HoserLife|Want to live life like a true Hoser, read on.

What are minerals?

Your body needs minerals for its proper functioning. The study of minerals is known as mineralogy. They occur naturally in earth’s crust. Minerals have certain chemical composition, their physical properties are similar, and they have highly ordered atomic structure. When compared to minerals rock is said to be the combination of more number of minerals which do not have specific composition. The minerals are defined as a chemical substance or an element, which must have crystalline structure and they may be obtained as effect of geological processes.

What are the functions of minerals?

The main functions of minerals are to aid in the growth and development of human body and maintain its health. They help to built strong bones which are helpful in the transmission of nerve impulses. They play a vital role in making hormones and in maintaining normal heart beat.

Chemical Structures of Minerals

Without the crystal structure and the chemical composition, minerals cannot be defined in proper manner. If two or more minerals differ in their crystal structure but they have same chemical composition they are said to be poly morphs. Consider marcasite and pyrite have same chemical composition called as iron sulfide but they differ in atom arrangement. In some cases minerals differ in their chemistry but they posses same crystalinity. Periclase, halite, galena have identical cubic crystal structure but they are made up of various chemicals such as sodium, chlorine, sulphur, lead, magnesium and oxygen.

Crystal Structure and Properties of Minerals

Physical properties of minerals are determined by their chemical structures. In two minerals namely diamond and graphite are made up of same carbon, graphite is soft and diamond is hard. The reason for the hardness of diamond although it has been formed from the same carbon that forms graphite is that the carbon atoms are arranged in three dimensional orders. Graphite is soft because the carbon atoms in it are arranged in form of sheet.

Classification of Minerals

There are nearly 4,000 known minerals. Out of those 4,000 minerals 150 minerals are highly abundant and they are known as common minerals. 50 Minerals are infrequent and they are known as occasional minerals. And the rest are known as rare and extremely rare minerals.

Types of Minerals

Minerals are of two different types: they are trace minerals and macro minerals. Macro minerals are consumed by human body in larger than trace minerals. The molecules in macro minerals are prepared from magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, and sulfur.

Trace minerals- the name itself indicates that they are required by the human body only in small amount. Substances such as manganese, copper, iron, iodine, zinc, fluoride, cobalt, and selenium are known as trace minerals.

Do you know about calcium mineral?

This mineral comes under macro minerals; bone needs it in huge amount. It helps in the formation of strong bones and teeth. The main sources of calcium are dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, calcium-fortified foods, orange juice, cereals and crackers.

Do you know about iron mineral?

The main part of hemoglobin is iron which helps in the transfer of oxygen from lungs to other body parts. Oxygen is wanted by the whole body to stay alive and healthy. The main sources of this mineral are as follows: meat, (especially red meat such as beef), leafy green vegetables, broccoli and whole and enriched grains like wheat or oats.

Today is the day that I start my personal Spring Cleanup. First on the docket is my financial cleanup. Over the weekend I used Quicken and figured out exactly where I stood and what kind of shape my finances are. From that I noticed that I am spending a lot more money than I should dining and for lunch.

So my goal for June is to take my lunch a minimum of 4 times a week, sometimes a bunch from work eat together on Friday. Instead of eating out I am going to make sure that I eat what is in our freezer. We have a lot of soups and chilli that was made during the winter that is ready to be eaten. When that is all gone I am going to make sure that I make extra for supper the night before and take leftovers.

The bigger part of the spring cleanup is getting fit. I am feeling a lot better than I have in a long time, to the point that I was able to shave the beard and not “look fat”. But I still have a belly, so June is going to be the month that I hit the gym 4-5 times a week, play hockey once a week and run 3 times a week. By going out hard like this I hope to jump start my training and make it second nature going into summer.

I will keep everyone who reads this blog updated every Monday on my stats and what I accomplished over the week. If you haven’t already you can add me to your reader so that you don’t miss a thing.

There is a great article about the SWAT workout that looks great. I am sure that anyone who tries this out is going to be able to trim fat and gain muscle.

Go Over there and check it out. ->The SWAT Fitness Plan

It is a circuit based plan that is designed to condition your entire body.

Conditioning isn’t about how many push-ups you can do,” says Orlando-based swat commander Tom Stroup. ‘It’s about preparing for everything else you do in life.” In his line of work that means anything from rappelling down office buildings to bailing out of speeding boats. For us civilians, being conditioned means we can lug a 70-pound backpack all day or skin up that powdery slope — and have energy left over when we’re finished. Stroup’s SWAT workout (swatworkout.com) builds cardiovascular and muscular strength in one intense 15-minute routine. Interval workouts burn calories faster than your average cardio workout, and the high reps tone muscles and abs.

Well it seems that my schedule and that of the trainer that I have used before are not going to mesh. So I think that I am going to take a stab at making up my own schedule and plan for the beginner stages. The beginner plans that I have read and seen over the years are not that complicated. Basically you use the beginner stages to train you muscles on how to workout and make the movements.

I am going to be hitting the gym 3 days a week, and like every other person out there I am going to pick Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday will be Chest and Biceps, Wednesday Back and Triceps and Friday will be Shoulders and traps.

You may have noticed that I am not doing legs. This is on purpose. What I didn’t mention is that I am going to be starting my running at the same time. I think that my legs are going to be sore already so there is no need to over train them.

As for the specific movements, I am not sure what I am going to do. It really is going to depend on what is busy at the gym when I go there. I am going to be doing as much free weights as I can.

For my running schedule I am going to get 3 days of this in too. I think that the best would be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I am not sure exactly what this is going to entail but I am sure I will figure that out easy enough. There are a lot of great websites for runners.

I am going to be doing my training in the mornings. This is a two fold reason. One is that I am getting up later and later and that means I get less done every day. The other is that the gym is usually packed in the evening after work and even later on into the evening. The morning however, it is nearly empty.

I am going to stick to this schedule for about 4 weeks. By that time I should be able to get into and talk to my trainer friend and set up a specific training schedule that will be tailored to my goals.

I know that what you were thinking, he got back to the gym and since he didn’t go to the doctor (something that I recommend everyone doing at least once a year, even you) he dropped dead.

Well in reality I have been working, sleeping and have had little time for anything else.  And my health has shown it, I haven’t really gained much, but I have no real energy and my brain is drained.  So today it was sunny and I got some work done and decided to get on the horse and start up the site again.  This site is a great motivator, putting my progress out there is great to help me keep going.

Instead of just starting I changed the site all around so that it will be easier to keep it updated, there are more changes coming but most will not be very noticable.  Let me know what you think by posting a comment.