Author:

Chief

Build Muscle and Burn Fat With These Workouts

Posted by Chief – April 23, 2012

Bodybuilding Workout

If you want to annihilate your muscles and you don’t have a lot of time to do it in, I have a great bodybuilding workout plan for you that was made popular back in the day by the German Olympic Team.

The 10 of 10’s Bodybuilding Workout

The bodybuilding workout is simple. Pick one exercise for the bodypart you plan on working out that day. Let’s say chest. Choosing the right exercise is critical… you want to choose an exercise that is a mass-builder and is also a multi-joint movement. So for chest the ideal exercise would be the bench press.

Using and choosing the right weight is also pretty important. You want to use about half of whatever weight you can normally bench for 8-10 solid reps. Yes I saild half.

If you’re a tough guy, you can use about 60-70% of what you can rep for 8 but be forewarned your chest will be numb and you may have trouble lifting your arms tomorrow after this bodybuilding workout!

Ok so here’s how it works:

First off you’ll need a stop watch.

Your goal is to complete 10 sets of 10 reps while only taking 60 seconds of rest between sets.

The first few sets will be easy…

But usually around the 5th set you’ll start  to cry like a little bitch…

That piercing sound of a little girl whining… that’s the sound of muscle growing.

Man up and finish your bodybuilding workout sissy. 10 sets. 10 reps.

Weight Loss Workout

If you’re anything like me, you probably hate cardio days and pretty much any workout that has anything to do with fat loss…

It was a few years ago when I first read an article in Muscle Media Magazine (I don’t think it’s around anymore?) called:

High Intensity Interval Training

These days it’s just referred to as interval training but the principles are the same. In a nutshell, it’s a better, more efficient method for getting your cardio in and getting ripped in half the time and it’s great forfat loss.

Interval training basically entails  switching back and forth between jogging and sprinting in intervals. Jogging is great for fat loss while sprinting is great cardio and also great for burning calories. Personally, I like to use 1 minute intervals. Here’s how I do it:

First, I warm up first for about 2-5 minutes jogging at a brisk pace. You may need more time or less. Once I’m warm, I’ll start my interval workout:

  1. Jog at a light pace for 1 minute
  2. Sprint for 1 minute
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 5-15 times.

Basically all you’re doing is going back and forth between sprinting and jogging but the sprinting portion offers many benefits that some bodybuilders aren’t aware of. Jogging and fat loss most bodybuilders are already aware of…

Sprinting burns more calories then jogging because it takes more energy to run hard and sprinting recruits muscle fibers (fast-twitch) that normal jogging does not.

Practically, every cardio workout I do now involves some type of interval training because I find it much less mentally taxing and I also like the fact that I don’t dread doing my cardio workouts anymore. And I still get the benefit of the fat loss which we all need to stay lean and ripped.

 

 

Basement Renovations: Flooring And Ceiling Options

Posted by Chief – March 16, 2012

If you’re fortunate enough to have a basement and you’re in need of additional space your basement is probably the ideal location for you to create that additional “living” space you need. While most basements are cold and dreary and full-blown basement renovations can be as expensive as adding another room to your home, there’s really no need to spend a ton of money on making some minor improvements to your basement so you can spend more time there. Whether you’re thinking about a home theater, a home gym or a home office, we’ve got some tips to help you spruce up the basement without breaking the bank!

Before you do anything in your basement you’ll want to check and make sure you don’t have a moisture problem. Excessive moisture can lead to mold and hopefully you’re aware of the health complications mold can cause. While I don’t have enough time to get into the details of how to check for and treat moisture you can check out this article: How to Check for and Prevent Moisture in a Basement to give yourself a better idea of how to deal with moisture in your basement. Just make sure you don’t have too much moisture before you start spending too much time in your basement because it can be bad for your health. Ok on to upgrading your basement on a small budget…

Flooring

Ok so the problem with most basements is that they have concrete for a floor, concrete for walls and they have no structural ceiling. Let’s start with the floor. Since basements are damp and humid, a lot of the flooring options that would work in any other room in your house probably won’t be ideal in your basement. Carpeting, for one, will definitely pose some issues since it is absorbent and will harbor moisture and mildew which could lead to mold.  Hardwood floors are also a bad option in basements because they are organic and also absorb moisture. So what can you use?

basement concrete floorVinyl flooring is actually a pretty good option for your basement provided you apply some type of moisture barrier underneath it. Vinyl is great for a basement because it’s easy to clean and won’t absorb moisture the way carpet will. Vinyl will also give you several options as far as appearance goes. If you’re really on a budget and you don’t mind a cold floor, you may want to consider painting or staining your concrete floor. Check out the concrete floor to the left. Doesn’t that look awesome?

Other flooring options for your basement are bamboo, cork floors, laminate flooring and ceramic tiles.

 

Ceiling

Ok let’s move onto your ceiling. As far as ceilings go the two most oft used options in a basements are suspended-tile ceilings and the typical drywall ceilings you find in most homes.

Drywall ceiling are not a good option in a ceiling because of all the critical pipes and ducts you have hanging from your basement ceiling even if you don’t have one right now. Just think if you have a leak from a pipe on your basement ceiling and you need t get to it? What are you going to do? Basically you’re going to have to cut through the drywall. For that reason, suspended tile ceilings are a good option for your basement and the cost is close to what a drywall ceiling will cost. Suspended-tile ceilings will allow you the access you need to all those important ducts and pipes on your ceiling.

On a tight budget? I have a somewhat different idea that I’ve seen in a friends basement and in some Chipotle restaurants to a extent. Check out the image below:

basement ceiling

So you have ducts and pipes on your ceiling? Why not take advantage of them and create an industrial type look in your basement? The ducts on your ceiling are most likely made of galvanized steel so they won’t need any work and by painting your actual ceiling a dark color to offer a nice contrast you’ll have a pretty interesting and unique look going in your basement!

So there you have it! Some basement flooring and ceiling options as well as some options for those of you considering a basement renovation on a budget.

My K1 Visa Experience

Posted by Chief – October 8, 2011

It was long a dream of mine to become a legal citizen of the United States and even more so after having met my boyfriend (now husband) after one of his recent trips down to my country of Mexico. After several months of dating and traveling back and forth, we decided it was time for us to tie the knot and to move in together so we could start our family. Like I said, it has always been a dream of mine to be a legal citizen of the U.S. so when we started the immigration process, it seemed like it took forever in my opinion. Below is a brief description of my experience applying for a K1 fiancé visa.

My boyfriend, Reginald, started the process by submitting what’s known as an I-129 petition. It’s essentially a bundle of forms which begins the whole visa process. There are some requirements that you have to meet to fill out this petition like one of you has to be a U.S. citizen and you both have to be able to marry. Neither of us had been married so that wasn’t a problem and Reginald was born in the U.S. so we were clear there as well. In the package, Reginald had to include documentation that he was a U.S. citizen as well as proof that he would be able to support me when I arrived. The fee was a total of $340.00.

Several months later, Reginald received a form stating that the petition had been approved and that it have been forwarded to the National Visa Center which was apparently the next stage of the process. The National Visa Center further processed the petition and forwarded it to my U.S. Consulate here in Guadalajara, Mexico. The whole process took five weeks.

I received a package from the U.S. Consulate containing an application with several pages of questions and documents I would have to provide them. A couple of months later I was reached by the U.S. Consulate and told the details for my interview as well as to schedule a medical examination which was to be done by one of their doctors. The medical examination was pretty typical but it was pretty expensive, about US $400 which was a lot for me. Thankfully I had already received all the recommended vaccinations…

Finally it was time for my interview and I was so nervous but that nervousness soon turned to frustration after waiting in a crowded room for several hours. Finally it was my turn and again I was extremely nervous.

I can’t remember all of the questions during the interview, because I was so nervous, but I recall them asking a couple of times about how I met my fiancé and how I was planning to work once I was in the U.S. Finally after several months of waiting, I was told that I would be getting my K1 visa and that I would have to pay more fees, surprise.

All in all, it was worth it for me because I got to marry my husband although I’m still working on changing my permanent status here in the states!

 

How A Handyman Gave Me Back My Weekends

Posted by Chief – July 23, 2011

Several years ago my family and I moved into an older home that many would consider a “fixer upper.” Call it what you will but it was the perfect home for me and my wife and our two young little boys. That is until I discovered all of the work that it really needed done, how literally it seemed like every week something else was breaking down or needed repair and how every weekend I seemed to be working on something or other that had to do with the house. That is until I found myself a good handyman to help out with a lot of the stuff I finally decided I no longer had time for.

First of all let me tell you… Finding the right handyman for me was tough. The first thing I did was call of some of the handyman franchise companies because they came up first when I first did a search online. Most of these companies seem great but they were charging far more than what I was willing to pay and I was discouraged because I saw my dream of free and leisurely weekend disappearing before my eyes.

Fortunately for me I decided to do some research and I started to do some reading on how to find and hire good contractors and handymen. Lo and behold there was some valuable information on the topic and armed with this new information I was ready to find me a handyman that would free up my weekends!

Now it may not be the same case for you but for me the best thing to do was to hire an independent handyman. As soon as I called a couple of handymen to check their rates I immediately noticed a huge difference in pricing between the independent handymen and the bigger franchise companies. But I remember reading one thing that really stuck with me when I was doing my research and it was from a retired real estate flipper that advised to never hire the cheapest contactor and to always get several bids for all projects. So with that I continued on my pursuit of finding more handymen to bid on my project.

If I didn’t mention it before I’ll mention it now. I was new to the area so it wasn’t like I had any friends or family that I could rely on for referrals so I was completely operating blind. My research told me to use search engines like Google to find more handymen and to seek out complaints and reviews from past customers to vet the handymen. So I did just that and a search for my city plus the word “handyman” returned several handymen that had plenty of reviews for me to look through.

Immediately I found two handymen in my area that had several glowing reviews so I contacted them first and also found a third handymen for a total of three quotes. The work I had was ongoing as I had all types of work that needed to be done so I wanted to talk hourly rates and I also wanted to bring them over to see if they were familiar with this type of work. When I had them over to look at the work I asked them about insurance and references. All had at least a few references and all gave me a verbal that they had no problems producing a certificate of insurance.

In the end it was a difficult choice for me because I ended up with three handymen that all had great references and reviews. And to make things worse they were all great guys that I had no problems communicating with. Unfortunately for me this is exactly the type of position you want to be in when you’re hiring a contractor because it’s almost impossible to go wrong.

In the end I ended up using a couple of the handymen here and there for a lot of the work I needed done. I now have my weekends back and I’m spending more time than ever with my wife and kids and finding a good handyman made that all possible.

 

Tips For Finding A Plumbing Contractor in an Emergency

Posted by Chief – July 9, 2011

There’s nothing quite like waking up in the middle of the night only to find a floor covered with water. Nothing feels quite like an emergency to a homeowner like water spraying in all directions and the homeowner not having a clue on how to shut the water off. Unfortunately most homeowners also don’t realize that calling a plumber in the middle of the night to take care of your plumbing emergency is probably going to be pretty expensive. Same goes for most weekends and holidays. So what’s a homeowner to do in a plumbing emergency?

Hiring plumbing contractors during a plumbing emergency is a little different than hiring a plumber during normal working hours. For one thing, as I mentioned above, if you’re having a plumbing emergency during a holiday or in the middle of the night and you contract a plumber you will most likely be billed at a much higher rate. Of course it only makes sense because the plumbing contractor is being pulled away from his family or friends in the middle of the night or on a holiday. So if you’re a homeowner and you’re facing a plumbing emergency the first thing you want to do is shut off the main water supply.

Shut Off the Water Supply

Before you can shut off the water supply to the leak you’ll have to determine what or where the water supply is. If the leak is coming from a  toilet or a water heater you can just shut off the water to that individual unit. Both your toilet(s) and water heater should have a shut-off valve located on the floor and behind the unit itself. Below is an image of a toilet shut off valve to give you an idea of what one looks like.

toilet shut off valve

The shut off valve on your water heater may or may not look similar to the toilet shut off valve above. The shut-off valve on my water heater actually has a lever. Nonetheless what you’re looking for is a line coming out of your wall and going into your water heater and a valve that will allow you to shut off the water supply. Make sure you’re shutting off the water supply and not messing with the gas line!

If it’s a much bigger leak and you can’t tell where it’s coming out of you’re probably going to have to shut off the water supply to your house. Luckily most homes have a shut off valve that makes this a fairly easy process. For most homes the shut off valve is located by the water meter to your home. Most homes in my area have the water meter located in the front yard by the curb like the picture below:

water meter shut off valve

 

Once you locate the water meter, all you have to do is pry off the lid and turn the lever to shut off the water going to your house. After you shut off the water you still want to confirm that your leak has indeed stopped. Once you have the leak stopped you can now move onto looking for a good plumber to actually fix the leak so you can have running water again. Below are some tips we recommend for finding a good plumbing contractor:

Get several bids – the more bids you get from different plumbers the more bids you’ll have to compare and contrast and should lead to a better plumber. For best results make sure to screen and qualify the plumbing contractors prior to having them bid. You can look for feedback, complaints and reviews from past customers by doing a search online. You can also check for complaints with the Better Business Bureau and your local state licensing board.

Ask for references – A good plumber should have plenty of references for you to look at and possibly contact. If you want to get the most out of references you actually have to contact them and ask questions about the plumber and his quality of work. If possible ask the plumber if he can assist you in getting in touch with some of his past customers.

Verify the plumbers license – Checking to make sure the plumber has a valid license from the state is a good idea as the state will put plumbers through a background check, the state will fingerprint the plumbers and also administer a general competency examination to ensure the plumbers are familiar with standard plumbing practices.

Check for insurance – It’s imperative that the plumber you hire have some form of general liability insurance in the event that something goes wrong. General liability insurance will protect your home and should cover any expenses to bring things back to normal. If the plumber you hire plans on using any employees you should require that he have valid worker’s compensation insurance.

Plumbing emergencies can be pretty frustrating and unfortunately finding and hiring a good plumber is no walk in the park either. Make sure to follow our tips and advice above and you’re sure to experience much less stress and frustration the next time you have to deal with a plumbing emergency.

What You Need To Know Before You Buy A Paintball Gun

Posted by Chief – June 30, 2011

So you’ve decided that you want to take a plunge and enter into one of the fastest growing sports in the world – paintball. While paintball is a pretty simple sport there are still a lot of intricacies involving the equipment that is required to play the sport that could keep you from excelling on the field of play. Read on to discover what you need to know before you buy your equipment for paintball.

The great thing about paintball is that it is growing wildly. The bad news is that the corporate world has discovered that and there are now several manufacturers looking to capitalize and profit on that excitement. What does that mean for you? Basically it means you have a ton of options when you go shopping for your paintball equipment and while that can be a good thing it can also be a bad thing…

What do you Absolutely Need?

If you talk to a gungho paintballer, he’ll tell you that you need the latest and fastest paintball gun/marker to compete on the paintball field but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that you can dominate on the paintball field with used paintball guns as well as you can with the newest and latest paintball guns. Quite frankly all you need is a paintball gun that works to compete.

paintball guyAside from a paintball gun, I strongly recommend a good paintball mask. Most paintball facilities will only require that you wear goggles but goggles will do nothing to protect your face and ears from paintballs. If you’re going to be renting your equipment, it might be a good idea to call ahead and ask if they rent helmets as not all places do.

If you’re worried about the pain associated with playing paintball, you’ll probably want to layer up with your clothing. A couple of long-sleeve sweatshirts will be more than enough to protect your body from the sting of paintballs. If your hands are a bit sensitive, you may also want to consider wearing a pair of gloves to protect your hands.

What is your skill level?

One of the most important things you need to determine before you buy paintball equipment is determine what level of paintball player you are. Every now and again on the course you’ll notice some guys fully decorated in army apparel with fully automatic paintball guns using compressed air. They’ll look like the guy to the left…

As awesome as it would be to intimidate all of your competitors into submission before the game begins, unfortunately it would also be very expensive. For someone who is just getting started with paintball we normally recommend you get started with a used paintball gun or a pump paintball gun. The thing is when you’re just getting started with paintball you still don’t know how much you’re going to like the sport and if you do enjoy the sport, you still don’t know which paintball game will be your favorite. And frankly you still haven’t a clue about how much it’ll cost you to play routinely and what all the other stuff like air and paintballs will cost. Worst case scenario you can always upgrade your marker as your skill level increases.

You’ll also want to take into consideration the other various pieces of equipment that you’ll need to play the game if you plan on buying your equipment. I’ve already mentioned the two most vital pieces of equipment you need for paintball and that’s your paintball gun/marker and a helmet. Next on the list is a hopper which is that thing that holds your paintballs and feeds them into the paintball gun firing chamber. If you have some money left over you may want to pick up an electric/automatic loader which will make your paintball gun work much more efficiently and jam free. In paintball you will be constantly buying air and paintballs so keep that in mind when shopping for your equipment. It’s best to set a budget for these things as they can add up.

There’s no doubt about it, paintball is an awesome sport. If you’re considering it, I strongly recommend you get out to your nearest paintball field and give it a go to see what you’ve been missing!

How To Find A Good Roofing Contractor

Posted by Chief – May 28, 2011

Finding good roofing contractors to inspect, maintain and replace your roof can be pretty difficult for a homeowner and even more so when you consider the cost of replacing a roof. The average cost of replacing a shingle roof is somewhere between $7,500 and $15,000 depending on the size of your home. Finding a good roofer to take care of your roof is therefore imperative particularly when you consider you’ll be depending on this guy to tell you when your house needs a new roof.

roofing contractorsConsidering how much you’re about to spend on replacing your roof, it’s best to look at hiring a roofer as a business decision. And frankly it is a lot like hiring an employee because that’s essentially what you’re doing; you’re hiring an independent contractor. To find a good roofer you’ll want to speak with several roofers and have the best three to five bid on your project. The more bids you have to look at, the easier it’ll be for you to find a good roofer at a reasonable price.

There are all sorts of ways to come up with the names of several roofers. You can begin by asking friends, relatives and associates. From there you can seek referrals from your local home improvement stores and and local real estate agents or general contractors you may know. If there is a major roofing materials supplier in your area, you can try there as well. Ideally you’ll start off with more than five names and you’ll screen these roofers prior to having them bid on your project.

The reason you want to screen the roofers prior to having them bid is because you want to have “apples to apples” comparisons when you look at their bids at the end of the process. To screen the roofers you can do a quick search in Google and look for reviews and complaints under the roofer’s business name. More and more homeowners are leaving feedback online about contractors they’ve worked with and Google does a great job of aggregating that data for you. Make sure to search for reviews and feedback in Google to see what other past clients have said about the roofers you’re looking into.

A good roofer will also carry a license from the state to operate as a roofer so that’s definitely something you’ll want to check for. You can check for a license easily online but I recommend you actually contact them so you can kill two birds with one stone…

By contacting your state licensing board, which is the organization you’ll have to contact to check for a license, not only can you check that the roofer has a valid license but you can also ask about any complaints that have been filed against the roofer. I should also mention that the state licensing board is the number one place for unhappy homeowners to turn to to file a grievance against a contractor. And finally another great place to check for complaints is the Better Business Bureau.

After you’ve checked for reviews, feedback and complaints you should have a much better idea of who you want to bid on your project. Have the best three to five roofers bid on your project so you have plenty of bids to compare and contrast.

When having the roofers bid on your project, it’s imperative that you mention that they need to be adequately insured. Adequate insurance means they have some form of general liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance if they plan on using employees which they probably will. Insurance is a must when hiring someone to work on your roof.

Another must is asking for and checking references. There’s really only one way to ensure the roofer you’re dealing with knows how to install a roof and that’s to speak with some of his past clients. A good roofer should have plenty of references to share with you but it’s up to you to contact them and see about stopping by to check out the roofer’s handy work.

Another idea for checking out the roofer’s work is asking him if he’s currently working on any other projects when he drops by to bid on your project. If he answers yes, you can ask if you can drop by to inspect his work. Whenever possible you should make every effort to actually see a roofer’s work as that will give you the best idea of what he is capable of.

Finally when checking out the bids on your roof, make sure to rake notice of the warranties and guarantees on workmanship and materials as these can have a huge impact on overall value of the bid.

Target Long Tail Keywords For Better/Faster Returns

Posted by Chief – May 20, 2011

One of the biggest problems most webmasters and small business owners encounter when they first step into the world of search engine optimization is they often target some of the biggest and most competitive keywords. Inevitably what happens is they go at it full force until they give up and throw up their hands in disgust and write off search engine optimization as some kind of voodoo magic…

Now regardless of the tactics they sued to optimize their website the big problem remains that they targeted keywords that were too competitive to begin with. That’s a big no-no in SEO particularly if you’re just getting started. What a lot of SEO companies may or may not tell you is that targeting a really competitive keyword may take you months if not years before you see and tangible results. When you target really competitive keywords or phrases you have to be in it for the long haul. If you’re a real estate agent or a mortgage lender, the fastest way to let an SEO company or consultant know that you don’t have a clue what you’re doing is to ask them to rank you for a term like “real estate” or even worse “mortgage.”

Not only are those some of the most competitive keyword phrases that exist but what you have to do is realize who your competition. When it comes to mortgages, your competition includes CitiMortgage, CountryWide (now Bank of America), LendingTree and Wells Fargo. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure they have a much larger budget than me.

With that in mind you need to be cognizant of who your competition will be when choosing your keywords. By no means do I dissuade anyone from targeting competitive keywords but in my opinion the best approach is to target both competitive terms ad long tail terms at the same time. For those that don’t have an idea what long tail keywords, long tail keywords are basically long strings of keywords (usually three or more keywords) combined to make a phrase. So if you’re a mortgage lender in Miami you may want to begin your SEO campaign by targeting the phrase “Miami Mortgage Lender” instead of going right after the big keyword – “mortgage” since it’ll be months until you even come close to ranking for something that competitive.

In essence what you want to do by targeting long tail keywords is choose keywords that won’t have as much competition and will be easier to rank for. The tradeoff is that they won’t deliver as much traffic but most of the time long tail search traffic is more targeted anyway. But by targeting long tail keywords you’ll have a much better chance of getting a steady flow of traffic to your website right off the bat. Whereas if you solely target single or two-word keyword(s), it may be months before you see any traffic if ever at all.

For more search engine optimization tips check out the Los Angeles SEO.