“No Time” to Workout?

Time. It’s the one resource that you can never make more of and it’s one of the top reasons people give when explaining why they don’t exercise.With responsibilities at work, the demands of a family, friends who want some of your time, home repairs, car repairs, shopping, paying the bills…it seems as if there is never enough time for anything but the requirements of everyday life.For some people, the lack of time is very real, while for others it’s a convenient excuse for not working towards their fat loss goals. “I’m too busy”, “I don’t have time to workout”, “There’s no TIME in my schedule”.As a father of two with a demanding job and a host of other responsibilities, I have an acute awareness of how precious each minute of the day really is. There’s hardly a free minute in my day. Up at 6AM and asleep around 11:30, my days are jam-packed.When I was younger (and less educated), I used to spend hours a week at the gym. Five days a week, 60-70 minutes a day working out. I’d follow the routines I’d find in the bodybuilding magazines I used to read religiously. That’s no longer possible. Not only is not possible, but it’s not the ideal way to build lean muscle and lose fat.With age comes wisdom (or at least I like to tell myself that!). My approach to fat loss and building lean muscle and specifically fat loss workouts has completely changed.Here are some basic concepts that I’ve learned in my years as a trainer and former personal training studio owner that should be helpful to any ultra-busy person that is looking to lose fat and build lean muscle, but has little time to commit to exercising:Skip the gym.Save your membership and gas money and workout from home. All you need is a 10×10 space and your own body. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of exercises you can do with either a simple pair of dumbbells or no weights at all. Most people completely underestimate the power of body-weight only resistance exercises.Skip the social hour and shorten your workout. If you already have a gym membership and don’t want to “waste it” or have no room in your home, by all means, go to your gym. However, keep one thing in mind: shorter, more intense workouts are the way to go.Most people that go to the gym go for the social aspect. The gym is not a bar! Most gym workouts look like this: Do a set, walk around, do a set, talk to your buddy, do a set, repeat. Stop wasting valuable time and get to lifting! If your goal is to perform a fat loss workout, you can be done in about 15 minutes! Stay focused and stay intense!Anywhere, anytime. Being on vacation or on a business trip or at the park with your family is no longer an excuse for missing a workout. Learn how to do body-weight only workouts and you never have an excuse to miss one. I keep a set of workout clothes and sneakers in my trunk, so I’m ready to go whenever I need to get a workout in.Remember, you can get a great, fat burning workout in under 15 minutes and you can even do it from the comfort of your own home.  Many people think that home fitness routines aren’t effective, but I’m here to tell you that home fitness routines can actually be MORE effective than going to a gym.Dumbbells. Too many people, especially men, love to use barbells with heavy weights on them. I haven’t used a barbell in over two years (or a bench for that matter) and I don’t plan to. Dumbbells allow you to string together a range of movements in one exercise to make the most efficient use of your time (such as the squat-curl-press).I recommend buying a pair of adjustable dumbbells for home. They take up little space and are sufficient for most people as they go from 5 to 55 pounds in one set of dumbbells.Time is the one resource you can never make more of, but you can extend how much time you have (your life span) by adopting a regular workout routine and a good, sound nutritional strategy. Use your time efficiently. Use it wisely. Focusing on short, intense workouts 3 or 4 times a week, can produce wonders.Follow the advice above and you’ll be surprised how effectively this approach works, even for the busiest of people.

Skin Care – Going Back-to-Basics

What We Are ToldAlmost daily we are bombarded with a new skin care product and are told that if we use this product, our skin will look younger, smoother, more attractive and so on. We are presented with pictures of young, attractive women who have probably never used the products their faces are associated with and probably never will.We are lead to believe that ‘the active ingredient’ in these products are a new discovery (usually they also get some sort of pseuo-scientific name) and if we use the product that has this ‘magical’ ingredient we will end up with 20 year young skin – Sure !The Truth About Skin Care Skin care is just that – taking care of one’s skin, nothing more, nothing less. How you do this can depend on many things. The health of your skin, money, time, knowledge and probably a number of other factors will determine how much care you give to your skin.Let’s review what your skin does for a moment. Firstly, it protects the inside of you body from the outside. That is, the skin forms a barrier between our external environment and our body’s insides. It is water proof and at the same time acts as a defence from pollution, microbes and other potentially harmful factors. In addition, it is partly responsible for eliminating toxins from our body in the form of perspiration, and your skin assists the body in temperature regulation. These and other functions are preformed by our skin on a continuous basis.So how do we take care of our skin, to ensure that it can continue to perform at its optimal level?Back-to-Basics of Skin Care There are 3 basic principles that come together in good skin care.
Drinking enough water on a daily basis to keep the skin well hydrated. This involves drinking at least 2 litres of water each and every day, because the body’s metabolism will require this amount of water to function properly. More water is required if we engage in strenuous physical activity or work in a physically demanding environment. You can use the most expensive moisturisers you like, if you don’t drink enough water, your skin will become dehydrated and no moisturiser or beauty treatment will stop this in the long term.
Eating good quality, unprocessed foods such as fruits, grains, vegetables, some dairy and lean meat, will help you to provide the skin with the nutrients it requires to keep performing its vital functions. Your skin needs vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, etc., to function properly and while some natural skin care products do provide many of these nutrients, there is no substitute for nutrients gained from high quality food.
A daily skin care regime that will unclog pores, remove dirt and dead skin cells, as well as provide nourishment to the underlying, living skin cells, is an essential step to good skin care. Now this regime can be quite simple or more involved.
At its most basic, skin care can involve as little as using a loofah on a daily basis when showering or bathing, to remove the dead cells from your body’s outermost layer of skin. Using a loofah not only removes the dead skin cells, but also promotes blood circulation to the outer layers of your skin, providing it with nutrients and oxygen.In addition, use a mild, natural, pH-balanced (slightly acidic) soap to keep your skin clean and you’re done.Let’s face it, many people don’t even use a loofah, and couldn’t care less about what sort of soap they use to wash their face and body with. However, more concerned folk, who have an interest in maintaining the health and look of their skin for as long as possible, may be prepared to go a few steps further than that by implementing a good, daily skin care regime utilising natural skin care products.Implementing a Good Skin Care Regime A sound, basic skin care regime is more than enough for most people. Using a loofah for their body’s skin, a cleanser, toner and moisturiser for the face, plus an all-over body moisturiser is all that’s required most of the time. In addition, using a clay mask once or twice a week will help to remove dead skin cells and deeply imbedded dirt from the facial skin and pores. An exfoliant can also be used, probably 2-3 times a week, if you’re not using a loofah.Increasingly, consumers are becoming aware of the potential health risks presented by artificial and other non-natural ingredients in beauty products. We all, well most of us, avoid foods and beverages which contain artificial preservatives, flavours, emulsifiers, etc., for sound health reasons. These days, we’ve extended this concern to other areas of products we use on our body and in our home.Making use of natural skin care products that contain as many organically grown ingredients such as essential oils, herbal extracts, cosmetic butters and the like, are a preferred option for discerning customers. There are positive health benefits associated with using holistic natural ingredients rather than isolated active compounds, because the body is able to better utilise natural substances and the chance of negative side-effects is reduced.Choosing the right skin care system for your skin type is the final aspect to good skin care. Most people have two different facial skin types, for example, the forehead, nose and sometimes chin may be slightly oily, while the remaining areas of the face and neck may be slightly dry. It is important to identify your skin type before buying your skin care products, because the ingredients in the products should benefit the skin type you are trying to normalise. You may need to purchase two different skin care systems to accommodate your different skin types, however, more often than not, especially if the skin types differ only marginally from ‘normal’, you may be able to just aim between the two skin types for your choice of toner, and buy a second cleanser and moisturiser to accommodate the two skin types.Let me give you an example. Let’s stick to the example above, where you may have an oily T-zone with otherwise dry facial skin.If you have a close look at Wildcrafted’s systems for oily and normal skin types, you’ll discover, that the two systems only differ in one product – that is, the facial clay mask for the oily system is our Green Earth Medicine Facial Clay, while the Yellow Clay Mask is used in the system for Normal skin. Now, the system for dry skin, is somewhat different and there are actually two systems – one for primarily dry skin, the other for dry and sensitive skin.The key here is to identify whether the oily or dry facial skin is the primary problem. That is, which is giving you more trouble? If it’s the oily part of your skin, than use the system for oily skin and use the Papaya day cream on the dry areas of the face rather than the Avocado cream, although, the Avocado Day Crème is okay to use even on slightly dry skin. If on the other hand the dry facial skin is more problematic and there are areas where your facial skin is not just dry but also sensitive, use the Hydrating Cleanser and Rose Day Cream to cleanse and moisturise instead of the Lemon Cleanser and Avocado Day Crème. Choose the Green Clay mask for the T-Zone and the Red Clay mask for the dry and sensitive areas of your skin.By mixing and matching the different products you can ‘make’ a system that will suit your skin types and you do not have to purchase two entirely different systems, which of course is another option and you don’t have to think about it too much.Back-to-Basics of skin care is really about applying common sense, a little knowledge and making the right choice of products. By providing your body with sufficient amounts of water, quality, unprocessed food, and using natural skin care products you can’t go wrong and the health of your skin is likely to stay with you a lot longer.

Commercial Finance – Commercial Hire Purchase

Commercial Hire Purchase (also known as Asset Purchase or “CHP”) is similar to leasing, except the customer claims the allowable depreciation on the equipment plus interest as a tax deduction, as opposed to claiming the actual lease payments, as with a finance lease. The choice between the two will depend on which option maximizes the company’s tax deduction. This in turn will depend on the term and the depreciation rate allowable on the equipment.

Payment Structure

The customer can structure the payments so that nothing is owed at the end of the term or a small “balloon” payment (like a “residual” in a finance lease) can be used to offset and reduce monthly payments.

Advantages

o Unlike a finance lease, no restrictions apply to term structures.
o Tax ownership lies with lessee – interest expense and depreciation are claimed.

Disadvantages

o For those on the “cash” method of accounting, GST is claimed and amortized over the duration of the loan period.
o Amount financed inclusive of GST – interest expense is therefore higher.

Equipment Finance Broking Firm

Established in 1990, Melbourne Finance Broking is regarded as one of the most progressive equipment finance broking firms in Australia. With over 40 staff around the country and realizing enormous finance volumes (commanding significant buying power), the broking house deals with over 30 of Australia’s banks and lending institutions, including some with exclusive agency.

Heavy Equipment Financing

Each broker or broking team within Melbourne Finance runs their own business specialty. The corporate entity, Heavy Equipment Finance Australia (HEFA), was introduced by one of the teams in 2005 to more accurately signify their heavy equipment financing specialty, as well as better reflect their interstate expansion.

The HEFA team is unsurpassed in its experience and dedication to servicing the industries utilization heavy machinery, including Earth-moving, construction, road making, mining, demolition, forestry and agriculture.