Published on: 16 March 2018
Last Updated on: 27 July 2024
We cannot run away from the fact that supplements can help you to reach your fitness goals faster. Most of them have well-known ingredients or cutting edge that have the required scientific backing. The challenge is knowing the workout supplement to choose. I know you could have been hearing about supplement scams in local news on a daily basis. This article will guide you on what to avoid and what you need to look for while choosing workout supplements. You need to choose a brand that uses scientific minds to build great products on the basis of solid science and results. Below are some of the things you need t check out for when making your next sports nutrition and weight loss product purchase.
Make Sure You Know the Brand :
Companies spend a lot of money every year while attempting to build trust. You can compare trust to consumer preference and loyalty. Most supplement companies that have been in existence for a long period should have invested a lot in the quality of their products and good manufacturing products that comply with the industry practices. All supplement companies must meet the standards that are set by drugs and poisons board or FDA. If you are not sure of the company, search for their brand name on reputable review sites or bureaus in the region. You need to identify a company that deals with best selling workout supplements in the global market.
Can You Get to Their Customer Service?
Confirm whether the company has a toll-free contact with real human beings to handle the phone calls. Some companies spent a lot of cash on infrastructural investments that support their products in the marketplace. Some small companies like outsourcing their operations and production of products. therefore, customers may have to way of talking to them. Be wary of any company that you cannot reach with a lot of ease.
Does the Mark have a Trust Mark or Third-Party Analysis Label?
A reputable brand should undertake a lab analysis of their products to confirm whether they meet the claims that are on the label. You can go ahead and request a certificate of analysis from that manufacturer to make sure that the product has the ingredients written on the label. You can also search for trust marks from third-party organizations as another way of verifying the supplements. Some of the marks include USDA organic, USP and NSF and they are given to the supplement company after meeting stringent product audits.
Search for Clinical Studies :
Sports nutrition or weight loss products must have one or multiple ingredients that are in amounts that are clinically validated. This is what makes them make assertions like ‘lose weight,’ ‘build muscle,’ or ‘recover faster.’ The product packaging or company website must reference these clinical studies. The product should have the amounts of grams, milligrams, and micrograms of all the active ingredients that are listed on the product. Ingredients such as essential fatty acids, creatine, and proteins have a broad range of source types and dosages. Therefore, be keen to look at the specific ingredients when doing your search.
Only Buy from Reputable Stores :
Leading retailers carry out their independent analysis and thus you need to buy your sports nutrition or weight loss products from a store you trust. Some stores have trained associates that can answer any questions you have regarding the products. This will help you in making the right decision especially if you are having several products to choose from. Finally, you need to check on the ratings and reviews of the company. Find out the manufacturer’s consumer rating on its website and third-party retailers. Go through the common comments and questions on these sites. Also, read the consumer experiences on other posts so as to gain some form of confidence in the products.
All the above tips will help you to find the best workout supplements that the market has to offer. All you need is an effective product that is safe for your health. The market has several high-quality companies and products but you cannot identify them unless you do your assignment well.
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The holiday season is officially over, which means it’s time to start working off some of the extra pounds you picked up at mom’s house. While people generally love the idea of looking like the dudes who do commercials for home-exercise equipment, most of us still hate working out and dieting. If you are one of them, don’t worry. There are a ton of startups offering the kind of motivation you need in the form of mobile apps. Such apps use activity tracking as well as fitness and health risk assessment apps.
Today we’ll be exercising our startup muscles by taking a look at some of these young companies and what makes them tick.
8 Motivations to Start Up Health & Fitness:
Fitness gamification is huge right now, which makes sense given that it adds a much-needed dimension of play to the arduous task of getting fit. A great example of fitness gamification is Tep, which is basically a cross between a fitness tracker and a Tamagotchi; though, in the case of Tep, the star is a niftily-designed giraffe rather than a globular cluster of black pixels.
The more a user exercises, the better the giraffe does (users can buy their long-necked pets treats with rewards points they earn from walking, running and cycling). If users slack off, though, it’s curtains for the poor creature.
According to the app’s creators, a group of five super-talented self-starters from Szeged, Hungary, «Tep’s competitive edge relies on emotional connection and the mental „threat“ that the beloved pet might suffer from the lack of proper physical activity and thus offers a solution for curve fatigue effect.»
Does that sound a little dark? Sure. But it’s for a good cause. The founding team’s goal is to help users lose eight million pounds of fat in the next three years; there’s also talk of buying a giraffe.
The founding team built Tep on their own time and dime, but are currently funded by Traction Tribe and prizes from Microsoft’s Imagine Cup.
Tep is available in beta for Android and Windows phones, with an iOS version coming soon.
Wokamon
If you like the idea of a digital workout buddy helping you toe the line, but giraffes aren’t really your thing, then you might dig Wokamon, which comes to us from Mars Zhu and Hazim Abdul Hamid of Noodum.
Wokamon features dozens of animated monsters that get bigger and stronger as you do. Since it comes with a pedometer and syncs with wearables like Jawbone, Fitbit, and Up, you can be sure that every calorie burned gets counted and fed to your growing army of critters.
Connecting with friends on social media through Wokamon earns you reward points, which you can burn on unlocking new creatures.
Noodum and Wokamon are currently being funded by an $18,000 seed investment from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Innospace Incubator.
Gamified fitness apps like Wokamon and Tep have a lot of options when it comes to future monetization. They can either take the Zombies, Run! The approach of charging for downloads (which works if you’re as niche and well-made as that app) or offer in-app purchases for things like new backgrounds, characters, or crystals and boosters for your pet monsters.
For now, though, we can take advantage of both Tep and Wokamon for free.
Teamster
Teamster is an iOS app that, contrary to its name, has absolutely nothing to do with trucking. What teamster does do, though, is help you connect with other people in your area who are interested in the same sorts of athletic activities as you.
Conveniently, users are able to identify which sports they like and their level of skill in each on a scale of 1 to 5, which means you won’t be totally outmatched when you meet up for a game with other users.
When you find another user who shares your interests and skill set, swipe right in the app to add them to your team. Sounds like Tinder is ubiquitous, doesn’t it? Users can then create activities for other users or teams to join.
Teamster comes to us from the Melbourne based duo of Henry Chan and 22-year old Sam McCallum, who has a background in competitive running, cycling, and skiing.
Actually, 2015 is shaping up to be an awesome year for apps that bring social networking logic to the gym. Take Boston-based Perspyre, for example, which is coming out soon with a beta version for Android and iOS.
The whole point of Perspyre is connecting people who love to sweat and giving them access to workouts, advice, and motivation. Users can log into the app via Facebook and take post-workout selfies, record workouts, and brag about new personal records.
Though it’s admittedly a little intense for beginners, Persypre is perfect for those who are already «motivated and dedicated» enough to willingly visit Crossfit and P90x classes.
Perspyre is the brainchild of Jason Chisholm and Jeremy Mays and has received $25,000 in seed funding from John Piret of the investment firm Newbury Piret & Co.
If Perspyre sounds like it’s right up your alley, keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-launched SternFit iOS app which also gives workout buffs a great platform for sharing pics, tips, and workouts.
Rocket Journey
If your meteoric rise to peak physical perfection is still in the launch phase, you’ll find a helpful companion in RocketJourney, which bills itself as the «smartest and friendliest way to a fitness lifestyle.»
The app’s founding trio of Carlos Ayala, Pablo Artee, and Ernesto Cambuston has received funding from 500 Startups, the seed fund and startup accelerator comprised of Google and PayPal alums.
RocketJourney tracks all of your fitness activities from cycling to yoga to lifting to competitive eating — just kidding about that last one — and verifies that you’ve actually worked out through GPS and wearables integration.
The app motivates you to stick to your fitness regime by giving you points for completed workouts and taking away points for missed ones. The same logic holds true for user-created «teams» which add the pinch of peer-pressure that it just might take to keep you on track.
You can register for updates on RocketJourney’s release on the website.
OneSet
OneSet — «Vine for Fitness» — is another promising app to stay tuned for in the months to come. Users can create 15-second videos demonstrating an exercise or «stack» other users’ videos into workouts.
Since videos are organized by muscle group or goal, it’s easy to find the right moves for you.
OneSet’s founding team is based in Waterloo, Canada, and consists of brothers Amad and Shameel Abdullah, as well as full-stack developer George Xu.
GYM radio
Sometimes all it takes to reach the athlete within is finding the right music to sweat to, or the right gym to do it in.
Though GYM radio’s online music streaming service has been around since 2013, its new iOS, Android, and Windows phone releases have made it easier than ever to get amped up and pumped up at the same time.
The app features three music settings — cardio, gym, and hardcore-tailored to give your workout the right feel. Here’s the best part: GYM radio is completely ad-free, which means your runners high won’t get interrupted by voice-actors pitching toothpaste or discount car insurance.
GYM radio also offers a premium upgrade which, for a monthly or yearly subscription, will let you listen offline, skip songs, and get access to material unavailable on the standard version.
Gymhopper
Gymhopper — «Uber for gyms»- is a Swiss startup that aims to help you find the right gym by offering its users discounted individual training passes. Gyms benefit from the app by getting a little extra exposure as well as a shot at their target market, people who are actively searching for a new place to get sweaty.
Gymhopper is currently in series A fundraising but expects an iOS release later this year.
What can fitness startups learn from RunKeeper?
Figuring out how to actually make money with your app is a problem that can plague even the biggest of startup fish. Each of the aforementioned apps will have to figure out the right monetization strategy for their product and user-base. One good model employed by the leading fitness tracker RunKeeper is to partner with other businesses to provide sponsored advertising to users.
That means Teamster’s users could theoretically get discounts on Nike products for showing up at local softball games, and Perspyre users could get 25% off gym memberships for visiting p90x classes 3 times a week.
There are a lot of good ways to get back in shape, and a lot of good startups out there creating more every day.
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Vapes have been around for over a decade now, being supplied by various companies such as VIP. There has been much debate of late about vaping, and where it should be allowed. Currently, many workplaces and businesses treat vaping the same as smoking and thus do not allow it indoors at all.
Given that vaping is said to be far less harmful than tobacco smoke, it is seen as an effective way of helping smokers to quit, and almost as a medical tool for doing so. As such, there have been developments in the political sphere regarding vaping indoors, so here are some of the legal considerations around vaping in the workplace.
Government Policy
The government has recently issued a set of guidelines for employers and organizations regarding vaping in the workplace. In these, they state that vaping should be treated completely differently to smoking, given that it is far less dangerous and could even be beneficial to those trying to quit.
They acknowledge that different workplaces will have different policies in place given that there are different operational risks (between a factory and a school, for example) and that each workplace should put an informed policy in place which is based on the risks posed to the likes of bystanders, staff, and children.
Which Considerations Must Govern Policy?
As such, it is currently legal to smoke in the workplace, so long as the employer allows it in their policy. The onus is now on employers, rather than the law, to decide whether it is safe to vape, but this means that each employer should still make essential considerations before allowing it.
They must, for instance, consider the safety of each employee, and ensure that any smoke emitted from a vape does not hamper this. In a place that requires excellent visibility at all times (a plane cockpit, for instance), allowing vaping would most likely be a bad idea, whereas in a wide-open space like a factory vaping would most likely be harmless.
Customers/Clients
Whilst it may not be a legal consideration as such, companies and organizations should also think about the effect vaping may have on the customers/clients which they deal with on a daily basis, and whether vaping may be harmful to their health or overall experience of the business organization.
It is likely that, if employers allow vaping, it will be in areas in which customers do not go, or in which vape smoke will have minimal impact on their experience. In the highly unlikely event of a customer having an asthma attack, because of vape smoke (for example), it is possible that legal action could be taken against the employer, which would not only damage their profits but also their reputation.
So, although employers should carefully consider the use of vapes in the workplace, attitudes towards vapes themselves are changing, and it is likely that they will be much more widely accepted in the years to come. With laws having been relaxed, it could well be the case that the majority of workplaces will allow vaping in the near future.
Read Also :
Benefits Of E-Cigarettes Over Traditional Smoking
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It’s easy to assume that keeping your teeth brushing habits in good condition is largely just about preserving a gleaming, Hollywood-standard smile. However, your teeth aren’t just for show; they serve an array of crucial practical purposes. These include helping us to digest food and even talk coherently.
Neglecting your teeth brushing can lead to tooth decay – which, in turn, can lead to pain as well as the necessity of fillings, crowns or inlays. There’s also the risk of gum disease, which can wear away at your teeth and even bone around the teeth. How, then, can you brush your teeth more effectively?
5 Little Changes That Can Make Your Teeth-Brushing More Effective:
Choose the right toothbrush
The Oral Health Foundation recommends that adults advise people to use small or medium size brush head. The brush head should be soft, os that it does not damage tooth gum. The head needs to be small enough so that it can reach to the back end of the teeth.
While children’s brushes should be smaller, they must still include filaments of the same type. Then there’s the question of electric toothbrushes – which, research has indicated, do remove plaque more effectively than manual toothbrushes. Both adults and kids can benefit from going electric.
Use a good fluoride toothpaste
Considering that many dental experts have credited fluoride with helping to prevent cavities, it’s surprising that not all dental products actually contain fluoride. You should make sure that your toothpaste has it, which shouldn’t be too difficult, given the wide choice of fluoride toothpaste.
There is evidence that even people who otherwise stay on top of looking after their teeth can see their efforts undermined if fluoride isn’t involved, Medical News Daily observes.
“The optimum level of fluoride for anyone aged three and over is between 1,350ppm and 1,500ppm, so it doesn’t matter too much which brand you’re using as long as it has that level of fluoride,” Karen Coates of the Oral Health Foundation has explained to The Guardian.
Brush in a massaging, rather than aggressive, motion
Once that toothpaste is on your brush, how hard should you press it onto your teeth? Coates cites “a fine line between brushing effectively and overbrushing.” She adds that electric toothbrushes could help you to strike the right balance due to their inclusion of a pressure sensor.
Of course, it’s already common knowledge that you should brush twice a day. However, when you do brush, make sure you do it in small circular motions while being careful not to leave the front, back or top of any of your teeth untouched. Resist sawing back-and-forth motions!
Spit out toothpaste left over, but don’t rinse
Fluoride can help to strengthen and shield your teeth – and, in this way, prevent the onset of tooth decay. However, you must allow the fluoride to work its magic. That means not rinsing your mouth after teeth brushing, as you would be rinsing out the fluoride.
Therefore, just settle for rinsing out the surplus toothpaste after your brushing. Coates says reassuringly: “The residual bits of fluoride will stay on the teeth for about 30 minutes after brushing.”
Pay regular visits to the dentist
According to the expert recommendation, you should get a dental checkup every six months. Each routine dental examination will see the hygienist clean your teeth and remove any plaque and hardened tartar.
The dentist will inspect your mouth for warning signs of oral health issues like cavities, gum disease or mouth cancer. If the dentist spots minor damage, like a chip or crack, they might advocate a cosmetic treatment like teeth bonding from Ten Dental – and give you some more teeth brushing tips if there is visual evidence that they are needed.
Read also:
Dental hygiene tips
Dental care tips