Want to boost your leg power? Nike has just the ticket:

It’s called the Nike SPARQ Parachute, and it’s one that you wear while running to create extra drag - kind of like the brake parachute on a drag race car. I wouldn’t recommend using it for jumping off buildings, but for building leg power, I’d seriously consider one of these.

I used one in high school football practice and I’m sure many track teams, football teams, and plenty of other teams use them for training. The training is probably best for sports that require sprinting, but endurance cyclists and marathoners could benefit from some sprint training, too.

The thing that really excites me is the price - $50. Normally these are really expensive and not the most economical purchase for a recreational athlete, but this one is within reach.

According to Nike, this chute will create a maximum drag of 25 lb of force, and the “floating metal tri-ring reducing belt” will keep it centered behind you during use. (I think that’s the feature I left out back when I tried to build one of these on my own!)

It’s also supposed to be heavy duty and durable enough for team training.

It might not work that well for skinny climbers though - the waist belt fits waists 32-56″ and is designed for athletes 170-210 lb. But considering cyclists have oversize quads compared to the rest of our bodies, you can probably handle it.

If I get my hands on one I’ll definitely review it here in the future.

Check out Nike if you want to buy one, or browse all the products in the SPARQ training line.

Ever thought about how cool it would be to have a folding commuter bike that just happens to glow in the dark? If so, Puma has the bike for you!

The bike is called The Glow Rider and it’s part of Puma’s Urban Mobility line. The glow-in-the-dark paint absorbs light during the day so that it glows during your evening commute, hopefully making you more visible to drivers. Color options include green, orange, and yellow.

The bike also folds for easy storage, and the wire that stabilizes the frame doubles as a bike lock!

Official website: Puma Urban Mobility

[Via dvice]

That article I wrote a few days ago about eating right if you get stuck going to a fast food joint was entered into a tutorial writing contest at the Daily Blog Tips blog. The voting has begun, and while I’d love to win, there are a number of good reads in the list of entrants.

From preventing aging to tips for making a better blog, everything was covered, so it was hard to narrow down my choices. Nevertheless…

Here are my favorites:

• How To Prevent Aging by Chris
• The Perfect Homemade Pie Crust - A Tutorial with Pictures by Jo-Lynne
• DOs and DON’Ts - Colour by Vivien
• A tutorial on mastering Digital Photography in minutes! by Praval

Good luck everyone!

Update: Looking for more cool blog posts dealing with health and nutrition?

Check out the latest Fitness Forum from Weight Master, where my fast food article was also included!

Whether you want to or not, you’re going to end up eating at a fast food joint. Perhaps you’re traveling in a new area, strapped for time (or cash,) or hanging out with your friends that don’t care what they eat as long as it tastes good.

The “how” and “why” of ending up at McDonald’s doesn’t matter, it just matters that you’re there and you’d like to make it out alive.

The good news is that it is possible, you just have to do some planning and research beforehand. Follow my guide and you will (most likely) make it out alive!

Step 1 - Review The Basics

Before you start thinking about what to pick off the menu, you should review some healthy eating basics so you know what to look out for. If you know of types of food that are always bad, it will be make it much easier to narrow down your choices.

Here are some fast food facts to get you started:

• Anything deep-fried (i.e. French fries) will be full of saturated and trans fats (which are just about the worst things you can put in your body.)
• Water is a much better choice than soda, even if it’s diet.
• Salad dressing is loaded with calories.
• Most items will have more calories, saturated fat, and sodium than you expect, so reading the nutrition facts is much better than guessing.
• The beef is going to be the lowest-quality they are allowed to serve (in most cases.)

And here are some menu items that are usually the healthiest options:

• Grilled chicken (usually a sandwich)
• Fruit side dishes (like apple sauce or apple chunks)
• Salad (with dressing on the side)
• Baked potato (that’s not loaded with butter, cheese, or sour cream)

And some options that are really bad:

• Fried and/or breaded chicken (including chicken nuggets)
• Onion rings
• French fries

What else?

Don’t super size. It might be a mere 9 cents extra, but it could add inches to your waist line!

You have to ask yourself, “Will the large not fill me up?” Usually you’ll be full but then stuff down what’s left, anyway. If you stick with a smaller size and eat slowly, you’ll be plenty full by the time you leave.

Step 2 - Read The Menus

Again, even before you go out, you want to read the menus. Luckily, you can find them online, complete with nutrition facts. Some sites even offer “meal calculators” that will give you nutrition facts for any meal combinations you choose.

Links to popular fast food menus are below. (Sometimes you have to start at the home page, while some provide printable PDF menus.)

McDonalds: Homepage | Nutrition (overview) | Nutrition facts

Burger King: Homepage | Nutrition brochure (PDF)

Wendy’s: Homepage | Menu

Arby’s: Homepage | Menu | Menu (PDF)

Subway: Homepage | Menu (PDF)

Pizza Hut: Homepage | Nutrition | Nutrition Guide (PDF) | Ingredients (PDF)

Taco Bell: Homepage | Menu | Nutrition facts (PDF)

Do this at home where you aren’t rushed (unlike when standing in line to order) so you can think clearly. Pick out some things you might like that are fairly healthy, then review the nutrition facts on them (which is something you won’t even find on the menu.)

You could also read Eat This, Not That, which is like the Cliff’s Notes version of fast food nutrition facts!

Step 3 - Make a List

If you want, make a list of healthy options for each restaurant and keep it in your purse or wallet. It will come in handy for those “which did I want, the grilled chicken sandwich or the chicken nuggets?” moments.

Here’s a sample checklist:

McDonalds
Egg McMuffin (300 calories, 12g fat, 18g protein)
Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich (420 calories, 10g fat, 32g protein)
Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken (320 calories, 9g fat, 30g protein)
Newman’s Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (40 calories, 3g fat)
Apple dippers w/ caramel dip (105 calories total)

Burger King
TENDERGRILL Chicken Sandwich (400 calories, 7g fat, 36g protein)
TENDERGRILL Garden Salad (240 calories, 9g fat, 33g protein)

Wendy’s
Ultimate Chicken Grill sandwich (320 calories, 7g fat, 28g protein)

Step 4 - Eat

Well it’s time to order your food and eat it. If you ordered as healthy as possible, it’s time to sit back and relax (but don’t cover your salad in dressing!)

*Tip* Chew your food completely! It helps you lose weight in a number of ways! (For example, you eat slower, so you feel fuller sooner. And it aids in digestion.)

[That’s a Burger King burger right there. It looks nothing like the version in the commercials!…]

 

Step 5 - Reflect

Now that you have eaten, think about what you ate. It it was fairly healthy and you feel good, keep it in mind for next time. If it made you sick, remember that, so you don’t get tempted to go to a fast food place tomorrow and order the same thing!

Most of all, ask yourself if the taste was really worth the extra fat, cholesterol, and calories.

Or consider my personal strategy:

My strategy is to binge on fast food or junk food a couple times a year, and afterwards I always ask myself “why?” The disruption to my diet makes me feel like crap for at least a few days, and that’s what I remember about each fast food experience. That’s good, though, because it severely limits the number of times I eat the stuff.

To summarize: When eating junk food, eat enough to get sick, and then you won’t want to go back for a long time!

 

Bonus Fast Food Avoidance Strategy!

Don’t make fast food a habit. Watch Super Size Me and lose all desire for fast food!

 

Photo credits: AdamL212 | trungson | VirtualErn | The Consumerist

This article has been entered in the DailyBlogTips.com writing contest.

Are you fairly new to cycling? Or perhaps you’ve been riding a while but you are thinking about doing your first race this season?

Then I might have found a good book for you. It’s called 50 Top Bike Racing Tips and it covers everything from planning your race season and setting goals to winning the sprint to the finish line. My complete review is below…

At first glance, the book didn’t look like it would amount to much. I figured it would be basic racing and training advice, and I wasn’t that excited because the book was written by Bart Summers, a name I’d never heard before.

But I figured I’d check it out anyway. I’m glad I did, because it started with a bio - turns out Bart Summers spent 15 years racing from hopeless beginner to competing in national races before releasing this book in 2005.

Then it went through all 50 tips about bike racing, and each tip was packed with solid advice. The book is a total of 84 pages, so it’s not just a little list of tips. Rather, each tip is explained so you can actually put it into practice. The tips started with planning, then focused a lot on training and heart rate zones and all that, and then finished up with racing advice and tactics.

For someone new to racing, the racing tactics section is invaluable. Even extremely fit riders can lose a race to an unfit rider that knows how to race, so learning is your best chance for quick results. Trust me, I’ve lost plenty of races due to not knowing anything about tactics, despite numerous hours of training!

Believe it or not, a $20 book is going to improve your performance a lot more than a new $5000 bike. (Assuming you read and act on the book.)

The best part is that the book seems more like an experienced rider giving you advice after a race, as opposed to a book from a big publisher. It’s just ‘down and dirty’ advice, put on paper. It doesn’t sound like it’s written by some certified coach with a physiology degree. Rather, it’s much like the advice I’ve heard firsthand from former elite racers. They take the complex stuff and make it simple, skipping all the research studies and complicated graphs and replacing them with what worked for them in a real-life racing career.

So that’s the main book, what else do we have?

A bonus book called Indoor Trainer 101. It’s a shorter book with reasons to use an indoor trainer, plus workout advice and training plans. The various workout schedules, each designed for a specific result, will help you get in better shape and help prevent boredom from mindlessly slogging along on the trainer.

My final verdict is…

Overall, it’s a solid book I can recommend to beginners. If you’ve been racing a while or reading other training/racing books and magazines, you’ve most likely picked up on all these tips. But for new riders, this is the quickest way to improve.

Should I buy this or one of the hardcover racing books from Amazon.com?

Your choice. There are a number of good books out there that are packed with good advice, very long, and fun to read (if you like to read.) But if you’re pressed for time, maybe this book is the better choice. See, it’s shorter and to the point, but still contains everything you need to know, in chronological order. You could order it the evening before a race, get it immediately, read it that night, and have a better race the next day. All without leaving your chair.

Plus, buying it is not a bad idea, since there is a guarantee:

And remember you risk nothing. I know you’re about to order now over the internet. If you’re unhappy for any reason, just email me and I will refund all your money.

Take a look at the website, and if you think it’s the book for you, go ahead and get a copy.