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• Can you smile?
• Can you say a simple sentence?
• Do you have weakness on one side of your body?

If you suspect someone has had a stroke ask him or her the above questions. If they cannot smile, have a weakness on one side of their body and cannot speak a simple sentence clearly then phone an ambulance straight away.

It is very important to recognise a stroke as soon as possible to decrease the amount of brain damage sustained. It is even more important nowadays as there is a new treatment called thrombolysis, which is having very good results but it can only be administered in the first three hours after a stroke. No treatment given by the medics can reverse the damage caused to the brain but treatments can prevent further damage being caused.

Remember that a stroke can be suffered by anyone at any age. It is certainly not uncommon for young people in their teens and twenty’s to have a stroke.

Other warning signs can include:

• Sudden numbness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Do you ever get frustrated with your lack of gains? Are you training hard and not seeing the results you want? Ever thought you might be training too hard?

Find out how overtraining can cause a plateau or even prevent you gaining mass in the first place. We have designed a split training program for hard gainers to add muscle mass in correct proportion while keeping at the optimum amount of training for maximum muscle development.

Read the full article here: Upper / Lower Body Split For Hard Gainers

Smokers are at increased risk of heart disease, lung disease, strokes and cancer to name a few.

Smoking causes 30% of all cancer deaths, 17% of all heart disease deaths and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.

Smoking kills around 6 times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents, poisoning and overdose, murder, suicide and HIV infection all put together.

Non-smokers are also at risk of these conditions if you inhale other people’s smoke.

It is estimated that several hundred cases of lung cancer and several thousand cases of heart disease in non-smokers in the UK are caused by passive smoking.

Information gathered from www.nosmokingday.org.uk

For stretches to have an effect on tissue extensibility they must be held for a minimum of 30 seconds.

Never bounce a stretch - this will cause you to damage the muscle you are stretching.

For demonstrations on how to stretch visit our stretches section: Stretching Videos

How alcohol affects the body, its testosterone levels and metabolic rate. And the affect this has on the body’s ability to burn fat and build muscle.

If you ever thought that one pint wont make a difference, then read this article and see if it changes your mind.

“The calories found in the average alcoholic drink are quite concentrated compared to many foods, and this actually causes one to inadvertently take in many more calories than would otherwise be consumed.”

Read the full article here: alcohol’s affects on fat loss and muscle gain