A great thing about maintaining a facebook page is being able to connect with our customers. Today I was able to start a conversation with CJ who, through a great exercise routine, healthy eating habits, and personal drive, was able to successfully combat his heart disease. The doctors told CJ that he would need to wear a pacemaker. Fast forward one year and CJ is still pace maker free! His advice to the couch potatoes out there?

"Just have the DRIVE to do it. Get up on your own and do it. It's hard to motivate but DO IT!"

He inspired me to reach out to you all with some great fitness tips. 

1. Stretch: Any great workout begins with a great stretching. Not only does stretching improve joint motion, but it helps decrease the chance of injury. How's that for 5 minutes of work?
2. Form: We've all seen them, heck some of us are probably guilty. Don't be like the people who load up heavy on the weights and do the work using their back. Forget the fact that you could possibly hurt your spine, your poor technique isn't helping you build strength at all. Experts always say, "form first and strength second." If you can't keep proper technique than you're probably lifting too much. 
3. Change: Okay so you've stretched and are exercising with perfect form. Great, you're onto something. Now all you need to do is develop a changing routine. You need to keep shocking the body to encourage muscle strength to develop and to keep working the body in a balanced way to prevent overuse injuries.  

Finally, here is a list of best foods for weight loss.

1. Oatmeal: Oatmeal is a great source of nutrients and fiber, and an excellent choice for breakfast. It helps to keep you feeling satisfied for longer, whereas packaged breakfast cereals generally don’t do a great job at all.
2. Legumes: They are nutritious, cheap, easy to use, and low in calories. These guys are a great, affordable choice if you are trying to lose weight.
3. Nuts: When your diet is filled with nuts you don’t need to worry so much about counting calories, your body naturally craves less.

Rock 'N' Roll 1/2 Marathon - Los Angeles

BAZI is here in sunny Los Angeles! We were hoping the weather would clear up by the weekend for the Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon, and it looks like LA will deliver the great weather! We were not sure when we got here, due to the cloudly skies and raining days preceding. What we know for a fact, is that people will be loving BAZI. We got a great response in Denver and expect more of the same in beautiful SoCal.

We've decided that since we're going to be giving away a lot of BAZI, we should show some love to our wonderful online community. Guess how many shots are in this photo and you can win a 6 pack of BAZI. Price is right rules. Top 4 win! Submit your answers in the comments!

The EXPO is FREE and open to the public, so bring your family and friends!

Good luck! We can't wait to power up everyone at the marathon! Some details in case you are in the area and want to come!

Dates/ Hours:
* Friday, October 22: 12 pm – 7 pm
* Saturday, October 23: 9 am – 5 pm
* Admission FREE & open to the public

Directions to LA Convention Center, South Hall Parking:
From 110 North/ 10 West
Exit on Pico Blvd offramp onto Cherry St
Turn right at Pico Blvd (signal) and right at South Hall Dr (first street on right)
Paid parking is available in the South Hall Garage

From 110 South
Exit on Olympic Blvd offramp
Turn left on Blaine (one way), stay in second lane from left
Turn left on 11th St (stay right)
Go under Freeway
Turn right on Cherry St
Turn left on Pico Blvd (2nd signal). Stay in right left-hand turn lane
Immediately turn right on South Hall Dr
Paid parking is available in the South Hall Garage

From 10 East
Exit on Grand Ave
Turn left on Olive St
Turn left on Venice Blvd
Go to Convention Center Dr and turn right
Paid parking is available in the South Hall Garage

It’s been a busy weekend here at BAZI. We helped support the Rock ‘N’ Roll marathon over the weekend in Denver. We were stationed in the Health Exp in Denver's Convention Center. This was the first ever Rock ‘N’ Roll marathon in Denver and people were loving it! With over 15,000 rocking runners, participation was at capacity!

Some people rocked a little harder than they rolled. Jon Dimaya, a Vegas resident who was in town for the marathon wore an Elvis costume. "I'm running seven Rock 'n' Roll half marathons.  I just did Rock 'n' Roll Arizona, San Diego and Seattle.  This was number four and it was awesome.  There was a lot of support, more so than in some of the other towns," said Dimaya.

Plenty of people figured the Denver marathon to be the toughest. At 5,280 feet above sea level, the air pressure was certainly just as testing as the uphill battles.

Mike Aish, formerly of New Zealand and currently of Arvada, CO, won the full marathon in 2:30:36.  Aish won Rock 'n' Roll Arizona back in 2008.  Miguel Cazares was second in 2:42:16 and Matt Gallagher was third in 2:42:24.

In the women's division, Karen Barlow of Australia took the top spot in 2:54:56.  Barlow also won Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras in New Orleans last March.  Englewood's Heather Utratra, who won the Colfax Marathon in March, was second in 2:56:02 and Nicole Chyr was third in 2:57:44.

Over 30,000 people came through the Health Expo. Not only did Team BAZI enjoy passing out free samples to thousands of people, we also passed out free BAZI to other booth workers. They loved the natural energy that BAZI gave them and asked for it the next day as a healthy way to make it through the long hours.

Our intern Sharon Studebaker finished the half marathon with a finishing time of 2:05:47. We're all really proud of her!

While athletes spend much of their attention training their bodies, many successful players and coaches realize the importance of mental preparation. For example, former University of Illinois basketball coach, Lou Henson, utilized visualization sessions to teach offensive plays to his squad, and Adams State's successful cross-country coach, Dr. Joe Vigil, exhibited videotapes of cross-country courses to better visualize an upcoming race. An athlete’s livelihood depends upon the strength, speed, and endurance of their bodies, and more and more are turning to visualization techniques as part of their training. There are many success stories of athletes who've used visualization to rehearse their movements and plays before they ever take the field, court, or ice.

More and more, the mental aspect of training is being considered vital to a players’ and teams’ success. SportsVision Magazine rolled off the presses in early 2007 and became the first print publication in the world dedicated exclusively to the training of visual and brain skills for elite athletic performance.

Nike’s Sensory Sports Training room puts all of its emphasis on training the eyes and the mind. The center has a seven-part test that assesses visual acuity, reaction time, and eye-hand coordination. Following suit, the Dynamic Edge Sports Vision Training Center in Ottawa, Canada opened its doors to become the first standalone facility dedicated exclusively to sports vision training. Both of these facilities work on training anticipation, field vision, timing, game IQ, game tempo, reaction speed, focus and concentration. These skills have long been thought of as intangibles that were only possessed by those who were born with it. However, that school of thought is being turned on its head.

There are some simple exercises you can do before, during, and after to help improve your mental strength. First, imagine yourself in action. Visualizing yourself performing successfully helps minimize the self-doubts that may cloud your judgment at the most crucial of times. Second, imagine yourself struggling. While working out, there is perhaps no stronger form of motivation than seeing yourself fail. Imaging yourself losing in a race will only push you to run longer. Also, this will help if you are actually struggling because your mind is already prepared to deal with these sorts of circumstances. Third, learn to stop thinking! I’m sure you’ve heard athletes say there were in the “zone” when recalling great performances. Thinking too much can prevent your body from being in the zone, as you are too preoccupied with internal dialogue. You can practice this skill through meditation exercises.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a strong mind isn’t the in-game intangibles, but the training room workouts. We’ve all been there. We’ve all set challenging goals for ourselves, whether it be running 4 miles, doing 150 crunches, or even working out on a daily basis. Sure, before embarking on these tasks we are amped up, but sooner or later the mind loses its determination. 4 miles becomes 3. 150 becomes 100. We reduce working out to only twice a week. In these all too common cases, it isn’t the body that is failing, it is the mind that is betraying the body.

In the end it's athletes with a strong mind who are able to train longer than their counterparts; who have not trained their minds to have more or stronger fortitude.

It's generally accepted in the scientific community that women's nutritional needs are different than those of men. Albeit, it's minor and arguably most extreme during pregnancy and post-natal, but in the end women and men have slightly different needs for nutrients.

The latest research published in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, however, suggests that there may be major differences between men and women when it comes to sports nutrition. Past research has suggested that protein ingested along with carbohydrates increases exercise time to exhaustion and power output; as well as stimulating shorter recovery times after exercise. The vast majority of this research, ironically, has been done only with male subjects. It was assumed the same results could be applied to women and there simply was no data to suggest otherwise.

Enter this latest study done only with women. The researchers found that women ingesting a carbohydrate drink along with protein did not garner the same benefits as men. The women showed no clear benefit from protein during recovery. They couldn't ride harder or longer (cyclists were used for the study). In fact, the women who received protein said that their legs felt more tired and sore during the intervals than did women who downed only carbohydrates. The results, said the study's primary researcher, were "something of a surprise."

What should you take away with this new information? First, it's simply one study done with a small group and certainly should not be considered as dogma. In this particular study the athletes were not hampered, but they certainly didn't receive the same performance benefits as men. It does suggest that female athletes may need to experiment more with nutritional practices and not strictly adhere to accepted norms. Perhaps more protein or more carbohydrates or maybe another nutrient would have helped the study's subjects. We don't know all the answers. That's the subject for another study, and, hopefully, the researchers will include women!

Congradulations to Bazi athlete Skyler Weeks who jumped over 9 feet to break his own world Dyno record on July 3rd in Sheffield, England.

On his blog Skyler said, "Landed the new world record dyno today on the FIRST TRY! It was an amazing feeling! Thanks soooo much to everyone supporting me! Ended up waiting around the comp for over 7 hours to get my chance but it was a great day of meeting new people and making new friends."

After setting the new world record, Skyler said, "I can't tell you how excited I am and how thankful I am for Bazi believing in me and supporting me."

UKC Climing has the video.

Last monht on June 6th, it was a crazy morning for 30,000 nervous and excited runners because it was the day of the famous San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. The craziness for us, however, started two days before; during race registration and the Marathon Expo.

How do you get 70,000 people through the doors of a convention center during two, 8 hour periods?  You bring them in busses, lots of busses. I’ve never seen so many come and go in a single day. It was absolutely pandemonium in the expo hall, and the aisles were constantly jammed with participants stopping to look at all the goodies and gadgets.

There was everything from shoes, socks and apparel, to the not-so-running-related vendors like vacation timeshares.  Naturally, the Bazi booth garnered quite a bit of attention because runners are interested in a healthy alternative to energy shots/drinks. With the “Bazi Girls” out in front of the booth handing out samples and the staff in support, we gave out nearly 20,000 samples of Bazi.

What we found very interesting was the same stories we were told over and over again.  Runners had tried the various energy shots and drinks on the market and nearly all had negative experiences with them. They were looking for a healthy alternative to these caffeine and sugar-laden products and Bazi really met the needs for many of the runners who tried it. 

As an aside (I’ve written about this in my Top 5 Recovery Tips), Bazi really is a groundbreaking product because it not only for power/energy, it’s also fantastic as a recovery product.  The phytonutrients in our proprietary Phyto8 Blend offer antioxidant protection that simply isn’t there in energy drinks and shots. 

I don’t want this to sound too much like a pitch for Bazi, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that endurance athletes want a product to help them perform better.  Of course proper training, rest and nutrition are critical, but Bazi can certainly play a role in performing at your best.  Those 30,000 participants got a chance to try and it and I’m confident that they will be back for more.

After finishing something as monumental as a marathon, your body is going to be quite fatigued.  It’s simply not the tiredness you’ll feel an hour or two post-run, it’s the deep core fatigue that often transpires days after the event.  Add on top of that you probably have to be back to work on Monday morning, so your ability to lounge around for a few days is probably not possible. But there are some simple steps you can take to make sure your recovery is as fast, complete and pain-free as possible.

1. Hydrate
Even a 1% loss in fluids tremendously hampers your body’s ability to repair the damage from a full marathon.  Water is critical in every metabolic process and if your body is even slightly dehydrated, it simply can’t fully recover.

2. Fuel
Sure it’s good to know that you burned a ton of calories during the run and that it may contribute to a bit of extra fat loss, but cutting calories post-race is a sure-fire way to stifle recovery.  Just as with hydration, the millions of metabolic processes within the body count on nutrients from food. Also, too few calories will have you burning that hard-earned muscle for fuel and that’s something you want to avoid at all costs. Try adding an extra snack or two to your regular meals for 3-4 days after the marathon.  It will help to top off those severely depleted muscle glycogen stores and provide an assortment of nutrients the body needs to recover and repair.

3. Antioxidants
If you could take a microscope and look at your legs’ mitochondria after a long run they would look like a war zone.  The incredible amounts of oxygen processed cause tremendous oxidative damage and free radical production within your body.

You have a natural recovery mechanism to repair cellular damage but extreme events can overwhelm it and the end result is delayed and incomplete repair.  Antioxidants like vitamins E and C and phytonutrients like carotenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols directly support your recovery and support mitochondrial repair and counter oxidative damage.  Great sources of phytonutrients are colorful fruits and vegetables.  Here is where Bazi shines in its Phyto8 Blend.  The 8 superfruits in Bazi are rich in carotenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols.

4. Active Recovery/Stretch
Years ago the theory was to not move or exercise at all in order to recover from an extreme effort.  Today, we know that low intensity movement can actually enhance recovery.  Go for a 30 minute walk and finish off with 10 minutes of stretching for the first 3-4 days after your marathon.  The movement will support recovery, flush out toxins and will work out the “knots” that always come with an extreme effort.

5. Sleep
There is an old saying that “Improvement happens outside of the gym.”  Remember, exercise is simply the stimulus to have the body adapt and become stronger; the adaptation happens during recovery.  Sleep is paramount.  Don’t think you need just one or two nights of extra rest, many world class endurance athletes will get an extra 2 hours a night for a week after major events. 

Sure, a marathon is grueling and challenging event, and finishing it is an accomplishment to be proud of. If you follow these simple suggestions, they will help keep the euphoria of crossing the line lasting for many days after.

 We’ve all been there, tired and dragging and still have hours to go before we finish with work, studying or a long drive. Coffee is traditionally what we reach for, but now there’s a plethora of energy products from which to choose. Whether they are in a pill, beverage or a shot, they all claim to provide the same effect. Energy!

Where the problem lies is in the root of our lack of energy, or more accurately, the sluggish feeling that most experience during certain parts of the day. 

Most of us think that we’re tired from lack of sleep or maybe pushing ourselves too hard both mentally and physically (which is often true), but, for arguably the majority of people, we’re tired from a combination of not enough rest and lack of proper nutrition.

Instead of reaching for a sugary, caffeine-laden drink that does nothing but “overdrive” your body into a temporary energized state and then a crash, wouldn’t it be better to fuel your body with the nutrients that it needs to always feel energetic and ready to go?

That’s why we formulated Bazi; we saw the lack of proper nutrition for most people and wanted to provide them with a delicious, easy manner to receive critical nutrients. We see Bazi as the next step in the evolution of energy products because it addresses the root and not simply masks the symptoms or provides a short-lived “fix.”

Bazi is much more than a vitamin and trace mineral product (although it contains an optimal blend of both), its exclusive Phyto8 Blend of phytonutrients from 8 different super fruits provides your body with the nutrients it needs, but doesn’t always receive. 

Keep in mind, good, comprehensive nutrition is more than getting your DV of vitamins and minerals. There are hundreds of other nutrients which play critical roles in your health and ultimately your energy levels. Optimum nutrition equals optimum energy levels. It’s really that simple.