CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- See if you can relate to an email I received: "Practically every time I commit to exercise, I fall off the wagon because I don't have the energy to make myself go."

This is a very common reason many find it impossible to remain dedicated to an active lifestyle. Talk about a power outage!

Several things need to happen to feel like exercising before or after work hours. After all, few of us have the luxury of exercising in the middle of the day when energy levels may be higher. These four keys to energy will make or break us:

1. Exercise recovery

2. Sleep

3. Pre-workout fuel

4. Hydration

Exercise recovery

This involves diet and the amount of time between workouts.

Diet: Your body gives you a golden opportunity for about an hour after a workout. During that time, you need to replace the carbs and protein you've expended. If you don't, your muscles won't build as effectively, and you won't replenish your energy stores.

View post:
CindySays: How to prevent a personal power outage

Heusden-Zolder, Belgium There were three Kenyan highlights at the 33rd KBC Night of Athletics at Heusden-Zolder on Saturday (7). Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo improved her world leading performance by 0.15 to 1:56.76. Abraham Kipchirchir Rotich set an astonishing 1:43.15 in the 800m, while Albert Kiprop won the 5000m in a personal best of 13:01.91.

A time trial for Jelimo

The target for Jelimo was to try and improve her seasonal best performance in her last competition before the Olympics. Marilyn Okoro from Great Britain paced Jelimo through the first lap in 55.3 and then the Kenyan continued her solo effort to finish in 1:56.76, shaving 0.15 seconds off her world leading best seasonal performance.

"Im happy with this race. It boosts my confidence that I am getting better all the time, just ahead of the Olympics," Jelimo said. "This was a time trial today and it is very difficult to race alone like this, without being challenged by other athletes. In London I have to be competitive at a 1:55 level and that is what I will working on in the next weeks. There every athlete will be at her best and I want be ready."

Rotich issues a challenge to Rudisha

At the age of 19 Rotich is an amazing athlete, full of confidence and ambition. When he set a personal best last Thursday in Lige (1:43.62), he promised that he would go faster still in Heusden-Zolder. And that is what he did. Ideally paced again by the American Matt Scherer in sub-50 at the bell Rotich hardly seemed to slow down and even relaxed coming in to the finish. But his time of 1:43.15 said it all. He now becomes the third fastest man in the world this year.

"Im not so happy, because I didnt feel well today," said Rotich surprisingly after he crossed the finish line. "I found it hard to focus and to concentrate today and I didnt feel comfortable in the race. After racing in Lige I expected to run 1:42 today. I saw Rudisha running 1:41 yesterday in Paris and one day I want to challenge him. I want to become the best in the world."

Hellebaut and Jonathan Borle delight the local fans

The local fans turned out massively to support their heroes for London. Defending Olympic High Jump champion Tia Hellebaut won her competition with 1.94m. Hellebaut will now compete in the London Diamond League before leaving on a training camp in France for her ultimate preparations.

Jonathan Borle looked impressive in the 400m. American Manteo Mitchell had no reply left when Borle stormed away with 150m to go. The Belgian clocked 44.93 against 45.75 for Mitchell. He also won another battle: his twin brother Kvin won the 400m in Madrid in 45.09.

See the original post here:
World leading 1:56.76 for Jelimo, Rotich improves to 1:43.15 in Heusden-Zolder

NEW ORLEANS -- At the Essence Music Festival presented by Coca-Cola on Friday night, I couldn't help but think there was something poignant about D'Angelo taking the stage for the latest in a season of comeback concerts in the same week that Frank Ocean had seized the news cycle for his game-changing personal revelation. Kindred musical spirits: one ahead of his time, the other firmly a product of his time.

More than 15 years before Ocean was hailed as a radical voice poised to remake the oft-beleaguered genre known as rhythm and blues, Michael Eugene Archer became a messianic figure, sent down to save our (neo) souls from the hackneyed bump-and-grind of R&B with his 1995 debut, Brown Sugar. So maybe it's just me, but the moment feels right for the now-38-year-old to be reemerging.

If fans were expecting the Richmond, Virginia-born singer to bask in the nostalgia of his classic first LP, though, they were disappointed. Taking the stage without any fanfare, he dove into his cover of Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love," off his sophomore disc, Voodoo. And it was instantly clear that D'Angelo and his raucous band were less concerned with faithful renditions of the well-aged tracks than with turning the songs on their heads.

Still, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where swag included tote bags emblazoned with the 59-year-old mug of the night's headliner Charlie Wilson, D's highly instrumental approach to his set didn't always gibe with the room. But for die-hards, who largely skewed younger, the singer was mesmerizing. (One row in front of us, Destiny's Child alums Michelle Williams and LaToya Luckett, along with rising star Luke James, were as enthralled as we were, dancing during much of the show.)

While D'Angelo rightfully dug into material that will probably appear on James River, his first album in a dozen years, he also dusted off his hits. There was the bewitching "Devil's Pie" and the blissfully profane "Sh--, Damn, Mother------," which he drew out to Church Revival lengths, even leaving the stage for a few moments before returning to cap off the coda.

The chiseled, cornrow-rocking D'Angelo of the late '90s is now a thing of a bygone era, tossed into the archives of the "neo-soul" movement that birthed him. For Friday's show, D tied a black bandanna around his unruly mass of locks for a look that seemed inspired by pirates and Hendrix. So we shouldn't have been surprised that for "Untitled" (How Does It Feel), the massive single now synonymous with his break with the music industry, there were no panties thrown and no abs shown.

Instead, the all-black clad D'Angelo sat at the keys and ran through a subdued verse as the ecstatic crowd sang along. He seemed eager to get it over with, the song perhaps too much of a reminder of a time when he buckled under the weight of sex symboldom, disappearing for nearly a decade into a haze of addiction and personal demons.

It was on the anthemic "Lady," though, that D came alive. With the concertgoers on their feet, he let himself smile, soaring on his falsetto on that infectious hook. In the mid-'90s, lyrics like this had put D'Angelo squarely ahead of his time: "Babe, I know they've seen us before/ Maybe at the liquor store / Or maybe at the health food stand / They don't know that I'm your man." Then only 21 years old, his songwriting was both conversational and reflective, a rare combo in R&B.

Now, as he shakes off the weight of his past, D'Angelo seems poised to grab his place again.

Link:
D'Angelo Jams, Shakes Off The Past At Essence Fest

Updated: Saturday, 07 Jul 2012 15:32 Natalya Coyle produced a super all-round performance in Sofia on Friday

Natalya Coyle produced a fabulous all-round performance in Fridays womens final to finish in 11th place at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The 21-year-old Irish athlete, whose place at the Olympic Games was confirmed earlier this month, showed impressive form ahead of the London 2012 competition on 12 August.

Coyle safely negotiated the qualification competition on Wednesday and was in a positive mood for yesterdays final.

An assured display in the fencing hall saw her finish 8th on the leader board with 19 victories and 15 defeats for a total of 888 pentathlon points.

After a personal best swim performance in the qualification competitions, Coyle was seeded in the second fastest swim heat.

Holding her own she equalled her performance from Wednesday and posted a time of 2:19.38 for 1128 pentathlon points, but she dropped to 10th on the overall leaderboard.

In the searing Sofia heat, the riding course held up well and with many athletes going clear Coyle needed to produce a good round to keep her top-10 placing.

An excellent clear round and inside the allotted course time ensured that she bagged the maximum 1200 points. Misfortune for other athletes around her meant she moved up to eighth position.

Starting just 27 seconds behind the competition leader and with a top-10 finish on the cards, the pressure was on for the Irish athlete to produce in the final run/shoot event.

More:
Coyle 11th at European Championships

Javier, who finished second behind Greene at last summers World Championships in Daegu, has been the form athlete all season and won with a world-leading time of 47.78sec, but Greene will be delighted that he was able to run him so close.

It was after that race that Greene chose to go public with the news that he had undergone knee surgery in the winter and had lost a large chunk of training time during his rehabilitation.

But, after several weeks of tough training at his Bath base, he is now clearly firing on all cylinders as he sliced 0.04sec off his previous personal best and came within just 0.02sec of Kriss Akabusis 20-year-old UK record.

Christine Ohuruogu, the defending Olympic 400m champion, is also enjoying a return to form this season after several years of injuries and her time of 50.59sec was her quickest since 2009.

Her problem is that the womens 400m is one of the deepest and most competitive events in the athletics programme and there were still three runners ahead of her. The winner, Botswanas world champion Amantle Montsho, won in 49.77sec.

In the mens 5,000m, Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel displaced Mo Farah at the top of the world rankings with victory in a super-fast 12min 46.81sec that proved he will be a big threat in London.

Countryman Kenenisa Bekele, the Olympic champion, is in danger of not being selected for the event after finishing ninth.

Read the rest here:
London 2012 Olympics: Dai Greene clocks personal best at perfect time in Paris Diamond League meeting

In anticipation of the release of his debut album, "Channel Orange," R&B dynamo Frank Ocean will make his network television debut with a performance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Monday night (July 9). Although it is unclear what song Ocean will perform, the singer will be backed by the "Fallon" house band, the Roots.

Following Friday's announcement, Ocean also posted a sensual new "Channel Orange" track, "Sweet Life," on his Tumblr blog. Check it out below.

"Channel Orange," due out July 17 on Def Jam, follows Ocean's acclaimed 2011 mixtape "Nostalgia, Ultra," in which the 24-year-old mixed original tracks with reinterpretations of songs by Coldplay, MGMT and The Eagles, among others. The studio album has been preceded by the nearly-10-minute single "Pyramids" and features guest appearances by Andre 3000, Earl Sweatshirt and John Mayer.

First Listen: Frank Ocean Previews 'Channel Orange' in NYC

The "Fallon" booking follows a revealing personal statement from Ocean on Wednesday: on his Tumblr blog, the singer opened up about his sexuality and described falling in love with a man at the age of 19. Since posting the statement, Ocean has received support from Def Jam president Joie Manda, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons and Odd Future band mate Tyler, The Creator, among others.

Ocean's upcoming "Fallon" performance also comes one year after Odd Future made its network TV debut on the late-night, when Tyler and Hodgy Beats delivered a raucous performance of "Sandwitches" in February 2011. Ocean appears on the controversial group's "The OF Tape Vol. 2" album, which was released last March.

More here:
Frank Ocean Releases 'Sweet Life' Song, Announces 'Fallon' TV Debut

July 6, 2012

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are just a few of the social media networks that have become popular in the past few years. Social media networks allow individuals to share photos, stories, video, and other forms of communication with friends and family. Investigators have studied how social media has become integrated in peoples daily lives. In particular, researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) recently found that social networks can stimulate changes in the health behavior of individuals.

With the project, the team of public health researchers was inspired to study the science behind social influence. They believe that an understanding of online and face-to-face interactions can improve disease prevention and help promote public health issues. The researchers concluded that it is necessary to understand a groups social structure and social dynamics to understand the factors that influence a group members decision making.

If I want to go into a high school and change physical activity or other obesity behaviors, I have to understand there are cliques and subgroups of students that exhibit different risks, explained Thomas W. Valente, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, in a prepared statement. I would design different interventions for the different groups. We constantly are concerned about how ineffective our interventions are this is a big reason why those interventions are not working. We can do a much better job promoting healthy behaviors if we understand the social network contexts and design these interventions with those cues in mind.

In the project, Valente collected a variety of methods that public health advocates utilize to encourage changes in behavior. Through his research, he identified why particular methods are more effective than others for certain situations like quitting smoking or preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

With 24 interventions identified for researchers to utilize, Valente believes that it is important to create a stronger framework that can help choose the tactics that could be most effective. Different methods can have different results based on the social network. For example, word-of-mouth can spread news and create groups of similar friends.

Existing evidence indicates that network interventions are quite effective, Valente, whose research focuses on social networks and influence, commented in the statement. Yet, the science of how networks can be used to accelerate behavior change and improve organizational performance is still in its infancy. Research is clearly needed to compare different network interventions to determine which are optimal under what circumstances.

Valente concludes that, even though behavioral marketing has been used in business, it can be applied in the public health sector. He believes that new media tools like Facebook and Twitter have helped in the collection of data and the spread of information. In particular, Facebook and friends can impact a persons decision making and health behavior. Valentes research project is supported by a National Institutes of Health grant, which was under the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The findings are highlighted in the July 6 edition of peer-reviewed journal Science.

See the article here:
Social Networks Influence Personal Health Decisions

In accomplishing her task of winning a spot at the London Olympic Games at last weeks U.S. Trials for track and field, Stephanie Brown Trafton took an uncertain situation and molded it into the fulfillment of a personal dream.

She was nervous about the performance, she said on June 26, but in both the qualifying and final rounds, she worked past her feelings to end up with her best throw of each round on her last throw for that round.

This was the hardest meet of my life as an elite level athlete, Brown Trafton said of the Trials. I had some trepidation going in because the conditions were wet and slippery and I had performed poorly at a meet in the same place a few weeks earlier.

Brown Trafton not only won the U.S. Olympic Trials, but her performance was a 180 in a meet at which she had competed on the very same field just over three weeks earlier.

At the Prefontaine Meet, also held at Hayward Field on June 1, Brown Trafton struggled so much that she failed to put up a mark in each of her attempts.

This time, her throws landed farther as each round passed in the qualifying round, earning her a spot in the finals.

I was very relieved to make it to the final round and felt like my confidence was back, Brown Trafton said.

In the finals on June 24, her first throw was the farthest among the field of competitors. Her marks over the next two rounds dwindled, and she fouled in the fourth and fifth rounds.

Her final throw, however, easily surpassed all others at 21310.

Besides reaching her third Olympics, this trip has extra meaning for Brown Trafton.

Continue reading here:
Brown Trafton achieves personal dream at trials

Even the House opposition leader seems to be satisfied with President Benigno Aquino III for showing honesty during his first two years in office.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez on Wednesday commended the reputation for personal honesty Aquino has exhibited as the countrys top official.

Masaktan na yung masasaktan, pero personally, sa tingin ko, bihira naman magkaroon ng leader na honest katulad ni PNoy, Suarez said in a press briefing.

He added that this reputation has advanced foreign investors and creditor interest in the country.

When asked to grade the Presidents performance so far, the opposition leader said, Baka isipin nila si Valte or Lacierda ang nagsasalita kapag nagbigay ako.

Suarez was referring to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte and presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

The House minority leader made these statements less than a month before Aquino delivers his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress on July 23.

Lack of vision

Despite this, Suarez said that Aquino has not yet drawn a clear vision for the Philippines during his first two years in office.

Dapat masabi niya kung ano vision niya sa air, sa land, sa maritime. Dapat may vision. Dapat nga first year pa lang, mayroon nang ganyan. Iyon naman ang kailangan niyang tutukan, the House minority leader said.

More:
Aquino’s ‘personal honesty’ rare in PHL govt, opposition leader says

Even the House opposition leader seems to be satisfied with President Benigno Aquino III for showing honesty during his first two years in office.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez on Wednesday commended the reputation for personal honesty Aquino has exhibited as the countrys top official.

Masaktan na yung masasaktan, pero personally, sa tingin ko, bihira naman magkaroon ng leader na honest katulad ni PNoy, Suarez said in a press briefing.

He added that this reputation has advanced foreign investors and creditor interest in the country.

When asked to grade the Presidents performance so far, the opposition leader said, Baka isipin nila si Valte or Lacierda ang nagsasalita kapag nagbigay ako.

Suarez was referring to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte and presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

The House minority leader made these statements less than a month before Aquino delivers his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress on July 23.

Lack of vision

Despite this, Suarez said that Aquino has not yet drawn a clear vision for the Philippines during his first two years in office.

Dapat masabi niya kung ano vision niya sa air, sa land, sa maritime. Dapat may vision. Dapat nga first year pa lang, mayroon nang ganyan. Iyon naman ang kailangan niyang tutukan, the House minority leader said.

Read this article:
Aquino’s ‘personal honesty’ rare in PHL gov’t – opposition leader