There’s always more you can do to improve your muscle.  Below I’ve listed a few extras you can ease into your workout.

Ditch the Bench - By standing while you workout you engage your core which will increase your overall body strength.

Weave Your Workout - When you change body parts between reps, you’re not only more efficient but it helps you build more muscle.

Go for Volume, Not Weight - Increase the reps but keep the weight challenging, you’ll sculpt a better looking body.  Working in more reps with your heavier days can give you a great mix.

Contract Your Muscles - When you’re working a muscle group, squeeze the muscles when you lift.  You won’t be able to push/pull as much as you normally would but your muscles will grow more and you’ll feel an even better pump than usual.

Minimize Rest Time - Don’t let your rest linger on before getting back on the proverbial horse.  Keep your muscles working on fast pace and your workout will be enhanced many times over.

wikimedia.org

I haven’t had a real virus or malware issue on my computer in quite awhile now. I think the key to this effort hasn’t been the brand of anti-virus or anti-spyware I use. Neither has it been based on the fact that I’m a PC or Mac user. Keeping yourself safe online is more of a mental task than software.

Custom Image by Jason Bean

You can follow these five steps to keep yourself safe on any system with any software installed.

1. Know Your Links: Too many times I think people just click on anything that’s blue and underlined in their browser. Take a minute and read where that link suggests it’s going. You can do this by hovering over the link and reading the information in the status bar. Notice the link shown in the status bar below. Not always a sure thing, but I rarely click on a link that doesn’t have a recognizable word, or just looks odd.
   

   Snagit of Firefox Status Bar

2. Don’t Install It: Before you go installing something cool you’ve just found, take a moment and think about whether or not you really need the application. Have you heard of it before you found it online? Was it recommended by someone you know and trust. My opinion is if it’s not familiar, it’s not installed.
3. Email Attachments: Rarely do I ever open or view email attachments I didn’t expect or ask for. This includes that cool video, music or PowerPoint presentation you got from your Uncle Roy. I delete almost immediately.
4. False “Helpful” Warnings: Sometimes you’ll get what appears to be a helpful message letting you know your system may be infected. The problem is that the helpful message is wanting you to click on it to install malware on your system. Be familiar with your own software, whatever you’re using and don’t click on anything that’s not familiar to you. Including the “Close” buttons or other items. When in doubt, you can use ALT+F4 to close active windows or the Windows Task Manager.
5. Forget Forwarding: Perhaps not an immediate threat to the security of your system, forwarding emails over and over is just a problem that builds upon itself. If you wouldn’t pick up the phone to tell someone about what you just saw on email, don’t forward it to someone. Too good to be true? Delete it! For one you’re spreading useless information. More importantly you’re helping to harvest active email addresses for spammers. If you must forward something, use the BCC: field and remove everyone’s email addresses from the body.

While spammers are getting more innovative by the day, most victims still fall prey to the primitive types. I suggest three thumb rules to defend yourself against the seven common types of spam mail that I’ve recently mentioned. They are all common sense, but if common sense were abundant among all of us all the time, the world would’ve been a tiringly boring place.

First thumb rule is to keep your mouse away or tie your fingers from accidentally clicking on the links within the message or downloading the attachment.

Second thumb rule for any kind of spam (apart from cheesy forwards, I guess) is: DO NOT REPLY. Not even if they ask you to click “Unsubscribe” or reply back with that keyword in the subject.

Third thumb rule is to click “Report Spam” or some equivalent button provided by the mail service provider. This enables the service provider to take automated actions in identifying future spam from the same source, curbing it or at least sending it to the Spam folder instead of your inbox.

If you come across what seems to be a particularly malicious spam mail, you can help further by forwarding it to spam@uce.gov. The Federal Trade Commission uses the spam stored in their database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.
Here is a little more unsolicited advice for tackling specific kinds of spam mail:

Forwards: Sharing interesting things that we’ve come across online is being increasingly done using social bookmarking tools. However, forwarding some messages or for that matter even addressing a large group is inevitable. Cleaning the previous headers containing scores of lines of unknown email addresses and headers, and using the BCC column while forwarding to your own contacts are two invaluable pieces of the same cake.

Phishing: If you’re really tempted by a mail from what claims to be your bank, open the official bank website directly and try navigating from the home page to this page. If the website doesn’t contain the link you’re looking for, it is not worth it.

For News, Offers and Porn, trust Google to provide the latest information.

For Personals, get offline.