Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your search. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Career Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job fairs scheduled for this year across the United States.

How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Faire? The contention can be significant, but you can help yourself stick out from the crowd with early planning. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified six-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the web to research the organizations that are there before you go. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their jobs posted. Pick a tenable number to target, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 7 in a day, and three or four is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You’ll end up with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job openings on the web, read them to see what the hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the prerequisites of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The achievements should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘short sales pitch’ for each likely company/job combination. Write down a 90 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a great prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re want. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the achievements and skills that most clearly match the job description. Especially at a Job Faire, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be obvious to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, practice your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each position – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a intelligibly tagged folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or perfume sparingly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!

There are many things that we know, we should do, but there’s never enough time. Would you like to have more time for your family, Yoga practice, and some quality time, in your life? Maybe, work keeps you too busy, from doing the right things, for yourself, and your loved ones. So, what can you do?

After all, you need to put food on the table and work is a priority. In reality work is only a part of life, and you would realize that, if you lost your job. All of us go through a grievance period, after losing a job, marriage, or a loved one.

At that point, we must make a decision, to continue on, or give up. Now, I am assuming you are not the type to give up. After moving on, we look back at the pain and healing process. Our personalities are developed, and conditioned, from many components. These components help us “keep it together,” such as: Family, friends, work, prayer, and hobbies.

Most of you know that Yoga means “unity,” but do you realize you are practicing union, or unity, every day, even if you don’t officially practice in a Yoga class? Below is a list of things that you should do every day, or almost every day.

You will notice that work should not be done every day, in order to live life in moderation. Everyone needs a day off, so enjoy your weekends, when possible, and don’t skip vacations.

Prayer is part of every religion and should be a part of every day. I don’t care what religion you practice, that is your business. Luckily, most of the religions on this planet have universal principles that apply to all. Don’t forget that, you need spiritual, physical, and mental health to be complete. By the way that’s a Yogic principle too.

Family time is so important that we have a dysfunctional generation growing up, due to lack of attention to our children. Some children don’t really know their parents, because they are sometimes brought up by someone else, or a day care center. Lack of bonding time creates inherent problems for parent and child.

Take the time to eat together without arguments and play with your children. Expose your children to religion, games, hobbies, humor, and Yoga practice. Give your spouse or partner a hug and tell them how valuable they are. Self-worth and recognition keep them going too.

Good friends should not be ignored. They are few and far between. You may find your Yoga friends to be valuable company too.

Be conscious of all the following every moment that you can. Breathing doesn’t have to be learned from your Yoga teacher and forgotten. You should practice proper breathing every moment you think of it.

Proper posturing should be practiced when you are sitting, standing, walking, eating, and using your computer. Exercise should be part of everyday and you should be conscious of your nutrition at all times.

Consuming eight glasses of water per day minimum is important for digestion, elimination, your skin, your vital organs, and removing toxins. Please spare the excuses – many people have no problem drinking eight sodas per day. By the way, that’s not good, even if it is diet soda.

Work is a must, unless you are independently wealthy. Work should also help you keep your sanity. If this is not the case, look for a job that is rewarding.

Hobbies are good for your sanity too, but like all of the above they are part of a healthy life. So, how can you make all of this fit into your life? If you go to Yoga classes, you already do.

However, if you haven’t had the time to learn or practice Yoga, you must make the time. Once you do, you will wonder why it took you so long, to start learning Yoga. You will make new friends and live a happier life.

© Copyright 2005 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

A common misconception, when it comes to Attention Deficit Disorder, is that it is one in the same with hyperactivity. However, this is far from the truth. While people with ADD may exhibit signs of hyperactivity, it is not an inherent trait of the disorder and often does not occur with sufferers of ADD.

Hyperactivity is a general term referring to excessive and/or pathological activeness. This term is often used erroneously for an active person that does not meet the excessive criteria. It is important to understand that all children are active to a certain extent, and that some are even extremely active. However, this does not necessarily constitute hyperactivity. A hyperactive person will seem to be driven to movement, making it almost impossible to sit still. If sitting, they will often fidget or talk excessively as a countermeasure. Hyperactivity is often difficult to assess in adults; however, children are much easier to diagnose.

Attention Deficit Disorder, on the other hand, is exhibited by inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and distractibility, but not necessarily hyperactivity. A child that suffers from ADD may have difficulty completing assignments, paying attention, and/or waiting their turn. In order for any of these behaviors to constitute a disorder, they must be extreme, create difficulty in completing daily activities, and not be appropriate behavior for the age group of the child. They must also occur for an extended period of time, at least six months and be identifiable prior to the age of 7 and continue thereafter.

However, some children with ADD also have hyperactivity, demonstrated as excessive fidgeting, running, and jumping at inappropriate times. They often seem to have an inability to be still. If a child exhibits hyperactivity in addition to Attention Deficit Disorder, they are often termed “ADHD”: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. While many people assume the term ADD is an antiquated version of ADHD, they actually refer to two different types of disorders.

In all, there are typically three variations of ADD or ADHD. These are (1) inattentive type, (2) hyperactive-impulsive type, and (3) combination. Obviously the inattentive type exhibits a difficulty in paying attention and completing activities, but is not hyperactive. These children tend to be more difficult to diagnose. On the other hand, the hyperactive-impulsive type is extremely active and has a difficulty controlling their behavior. Of course, the third type is a combination of the two previous types and displays inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

It is estimated that 80% of home exercise equipment is not used after the first year.

So, you’re planning to buy a piece of home exercise equipment… and you have promised yourself that this time you are really going to use it!

Maybe you already have a collection of different exercise devices… but you are convinced that with this new contraption you will definitely reach your fitness goals.

Or you keep saying to yourself… “If I only had that fitness machine I would be motivated to work out”.

Around 80% of home exercise equipment buyers said the same thing… and the equipment they bought is gathering dust in the corner somewhere along with their dreams of muscle tone, more energy, weight control and feeling great.

Don’t part with your hard earned money before you make sure you will be one of the 20% that buys home exercise equipment and actually uses it, because as we all know… you are only going to get the physical benefits from the home exercise equipment you buy if you actually do the exercise.

Who Buys Home Exercise Equipment And Then Doesn’t Use It?

According to Consumer’s Union, it is the beginner, or inexperienced, exercisers that are most likely to purchase home exercise equipment and then not use it.

As a matter of fact… beginner exercisers don’t use 2/3 of the home exercise equipment they buy.

Although buying home exercise equipment seems like the logical first step to improved fitness… it is the beginners that give up using the equipment more than people who already enjoy an active lifestyle.

Let’s see why this happens…

Using Home Exercise Equipment Is An Exercise In Self Control

Most people over estimate their self control.

Even though they exhibit determination and enthusiasm when researching the home exercise equipment to buy, seeking out the best price, purchasing and installing the equipment in their home… most people just don’t have enough self control to use the equipment in the necessary manner to reap the rewards.

Thinking about exercise, talking about exercise, researching exercise and purchasing home exercise equipment is not exercise.

There is no home exercise equipment that will completely transform you and help you reach all your fitness goals without an investment of time and energy.

As a matter of fact… the costs of seeking fitness are immediate, while the benefits are delayed.

Most beginners get frustrated putting in the time and energy necessary to reap the long term physical rewards using the home exercise equipment .

As a result, 2/3 of the home exercise equipment finds its way into garages, closets and basements with the closing comments… “That thing didn’t work.”

Prove Yourself Worthy Before Buying Home Exercise Equipment

Most beginners buy home exercise equipment because they took a good hard look in the mirror and didn’t like what they saw… or they assessed their physical abilities and found them lacking.

Next step… buy a piece of home exercise equipment!

Well, hold on there… not so fast.

As I’m fond of saying… Fitness is a journey, not a destination.

The bodily changes and improvement of physical abilities you seek can only be obtained for the long term by incorporating consistent physical activity into your lifestyle.

Prove yourself worthy of the purchase of home exercise equipment by first adding physical activity to your lifestyle by using the effective, versatile and efficient piece of home exercise equipment that you already have… your own body!

If you are really serious about improving muscle tone and energy levels while controlling weight and feeling great… start by performing a workout program of bodyweight calisthenics exercises.

Bodyweight calisthenics exercise is the perfect method to use for the beginner, as well as experienced, fitness enthusiast when starting a physical fitness training program… and should remain part of a well balanced fitness training regime.

As a matter of fact… you should not start using home exercise equipment of any kind until you first have developed the ability to control the movement of your own body.

Once you have effectively added physical activity into your lifestyle… you can buy that piece of home exercise equipment to augment, vary and diversify your physical training with the confidence that you will actually use it.

In conclusion…

Bodyweight calisthenics exercise is the perfect place to start your physical fitness training program.

Properly done… bodyweight calisthenics exercise will develop a strong, lean and athletic body that actually performs as good as it looks.

Once physical training has become a habit… buy home exercise equipment to improve your already effective training.

The body and physical abilities you seek are not determined by the equipment you have at your disposal… but rather by your desire to improve and incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle!

Save yourself a lot of time and money by proving to yourself that you are not overestimating your self control… because if you fail to successfully add bodyweight calisthenics exercise into your lifestyle, you will most likely fail to use the home exercise equipment you buy.

So what are you waiting for?

Use your own body as your gym… and get started on your own personal fitness journey today!

Most Americans have the same problem when it comes to losing weight and staying well. The foods we like in our culture are, for the most part, terrible for us.

* Chocolate milkshake * Chicken fried steak with steak fries * Grilled hamburger with the works * Mom’s favorite pie

I hope I’m not making you too hungry. You may not LOVE the items I just listed, but it’s a sure bet 90 percent of those reading this article could easily down at least one of those items RIGHT NOW!

The problem is, these items are sky high in fat and other not-so-good-for-you ingredients, plus low in fiber. It seems like EVERYTHING that tastes good isn’t good for us.

If you don’t believe me, read the ingredient tables on all the “low-fat” foods at the supermarket. Almost all of them have much higher levels of fat than you would guess. Keep reading tables and you’ll likely get a little depressed. When I tried this exercise, I left thinking that carrots were the only truly low fat item in the store.

One way to get the right idea about healthy food is to think about what we would eat if we didn’t have a supermarket up the street. Think about what great, great grandma ate on the farm 100 years ago before all today’s convenience foods took over.

Chances are you would eat vegetables you grew in your backyard. You might occasionally dine on chicken you had raised yourself. Cows were very expensive in most areas, so it’s unlikely you would eat beef more than a few times a year. If you could catch a fish, you might eat that, and it wouldn’t be deep fried!

Get the picture? That’s how almost all peoples of the world ate until very recently. Humans were designed to eat vegetables and fruits mostly, with very little preparation and no additives.

Steer your diet toward that kind of old fashioned thinking and you’ll be surprised how your weight goes down and your health improves.

And while you’re at it, remember that it’s been only fairly recently that people had automobiles. I’ll bet when your city was founded, most people walked everywhere they went. And that’s the other part of the equation. Get regular exercise to lose weight and improve your health. You don’t have to be an athlete, just get out and walk for a while several times per week.

Try these common sense methods and you’ll be surprised how well they work.

Big weights! Wicked pump! I always get caught between two minds whenever I hit my workout at the gym. One side of me says to lift heavy to get big and the other says that form should matter more than my weight poundage. This is an issue that used to cause me to get quite twisted every time I would prep a workout training cycle. I know each technique has its merits, so I used to be swayed back and forth never staying with either method long enough to see the results. With the low weights I get to move some decent poundage’s and my ego gets gratified but alas, there is no killer pump. When I stick to the perfect form method with lighter weights I get great pumps but I never feel like I am really working hard enough to get anywhere because my weights are so light. So in my search for the perfect weight workout, I decided to combine the two methods and get the best of both worlds.

Seems obvious when some one else says it doesn’t it? I love the pump from drop sets and isolation exercises and I love the feeling of grunting under large loads, so why not do both in a workout?

What I do is put in two exercises of 5×5 with 1 minute to 2 minutes rest between sets and then move on to one or two more exercises for 3 or 4 sets a piece with the odd drop set or super set in order to finish the workout with a great pump. I stay with the same weight on the 5×5’s until I get all 5 sets of 5, usually hitting 4 or 3 reps on the last two sets in the beginning. When I finally complete the full 5×5 I up the weight by 5 to 10 pounds and start over. This ensures that I don’t get lazy and that I am always getting stronger, so that’s the first rule of muscle mass realized.

Once I have trained the muscles with between 85-100% of my one rep max, I’ve stimulated strength gains through enhanced neural drive and hit my type IIB fibers hard. Now onto the second group of exercises. I squeeze and pump the muscle, trying to fill it with blood while keeping in my mind that weight is a secondary concern. Here is where I hit the type IIA fibers with a slightly higher time under tension developed from the intensity techniques. The weights for this type of training are usually within 70-80% of your one rep max. Whenever I reach the point that the lighter weights no longer fatigue the muscle at around 10-12 reps, I bump it up a notch. Chasing the pump I rest no longer than 30-45 seconds causing me to hit a totally different set of fibers and making sure that all life has been thrashed out of the muscle. The best of both worlds in one workout!

The 5×5 method can also be seen as a lazy mans periodization, as the intensity varies from week to week depending on if I am trying a new weight or if I am still trying to get my “5’s” at an already accustomed to weight. The high intensity at the end allows me to get nutrients and blood into the muscle, gives me my time under tension and stretches the fascia while the body part is still stuffed full of the goods.

So in effect this routine develops the type IIB fibers through high tension multiple sets making me stronger by increasing relative strength though enhanced neural drive. Then moves on to hit the type IIA fibers through a slightly higher time under tension given to me by the extended sets. This makes me larger by increased hypertrophy, stimulating increased muscle glycogen, ATP and Krebs cycle activity. The only variable to fill in after this is your nutrition habits, but that’s a topic for later discussion. Here is an example of this type of weight workout. None of the set totals include your warm ups:

Monday

Chest DB Bench press 5×5 Dips 5×5 Incline flyes super set with incline smith presses for 3x failure on both. Anything past twelve reps and you should bump up the weight.

Biceps Barbell curls 5×5 Incline dumbbell curls 10/8/6 Rope pulley hammer curls drop set – 4 sets

Tuesday

Quads Squats 5×5 Front squats pyramid up 12,10,8,6 Leg extensions 3-drop sets, each drop being 10 reps (10-10-10)

Hams DB or barbell, stiff leg deadlifts 5×5 Lying Frankenstein curls (toes down on way up and toes out on way down) 4-drop sets, each drop being 8 reps (8-8-8)

Calves Standing calf raises 3-drop sets of 10-10-10 per set. Seated calf raises for 4 sets of 40-50 seconds each

Wednesday

Shoulders

Standing presses 5×5 High pulls from the hips 5×5 Face down incline laterals superseted with reverse cable crossovers for rear delts – 4 sets to failure

Triceps

Close grip bench 5×5 Low pulley behind head extensions off bench (Vince Gironda style) 4×8 Superset of kick backs and close grip pushups with elbows wide 3x 10

Thursday

Back Deadlifts 5×5 Weighted chins 5×5 Drop set low cable rows with under grip for 4 sets

Abs

4 sets of crunches supersetted with hanging leg raises

Take the next two days off and then restart the cycle.

There are several ways to manipulate this schedule depending on your recovery ability and other stress factors in your life. Some of my clients respond best if they drop the second exercise of 5’s or alternate it with a 10/8/6 rep scheme.

For maximum recovery I like to take a day off after every workout, especially if you’re hitting the cardio hard. If this is something you may like to try than you can get away with another exercise per muscle group as you won’t be hitting it again for a while, just watch for signs of over training.

The other popular way to split this workout, fits nicely into the workweek. Split your workout to fall on Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri. Take the weekends off to recharge.

Don’t worry about wilting away between workouts because as a natural bodybuilder the more rest the better. If you are going the assisted route, then you can add in a set or two extra here and there. It’s far more productive to be slightly under trained than over trained. However if you give every workout your all on this routine, you will look forward to the rest!

Today, we have many Americans who are obsessed with health, and yet we are a nation of obese individuals. Obesity in this country has reached epidemic proportions, and we have more available than at any other time in history to help us control our weight. What is the problem? Why do we still have health issues, when we have some many health facilities available?

There are facilities that cater to the young, the old, the male, the female. There are 24 hour facilities, facilities that offer daycare, individualized programs, youth programs, organized classes, and fitness assessments.

It would seem with all these choices, that Americans would not have any problem controlling their weight, their health or their overall wellness. Many fitness centers offer the new client an opportunity for an initial assessment, personalized training plans, and continued consultation services, free with their membership.

If you happen to be a mother, with small children, many of the fitness facilities offer built in daycare facilities. You are free to exercise, while your children play in a supervised and safe setting. If you also happen to feel uncomfortable exercising in mixed company, there are fitness centers that offer men only or women only exercise times. If not designated times, often they have segregated facilities.

What about Pilates, aerobics and other forms of organized and instructed toning and cardiovascular health? Most fitness facilities have that covered also. Upon joining a gym or center you are usually provided a schedule of classes that are being taught, and the times that they are taught. Then once each month, you will receive a newsletter and calendar that provides updated information about facility changes, class offerings and any other points of interest.

There is just simply no reason that a person could not locate a fitness that suits his or her needs and become a part of the health movement. Cost is usually not an issue, either. Today, many companies offer free memberships for their employees in an effort to cut medical expense and lost time due to sickness and injuries. On the average, a healthy employee costs an employer $1000 dollars less each year, than the coworker who does not participate in health and fitness programs. That simply takes medical costs into consideration. What about lost productivity due to illness or injury?

If you find that your company doesn’t offer such a plan, the monthly expenditure for a membership to the gym, should more than pay for itself in the course of your attaining a level of increased health. You should see a decrease in your medical bills, and over the counter health needs, simply because your body is in a better position to fight off germs and bacteria.

Fitness centers and gyms across this country open each day, to provide persons form all walks of life, a better chance at health; to afford each person the opportunity to work toward overall wellness and a fit and conditioned body. It is up to each individual to take advantage of that opportunity.

A simple addition of flax seed can change your life

Flax seed is a small seed that is easily ground and sprinkled over your food. It has a subtle nutty taste that will excite any salad or yogurt dish. The miracle of the flax seed is the omega-3 fatty acid that it provides and how it aids in weight loss, cancer prevention, digestion and also helps your heart be healthy. If this sounds good it gets better. Recently a flax seed customer contacted me to say that he was turned on to it by his neighbor who lost 150 pounds and claims the only change to his lifestyle was the addition of flax seed to his diet. This has not been the case with every person that consumes flax seed but it is quite common. The flax seed helps stabilize blood sugar so that you feel full longer and you have the energy to live an active lifestyle in between meals instead of snacking.

Flax seed for the ultimate health nut

Organic flax seed is very common and there is no better way to get a home grown natural product. The most popular flax seed is the golden flax seed which is what has the great nutty flavor.

What else does it offer?

Along with omega-3 there you get fiber, protein and lignans. Lignans are natural plant chemicals contained in the outer shell of the flax seed. These are what help fight hormone sensitive cancers. This is the reason for needing freshly ground flax seed which would have the omega-3 and lignans present.

Flax seed is also easy to include in your everyday diet. It tastes good and can offer more for your body than any other one natural food.

Please visit our recommended source for Flaxseed. http://www.flaxseedpro.com has the lowest prices on the internet for organic flaxseed. They offer organic and non-organic flaxseed. They sell grinders and different flax oils also.

Do you clean off your plate even when you are already full? Do you finish the dinner scraps just because you can’t stand the thought of throwing out the food? Do you eat that last spoonful of chili in the pot just because nobody in your family wanted to finish it? To get rid of this extra food, do you choose to throw it right in your mouth?

If that sounds like you, you are not alone. This behavior is very common. Most of us have been taught not to be wasteful. When we were little, we were told to clean off our plates, so it is deeply ingrained in our minds. We feel guilty about throwing out good food, especially since we know that there are so many starving people in this world.

In addition, since we paid money for the food, we perceive leaving food on our plate as wasting money. It is especially true in restaurants – if there is not enough leftovers to take home, most of us will clean off our plate because we feel we have to get our money’s worth.

Obviously, those last pieces of food that we eat just so we don’t have to throw them out go right to our waist and hips. Day after day, it really adds up. All this food that we eat after we are already full turns into tens of pounds of body fat. You avoid wasting the food, but instead you waste your health, your goals and your weight loss efforts.

Next time you are about to eat because you feel guilty for the wasted food, tell yourself:

- You Are Not A Garbage Can!

Instead of throwing the unwanted food in a trash, you are throwing it into your stomach. By doing that, you are treating your body as a garbage can. You are not the medium to gather stuff that nobody wanted to eat!

To get over the guilt associated with wasted food, think of it from the perspective that this excess food is actually serving a better purpose when it’s thrown out than it would have if you’d eaten it. If you’d eaten this excess food, this food would do harm (make you gain weight). If that food is thrown out, it has no benefit, but it does not do any harm either. No use versus harm – throwing the food out is the lesser of the two evils.

When you do clean off your plate, it definitely does not help any of those starving people that you feel so guilty about. Also, don’t think that you are wasting your money if you don’t finish all the food you paid for. The money is already spent – you are not going to gain more money by eating more!

If you break the habit of cleaning off your plate when you are not hungry, you will automatically start losing weight. Treat your body well. Don’t use it in the same way you’d use a garbage can.

Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuiders’ training regimes.

It is useful, therefore, to describe in detail the processes involved in actually doing these exercises. This will help beginners to start out using the correct techniques before moving on to potentially more dangerous heavy weights. If it also helps more experienced lifters to redress some of the little faults that have almost imperceptibly crept in over the years, all the better.

In this article we’ll take a close look at the lat pulldown using a machine.

MUSCLES TARGETED: latissimus dorsi, teres major, middle trapezius, rhomboids

PREPARATION

Grasp the lat pulldown bar with a closed, pronated grip. Grip sHould be slightly wider than shoulder width.

STARTING POSITION

Sit down on the seat facing the machine. Position the thighs under the pads making sure the feet are flat on the floor. Lean slightly backward. Extend the elbows fully. This is the starting position for all repetitions.

DOWNWARD MOVEMENT

Pull the bar down towards the chest. Touch the bar to the chest in one smooth movement.

UPWARD MOVEMENT

Let the elbows slowly extend back to the beginning position. Keep the torso in the same position. Repeat or finish set.