?

Males in their sixties frequently develop an enlarged prostate gland. Current recommendations are that males in their 50’s are tested by their physicians annually, even should no symptoms seem to be observed, to help maintain improved prostatic health. Inability to urinate or blood is found whilst urinating should lead to getting medical treatment immediately. Surgical procedures and medication are standard interventions for benign prostate hyperplasia. Unfortunately, surgery can result in further troubles for example sexual dysfunction and even inability to control micturition. An alpha blocker or drugs to reduce the enlarged prostate are frequently prescribed for better prostate function, but medicines often result in unwanted results so what are some more natural therapies?

Problems with a Swollen Prostate Gland? Natures’s Way to Achieve a More Healthy Prostate

To assist in the relief of the many problems connected with prostatic enlargement and to promote better prostate gland health, several treatments are indicated. Inflammation is significantly reduced by the treatment Afican pygeum, offering relief from the more annoying symptoms. The treatment African Pygeum has been used on a regular basis for quite a few years in Europe as a treatment for better prostatic health, it is derived from anAfrican plant. Dietetic changes such as decreasing the intake of fats may help, so will excercising more regularly, a higher frequency of ejaculations to ease pressure in the prostate gland, and trying to keep to a minimum periods of extended sitting. Consumption of over the counter antihistamines or even decongestant drugs may increase any symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland, therefore use them with caution. Additional recommendations also include to avoid drinking near bedtime in cutting back frequent urination at night, and cutting back alcohol and coffee and tea intake may decrease symptoms. You’ll also find further natural supplements taken for improved prostate function - such as saw palmetto extract, borage oil, the element selenium, and also lycopene, which can be found in tomatoes. Before you start whichever alternative therapy make sure to check with your physician.

If you have been a subscriber to my newsletter for some time, you know that I’m always trying to give you ways to make your workouts more interesting and fun, while also stimulating big-time results. Don’t you agree that your training should be fun? This is what separates the people who jump on and off the “fitness bandwagon” a couple times every year without ever making any real progress from the people that actually adopt a true fitness lifestyle and finally achieve the body they have always wanted. Make it interesting, make it fun, and make your fitness a priority, and you’ll have the body that you want.

What I have noticed over the years is that many people will train regularly for a few months and then will either get bored with the same old weight training and cardio routines, or will get discouraged because their progress comes to a grinding halt after a while. In my opinion, I don’t think your workouts ever need to get boring or stale. You just need to have an open mind to the huge world of various training styles and techniques that are out there. Seriously, there are so many different and fun training styles out there, that there is no reason you should ever get bored with your workouts and give up on that lean ripped body that you’ve been looking for. Also, mixing in various training styles builds stronger joints by reducing repetitive movement pattern overload and varying your training stressors.

Now before I start with some of my favorite non-traditional training styles, I will state that I think one of the best ways to achieve a lean, muscular and healthy body is through a consistent weight training routine with free weights. You can choose to integrate some of these alternative training techniques with your weight training routines on the same day, as alternative workouts on separate days of the week, or even as separate training cycles where you try some of these techniques for several weeks at a time before cycling back to a traditional weight training workout. Try some of these training styles out and you’ll be on your way to never being bored again with your workouts…and your body will thank you with muscles popping out that you never knew existed!

Alright, here are some of my favorite non-traditional training techniques:

1. Staircase Workouts - This is great because stairs are everywhere. You can go to a football field and do stadium stairs, any building that has stairs like a hotel (most people take the elevator, so you will not even have many people looking at you while you’re working out), or even the stairs in your own home. For an awesome full body workout, try mixing stairs sprints with an upper body exercise like pushups or pull-ups. If done with a high enough intensity, stairs workouts help to create changes throughout your entire body due to the muscle building and fat burning hormonal response and metabolism increase that you get through working the biggest muscle groups in your entire body. If you thought that going up and down the stairs was the only way to get a good stairs workout…think again. My fellow trainer and friend, Virgil Aponte, has developed a website that focuses on creative stairs workouts using all kinds of exercises you never would have thought of before. You can find out more info on stairs exercises workouts at my ‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

2. Wind Sprints and Hill Sprints - Find any open field in a park or athletic field and try 50, 75, and 100-yard all-out wind sprints. After each sprint, rest long enough to catch your breath before the next one (generally 1-2 minutes). Try workouts of anywhere from 6 to 20 wind sprints for a great “cutting” workout. Also, if you have a hill nearby, hill sprints are also great workouts. Sprint up the hill as fast as you can and walk down for your rest interval. Repeat until you’re whooped (a 20-30 minute hill workout is plenty). These sprint workouts are so amazingly effective at changing your entire body for the same reason as stairs exercises…by powerfully working the biggest muscle groups in your entire body, you greatly stimulate your metabolism while simultaneously increasing your fat burning and muscle building hormones.

Just look at any world class 100-meter sprinters and notice how ripped-to-shreds those guys are. Now compare that to the emaciated weakling physiques of many marathoners, and you’ll see that sprinting is where the action is at for a healthy, ripped, powerful body! Now I don’t want to upset all of you distance runners out there. Hey, if distance running is something you enjoy, then go right ahead. But don’t say you’re doing it for the health benefits, because I might just have to disagree. You can read my full story on why I believe variable intensity training is far superior to steady-state endurance training in one of my other ezinearticles.com articles at Cardio-Enthusiasts: Discover a More Effective Training Method for Fat Loss and Heart Health!

3. Kettlebell Training - If you’ve been reading my articles for some time, you’ve probably heard me praise kettlebell training many times before, but I will have to reiterate that it has been one of the best training methods that I’ve ever tried and has taken my physical capabilities to a whole new level. Kettlebells are an alternative type of free-weight training instead of barbells and dumbbells. Their unique construction and weight distribution (basically a cannonball with a handle) allows for a whole different realm of exercises that’s available compared to dumbbells and barbells. Kettlebells have been typically used for training hard-core athletes, military units, martial arts competitors, and other tough individuals, but there is no reason that anybody looking to get stronger, bigger, or more cut can’t learn the exercises and benefit from them.

It’s been a little over a year now since I’ve incorporated kettlebell training into my routines, and I’ll admit that I’m hooked for life! At between $100-$150 per kettlebell, they are definitely not cheap, but they are well worth the money. Just one or two kettlebells and you’ve literally got yourself an entire home gym that you can use for the rest of your life…worth every penny in my book! If you want to give these body-hardening kettlebells a try, you can find more info at my ‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

4. Bodyweight Workouts - For a change of pace, try adding to your routine one or two workouts a week at home with just bodyweight based exercises. These can be great because you can get a high intensity workout done in only 15-30 minutes without having to go to the gym on days that you might not have time for a trip to the gym. Try alternating bodyweight squats, pushups variations, lunges, and floor abs exercises continuously for 15-30 minutes. Try to take very short rest periods or none at all to really amp up the intensity since this will be a brief workout. If you’re more advanced, you can even incorporate more challenging exercises like handstand pushups, one-arm pushups, and one-legged squats into your bodyweight training routines.

5. Ring Training - This type of training basically uses portable gymnastic rings that you can take anywhere with you. You throw the straps up over any high bar like a pullup bar, the top of a power rack, or even over a football field goal crossbar. Then you can quickly adjust the rings to do exercises like ring dips, ring pushups, ring pull-ups, hanging leg raises, horizontal body rows, L-sits, and more. Dips and pushups on the rings are my favorites and the rings really make them a hell of a lot more difficult, while also incorporating your stabilizer muscles to a much greater degree. The rings allow your joints to move in a more natural pattern and can help you prevent or even recover from shoulder injuries. Personally, when I try dips on a normal dip stand, it hurts my shoulders. However, dips on the training rings feel perfect, and also give me a much better muscle pump. The training rings are one of the best training devices I’ve ever bought. Give them a try…I think you’ll like them if you’re up for a challenge. I found my rings, which you can hang up easily on a power rack, pullup bars, or at a park, at ringtraining.com.

6. Swimming - A great full body workout that stresses the muscles and joints in a much different way than most resistance training. Incorporating swimming workouts once or twice a week into your normal training routines can really enhance your physique. I recommend trying a “sprint” style swimming workout, which will help more for building muscle compared with endurance long distance swimming. For sprint style, swim as hard as you can to the other side of a 25-meter or 50-meter pool (or sprint swim similar distances in a lake or the ocean if you like to swim outdoors). Rest enough to catch your breath between sprint swims (about 20-40 seconds). Try to keep the rest intervals fairly short with swim sprints. You can also mix different strokes (crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke, backstroke, butterfly) on each swim sprint. I’ve found that sprint swimming gives me a great muscle pump (especially in the upper body), without any soreness the next day as is typical with weight training. This is because swimming has no eccentric movement (the negative portion of a lift), which is what causes muscle soreness. Keep in mind that even though swimming works your muscles well and is a nice alternative workout to mix in once or twice a week, it does not strengthen your bones. You still need to do regular weight training to do that.

7. Sandbag Training - This form of training is a nice variation to mix in with your strength training. It works your body with an unstable object, which makes muscles that might normally be neglected get in on the action to perform the movements. I’ve been mixing some sandbag training into my routines for over a year now, and I’ve found it is a very intense method of training that works your muscles in a different way and gets you huffing and puffing like crazy. You can make your own sandbags to train with by filling various sized duffle bags with sand, or you can use those construction type sandbags that come in several shapes. Sandbag exercises can be done as squats, cleans, presses, lunges, shouldering, throws or heaves, carrying up hills, etc. Make no mistake, training intensely with sandbags will get you ripped in no time flat! I’ve actually found an entire book devoted to sandbag training, which gave me some great ideas for doing sandbag based workouts. If you’re interested in this type of training, you can find more info at my ‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

8. Mountain Biking - As you may have figured by now, I’m not a proponent of steady pace endurance exercise, but rather, highly variable intensity exercise that works with bursts of exertion followed by recovery intervals. Well, mountain biking fits this bill perfectly. You get the leg pumping exertion during the uphill climbs, while also getting the adrenaline rush of the downhill acting as your recovery intervals. Mix it all together and you get a super-fun, high-intensity, leg burning workout that will melt fat off of your entire body and build awesome legs at the same time. The climbs can be tough and will challenge you both physically and mentally as you pump away trying to make it up steep hills without having to resort to getting off of the bike. Then after you make it up the challenging climbs, you get rewarded with the adrenaline rush of flying down steep hills while jumping off of boulders and logs and trying not to stumble or fall off the bike. It’s such an addicting thrill…I love it! See, who says that working out has to be boring!

9. Indoor (or outdoor) Rock Climbing - This is yet another fun way to get in a great workout that will also challenge you both physically and mentally. Indoor rock climbing gyms have starting popping up all over the place in recent years and will be more accessible than outdoor rock climbing to most people. Rock climbing is a great workout for your legs, arms, shoulders, and your entire back. It also really works your grip strength and forearms like crazy. Whenever I go indoor rock climbing (which is only on occasion), my forearms are sore for about 2-3 days afterwards. Give it a try if you’ve never done it…it may be just what you’re looking for to spice up your fitness routine.

10. Stick Wrestling - This is a killer full body workout and can also be a great competition between you and your friends. This is probably more of a guy thing for most people. You could even come up with your own “fight club” and have stick wrestling competitions with your buddies to see who is toughest. There are actually sticks designed specifically for stick wresting, but you can even just use a strong broomstick cut down to about 30-36 inches long and taped up with some athletic tape to prevent splinters. For your stick wrestling workout, stand on a soft mat or carpeted area (or grass if outdoors), match up with a friend or foe. You’ll both grab the same stick toward the ends with your hands on the outsides of your partner’s hands, on the inside, or staggered. Then you simply push, pull, jerk, and thrash your opponent around trying to knock them off balance until they either fall or lose their grip of the stick…and you win that round! Be careful not to get the stick up high and knock each other in the face. Use common sense. You can do this in 1-2 minute rounds or just keep going until someone gives up. Be creative and keep going until you’ve gotten a killer workout. Your forearms and legs will be screaming!

11. Strongman Training - This type of training is a little more hard-core, but it’s a blast for those who are into trying something different. The premise is based on the types of exercises competitors perform in the “worlds strongest man” competitions. If you have a yard, you can even set up some of these exercises in your yard and do some outdoor workouts to have a little fun. Your neighbors will probably give you some funny looks, but it’s fun, so who cares! You can get one of those giant tractor tires and do tire flips (which is basically a deadlift followed by a push-press). You can also try your hand at log lifts, boulder lifts and carries, keg lifts and tosses, weighted sled dragging…anything that involves pulling, pushing, lifting, or heaving any types of odd objects. You don’t need to be a monster to enjoy this type of training…just handle whatever size objects are challenging for your individual strength. Strongman training works your entire body in a very intense fashion and could easily spark some new results. If you’re interested in finding out more ideas for strongman training, check out my ‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

12. Rope Climbing - This goes back to the old high school days of climbing the rope in gym class. Seriously, if you have access to a rope, either at a gym or somewhere outdoors, rope climbing builds a powerful and ripped upper body like no other exercise. A great way to incorporate rope climbing into intense workouts is to do a climb up, then lower yourself back down. Then while your upper body is recovering for the next climb, you can do a lower body exercise like squats or lunges, or go up and down stairs. Keep alternating the upper body rope climbs with the lower body exercises in between and you’ll get one hell of a full body workout.

13. Bag Boxing - You can use a heavy bag, a speed bag, or even one of those rebound bags to get a great workout. Among the three, the heavy bag is the best all around full body workout, while the speed bag will test your rhythm and timing and give you a great upper body workout. If available at your gym or if you have a bag at home, try mixing these in as a good warm-up or as an intense finish to your strength routine.

14. Rope Skipping - You can’t beat rope jumping as a great full body exercise. I like to use it as a warm-up for my weight training workouts. I prefer to use the really cheap “speed” ropes with a plastic rope instead of a fabric rope. Once you get good, you can jump rope much faster with the plastic ropes than the fabric ones, which will allow you to get a more intense workout. And don’t mess with the weighted handle ropes…they’ll just slow you down. Your goal is speed when rope skipping. Try mixing together two legged jumps, one-legged jumps, arm crossovers, double jumps (rope passes under feet twice for each jump) to keep things interesting and increase the intensity. Also, try alternating 15-20 second high intensity bursts where you jump as fast as you possibly can, followed by 15-20 second recovery intervals where you jump slowly to get ready for your next burst. Keep repeating until you’re whooped, which might happen pretty quick!

15. Jumping exercises - squat jumps, box jumps, lunge jumps, and broad jumps are some of the best ways to incorporate explosive jumping exercises into your routines. The explosive and powerful nature of jumping exercises works your leg muscles in an entirely different way than most normal slow grinding strength training moves. I’ve even seen a university study cited once that found squat jumps to elicit the greatest testosterone response of all exercises studied. That means more muscle and less fat on your entire body, not just your legs. Try super-setting jumping exercises with upper body exercises for some really intense workouts.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed all of these ideas for ways to really shake up your workouts and make them fun again. I know some of them may seem a little “out there”, but open your mind to the possibilities and you’ll never be bored again…and your body will respond with new found results!

Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/Training-and-Nutrition-Articles.html to receive your own personalized metabolic rate calculator as well as 5 of my secret hard-body workout routines - all FREE.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer (NCSF-CPT, AFAA-CPT), and author of The Truth about Six Pack Abs ©2004-2006.