High School Athletes Embrace Yoga
More and more high school athletic programs are using yoga as a way to supplement their strength-building programs. What was once the joke of the crunchy-granola crowd has now become the ideal way to keep young minds focused and their bodies lean and flexible. [click for Yoga]

Should You Use Steroids?
Seems like more young gay teens are considering "roiding out their body" to gain a competitive edge. Before falling into this trap read this article about what you could be exposing yourself to if you should decide to use steroids or hGH. Does anybody think a 'roided-out meathead is sexy anyway? [click for Steroids]

Perfect Posture
Having trouble maintaining your ideal weight? You're not alone. We can all agree there's nothing sexier then a perfectly proportioned lean body with perfect posture. Read how to start and keep yourself on a healthy diet and working on keeping your posture... erect.
[click for Perfect Posture]

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For at least an hour every workout session, the 30 players stretched into Downward Facing Dog, Tree, Frog, and other yoga positions. Not push-ups or wind sprints. "It's a little bit effeminate," joked Joel, 17, a defenseman with tight hamstrings who struggled with a contortion or two. "But nah, I like it."

Already part of the trendy 20-30 something crowd's schedule in spas and health clubs, yoga is now winning over high school jocks. A growing number of high school teams have rolled out the yoga mats to augment training regimens and improve flexibility, strength and mental grit, coaches and strength trainers say.

A Growing Discipline

Training with yoga appears to have little downside other than, perhaps, the time it can take away from traditional workouts. Researchers do point out that the most-touted benefit of better performance has never undergone rigorous scientific study but that hasn't slowed the flow of followers.

While no one tracks the number of high school teams that supplement training with stretches, deep breaths and meditation, A New Yoga Journal survey indicates that nearly 16 million Americans pursue the discipline, 5 percent of them in the prime high school age range of 15 to 18.

Some pro teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, have used yoga poses in workouts. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been a fan since the '70s. Shaquille O'Neal, Kyle Korver, the Williams sisters and other sports stars also train with yoga. College and high school teams have adopted the exercises more recently. The pro sports influence trickles down.

The activity is stripped of its traditional Hindu roots and some instructors avoid Sanskrit names for poses in favor of English or no names at all, and add movements from other exercise forms. "If I started to use yoga-speak, they'd shut me out," said Coach Bradley, who recently began training the boy's soccer team at La Jolla Country Day School. "We don't 'om' or anything." He even gave the class a more sports-appealing name: Balanced Athlete.

"It makes us a little more in tune with our bodies," said attackman Mike Disting, 16. "It definitely stretches us out more than we ever would during the week." On this day, the men squatted (Frog) and then moved to the aptly named Happy Baby before finally meditating for a spell. "I'm all yogified," goalie Jake Mendleson 17, said with a smile as he grabbed his stick. "I'm ready to play."

Whatever the style, the goals are similar: Improved flexibility. Better concentration. Fewer injuries. Yoga brings stability to the entire body. It's not just about having strong quadriceps. A favorite is the Komodo Dragon, for which players assumed a push-up stance and moved opposite legs and arms across the field-house floor to build strength and agility. "It's a push-up unlike any you've seen or done," head coach Dean Wagner said.

Mental focus

Winning championships will definitely boost yoga's appeal. Hatha yoga does help flexibility. Hypothetically, it should improve performance.

At La Costa Canyon, Dustin Ambrose, head coach of men's soccer, was betting off-season training with yoga would pay off on the field. "As a coach, I want to give my boys every competitive advantage I can," he said while the team bent and twisted under Ambrose's guidance. Soccer is "absolutely about mind, balance and agility."

Well-conditioned athletes marvel at the challenge. Some of the boys began shaking as they tried to hold positions. "It humbles them from the first pose," Ambrose said. "I rock their world a little bit when their in a position and their butts end up shaking out of control."

Junior Preston Bateman was skeptical, he said, when he encountered yoga training three years ago as a varsity rower for Mission Bay, where instructor Ed Harrod shares his Flexibility for Athletes program. Then the nostril breathing (in one side, out the other) and belly pumping (quick, short breaths) helped him push past pain and stay competitive while various poses strengthened core and lower-back muscles. "I started to shed some of the doubt," he said.

Added Harrod: "There really isn't any separation between the ancient yogic warrior and the warrior you see on the athletic field."

Because of the pressure they both feel to excel in their demanding field, Thomas and Elijah wonder whether steroids would help them. They've been approached by other older HIV positive gay guys that are willing to sell them their medicinal steroids (prescribed to HIV positive patients for wasting away syndrome) at a cheap price. They've heard rumors about the bad side effects of steroids, but they don't have all the facts. Here's the scoop so those gay teens out there thinking about using steroids as a performance enhancing drug may reevaluate their decision. Besides big is out, lean is in.

What Exactly Are Steroids?

Steroids, also referred to as roids, juice, hype, weight trainers, gym candy, arnolds, stackers, or pumpers, are the same as, or similar to, certain hormones in your body. The male body produces natural steroids to support such functions as promoting growth and development, and fighting stress. Some gay teens use steroid pills, creams, gels, or injections because they think steroids will improve their sports performance or the way they look. And they do.

Artificially produced hormones, anabolic steroids, are similar to androgens, the male sex hormones in the body. There are more than 100 types of anabolic steroids, the most powerful being testosterone. Testosterone helps boy bodies become hard lean teen bodies by building muscle and burning all the baby fat boys might be carrying from childhood. You've seen it before; your BFF is a boy one year and then he starts puberty and all of a sudden his body becomes lean and trim and grows body hair. That's testosterone at work Testosterone is mainly a mature male hormone but girls' bodies produce some in smaller amounts. Testosterone levels can also affect how aggressive a person is.

There's another group of steroids called steroidal supplements that contain dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and/or androstenedione (also known as andro). For the most part, steroidal supplements, which used to be found at health food stores or gyms, are now illegal and require a prescription. DHEA is one of the few exceptions and can still be bought over the counter and you can still find Andro if you ask the right people at your gym.

Steroid supplements are weaker forms of androgen. Their effects haven't been studied as much as anabolic steriods but when taken in large doses they cause effects similar to other androgens like testosterone. Companies that manufacture steroid supplements often use false claims and very little is known about the long-term effects some of these substances have on the male body. That’s probably the reason why the government passed laws controlling steroid distribution.

How Do Anabolic Steroids Work?

Anabolic steroids stimulate muscle tissue to grow and therefore"bulk up" the male body in response to training by mimicking the effect of naturally produced testosterone on the body. You can't just ingest steriods and sit there. You have to work out to make them function. Anabolic steroids can usually remain in the body from a couple of days to about a year. Steroids have become popular recently because they improve endurance, strength, and muscle mass. But there is no research that shows that steroids improve skill, agility, or athletic performance (i.e. Dumb Jock Syndrome).

Dangers of Steroids

Anabolic steroids can cause many different types of problems, some of the more serious or long-lasting side effects can be:
Premature balding or hair loss
Dizziness
Intense mood swings, including anger, aggression, and depression
Hallucinations, seeing or hearing things that aren't there
Paranoia, extreme feelings of mistrust or fear
Sleeping problems
Nausea and Vomiting
Shakes or trembling
High blood pressure
Aching joints
Liver damage
Testicular shrinkage
Breast development
Impotence Steroids also have serious psychological side effects. Users can become combative or aggressive, developing roid rage.

Steroid users who inject the drugs are also at risk for HIV infection. Guys who use dirty needles are also at greater risk for contracting hepatitis, a disease of the liver, or bacterial endocarditis, an infection of the inner lining of the heart.

Steroids: Stacking and Addiction

Some gay teens stack anabolic steroids with other drugs. Other steroid users pyramid or cycle their doses, starting with a low dose of stacked drugs and then systematically increasing and decreasing the dosage of the steroid because some believe it helps their bodies recuperate from the steroids.

But even scientists don't exactly understand how steroids interact with each other or possibly cause reactions to other medications, so it is possible that a person who stacks steroids might be taking a deadly combination, although occurances of that happen have been few. Emergency departments have reported cases of vomiting, tremors, dizziness, and even unconsciousness when patients were taken to Emergency after admitting taking combinations of steroids.

It seems a lot of gay teens tell themselves they'll only use steroids for a season or a school year. But steroids can be addictive making it hard to stop taking them especially since your body seems to deflate when you stop taking them and your workout gets even harder to do.

Some of the long-term effects of steroids may not show up for many years and that's one of the reasons younger gay teens consider using the drug. Teens who use steroids may also be at higher risk for using other drugs, such as meth or cocaine.

What Is Human Growth Hormone?

Along with steroids, you may have heard of something called Human Growth Hormone, or hGH. Like steroids, hGH is only legal when prescribed by a doctor . Doctors prescribe hGH for children and tweens whose bodies don't naturally make enough growth hormone, a condition known as growth hormone deficiency and tend not to grow to normal adult size. Recent trends show an increase in growth hormone being used as an athletic supplement, especially in conjunction with steriods.

A lot of myths surround hGH and its effects on athletes. Here are some risks you should be aware of:
Any type of hGH that is not obtained by prescription is not regulated by the US government and could be almost anything. Be especially aware of anything manufactured or bought from foreign countries.
Gay teens that buy online products sold as "growth hormone," "growth stimulators," or "growth factors" are actually buying common over-the-counter amino acids that don't significantly increase growth hormone levels in your body.

Along with the false claims of performance benefits from hGH, the price for a month's prescription of hGH can be as high as $5,000, meaning that the street value for just a month could run anywhere from $5,000–$10,000. And because growth hormone can only be injected not injested, like some steroids, there's a risk of contracting HIV or other diseases if guys share needles.

Strong Alternatives to Steroids

Anabolic steroids are obviously controversial in the sports world because of the health risks associated with them and their unproven performance benefits but mostly for the fact that you're cheating. Most are illegal and are banned by professional sports organizations and medical associations. As seen in the high-profile cases, if an athlete is caught using steroids, his or her career can be destroyed and they realized that but it didn't stop them.

When it comes to deciding whether to "roid" your body out, think of the harm you're going to be doing to your body or getting disqualified as an athlete. Being a star athlete means training the healthy way: eating the right foods, practicing, and strength training without the use of drugs. Besides, who wants a big oversized body when you can stay natural and have the hard lean body that every guy dreams of?

Stop Cleaning Your Plate

We all know our mothers told us to clean our plate because of all the unfortunate starving kids but stuffing your face even though you're not hungry anymore can set you up for nutritional failure. Today bigger and more seems better, and typical portion sizes have doubled in the past 15 years... and so have waist sizes.The first step in curbing overeating is to control your portion sizes. Just because a burrito now comes as big as a large shoe, that doesn't mean you have to eat it all. Ask for less rice and less beans. Even though the burrito make take on a smaller size, the porportion of rice/beans/meat is more balanced and you'll actually learn to eat less. I mean how many times have you finished 3/4 of your burrito and told yourself you're already full but continue to eat the remaining 1/4 and only because it's there staring you in the face?

Those who have successfully managed to win the battle of the dreaded pooch and back fat have learned to control their portion sizes, ensuring that they don't overeat and drown themselves in excess calories that they don't even want. Food portion control is the primary way for avoiding those excess pounds you find in the mid-section of most guys (girls get it in the arse). Once you listen to your inner-self and realize how much you can eat and when to say you're full, it becomes easier for you to control your calorie intake.

When To Say When

You know when you get so hungry that you inhale your meal then find yourself so stuffed that it's difficult to breathe? Racing through any meal is one of the easiest ways to throw your nutrition goals off track. The mind actually has a mechanism that is triggered upon satiety but it just takes time for that mechanism to relay messages of fullness to the brain, i.e. when you eat at a slower pace. So essentually the best way to avoid overeating is to take your time with your meal and pay attention to what’s happening within your body. That way you give your body enough time to let you know that you have achieved maximum capacity.

Eat More Often, Less Portions

Athletes find another way to avoid unhealthy eating habits and snack binges is to eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. When you go for an extended period of time without fuel, your body begins to crave snack foods that are high in sugars and fat and low in nutrition content. If you eat six small meals per day you will be less likely to crave unhealthy foods and won’t feel obligated to eat everything in front of you come dinner time.

Move Around

Most people that attempt to diet are on some type of exercise regime. Successful dieting has shown that those who kept off the weight also included a daily hour-long walk into their weekly routine. If you’re crunched for time you can spread physical activity over the course of a day; park father away from your office, walk during your lunch break, use stairs instead of elevators or escalators, etc.

Keep Notes

Keep a food log monitoring your daily intake, it may be tedious but when you pay attention to what you're eating during the course of the day, you start to realize more what's actually going in your body and hence you're more likely to eat healthy foods. Set daily food goals just like when you go to the gym. Challenge yourself to eat one more piece of fruit than usual each day. That challenge may develop into a habit, and you’ll be ready to take on another one. And don’t worry if you fail to achieve your food goal each day; it takes time to change eating patterns. Just recognize that your goal was particularly challenging for that day and set the intention of achieving it the next. There's no such thing as failure as long as you keep trying.

Ditch Fad Diets

It seems that nearly everyone suffers from some sort of chronic pain, even young guys. Most of the time the cause for these aches and pains is bad posture and have nothing to do with getting older? Even carpal tunnel syndrome to ear aches to depression, researchers are starting to realize it's a guys posture that may be the cause for all these aches and researchers have started to focus more on a person’s structural alignment to help reduce painful chronic injuries.

It is estimated that 80 percent of Americans have – or will have – some form of lower back pain in their lifetime starting in adolescence. And although the pathology of lower back pain is difficult to pinpoint, scientists have discovered a relationship between persons with lower back pain and inadequate function of the stabilizers of the spine (abs, ass, etc.). Conclusion: those with weak abs and butt muscles are more likely to experience lower back pain.

So what really is good posture?

We all recognize it when we see, a guy with perfect posture, usually a gymnast or dancer but not necessarily a gym rat. Often times you see those same gym rats with rolled shoulders from too much upper body lifting. Not sexy. Researchers have described perfect posture as the positioning of the body such that stresses experienced throughout the body are minimized (huh?). I think what they're saying is if you maintain good posture all your aches and pains will disappear. The same researchers say that perfect posture is attainable at any body position, whether sitting, lying in bed or working out at the gym. To check if you have good posture start with your feet (which should be parallel to one another), you should be able to draw a line from the mid ankle, through the center of the side of the knee, through the middle of the side of the hip, through the center of the shoulder and finally through to the piece of flesh directly in front of your ear hole. This perfect posture is difficult to obtain and maintain but just like every exercise routine, regular practice and constant awareness of your posture can lead to significant improvements.

Why should I care about good posture?

Besides looking hot and feeling healthy, there are many beneficial side effects of good posture. When your body is out of alignment, the soft and hard tissue structures that hold up your skeleton are faced with excessive friction and irregular movement patterns and ranges of motion, which can irritate and initiate premature degeneration of those structures. Ever see those older guys at the gym that have been lifting the same heavy weight for decades but never thought once about cardio, abs, or stretching? See how their bodies seem off-balance and nothing like a college athletes? Bam! They didn't give any thought to posture or maintaining good posture (i.e. yoga).

Essentially the joints wear down and can cause arthritis and osteoporosis (not fun); tendons and ligaments become stretched and develop micro tears (slow painful agony); you lose muscle strength (your workout easily plateaus); you become constantly fatigued because the body has to work harder to move through what was easy body movement (shortness of breath, dizziness); and worst case scenario; compression of the internal organs happens (total meltdown). BUT... attention to your posture and contantly maintaining it can help reduce the incidence of many of these problems.

Reasons for bad posture

Most bad posture occurs as a result of daily living activities like working and sitting in front of a computer for eight hours or sleeping in the fetal position at night. A decent understanding of posture will help you learn to reduce your posture deviations through intelligent exercise and attention to everyday movement patterns. Here are a few of the most common violations and what you can do to eliminate them:

Lumbar lordosis - Excessive lower back arch. The majority of the population experiences this problem and it results from poor ab and ass strength and the result is lower back pain. You can tell if you might have lumbar lordosis if you perform the following exercise: Stand with your back flat against a wall. Your ass, shoulders and head should be against the wall and your feet should be a few inches in front of it. Reach an arm behind you and slide your hand between the lower back and the wall. If your hand goes farther than the second set of knuckles, you may have excessive lumbar lordosis. A simple way to correct this position is to close that space by contracting the glutes and abs at the same time. Do this position for periodically during the day until it becomes more natural (maybe not so much when that hot guy you don't know asks you a question for the first time at the gym). We promise you this can help alleviate painful syndromes and will also help with your workout at the gym.

Forward head - The average noggin weighs about eight pounds in a neutral position, when you extend the head forward three inches the muscles now support an extra three pounds of pressure. Guys who spend a lot of time gabbing on myspace or gaming in front of the computer, or watching the FUEL channel most likely have a forward head which can cause neck and jaw pain, tooth aches, headaches and even migraines. To train your noggin and neck to achieve better alignment, take your forefinger and index finger and push your chin in toward your neck. You should feel a slight stretch in the back of the neck. Do this movement several times throughout the day and you'll alleviate the dreaded forward head syndrome.

Rounded shoulders

Myspace and gaming addicts, bench press monkeys's and tall guys usually have rounded shoulders. Usually caused by overly relaxed upper- and mid-back muscles and overused chest and shoulder muscles (you know those guys, they enter the gym and BAM! they first thing the attack is the bench, and they're usually there all night long). To figure out if you have rounded shoulders, stand in your natural posture in front of the mirror. If you can see a great deal of the backs of your hands, then you have rounded shoulders. You can eliminate RS if you focus on exercises such as reverse flyes and low rows. Always make sure to keep your shoulders back and away from your ears.

Of course the male body is a highly complex system (physically and mentally!) and there aren’t any quick fixes for bad posture and pain. But just like changing up your workout from just strength gains to endurance, flexiblity, and maintaining a proper weight ratio, obtaining better posture takes time and effort, but athletically fit body is hot and good posture should be part of your goals. The old school way of thinking that pain and dysfunction is a natural part of working out is just a myth. You might not think you care now but paying attention to your posture now can help you live an active, highly functional life well into those daddy years.