Build big power with this whole-body, two-dumbbell plan.

You will use the same pair of dumbbells for each exercise in this routine.
Choose a weight that just barely allows you to do 12 biceps curls. If it is
too light, you won't build as much muscle. Too heavy and your form will
break down first, your ligaments later. Proceed in circuit fashion, moving
from one exercise to the next without rest. At the end of the circuit, rest
for 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 4 rounds.

Dumbbell front squat with Arnold press

1 Hold a pair of dumbbells in front of your chest with your
palms in. Bend at the hips and knees to lower yourself until your thighs
are parallel to the floor. Stand and press the weights overhead, rotating
your wrists so that your palms face forward. Lower the dumbbells in
front of your chest so your palms face you again. Do 12 reps.

Swiss-ball bentarm pullover with chest press

2 Lie with your head and upper back on a Swiss ball and
raise your hips so your body forms a straight line from knees to
shoulders. Hold the weights along the sides with your palms towards
each other. Press the weights up, then lower them halfway down.
Keeping the same bend in your elbows, lower the dumbbells behind
your head until they touch the ball. Reverse until the weights are back
over your chest, press them up and lower them to the starting position.
Do 12 reps.

Dumbbell lunge with biceps curl

3 Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at arm's length at your
sides. Step forward with your left foot until your right knee is an inch or
two off the floor and your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Then do a
biceps curl. Push back up to the starting position and repeat, this time
stepping out with your right foot. That is one repetition. Once you have
completed 12 curls, place the weights on the floor and continue lunging
for 12 more reps.
BONUS POINTS

Do the maths Multiply the amount of weight you lift for one exercise by
the number of reps you can do. Increase that figure every workout by
lifting more weights or by doing more reps or more sets.

Learn to breathe Exhale during the strenuous 'concentric' part of the

lift. Inhale during lowering 'eccentric' stage.

Get crunches licked Press your tongue against the roof

of your mouth while doing crunches. It stops you from
using your neck to jerk yourself up.

Just add hot water Showering before a workout readies the muscles in
the same way that a warm-up does. And you'll smell better, too.

Feel the pinch To get rid of a cramp when all else fails, try pinching
your upper lip between your finger and thumb.
This is just one of several dynamic duos we've unearthed. Read on to
find out how simple nutrition additions can multiply your health benefits.

Fish + Broccoli
You can sock it to cancer with this one-two punch.
Fish contains selenium, a mineral that raises your levels of a cancer-
fighting enzyme called thioredoxin reductase (TR-1). Likewise, broccoli
provides sulforaphane, a plant chemical that also boosts TR-1. When
British researchers combined these two nutrients, they noticed that the
tag team was 13 times more effective at slowing the growth of cancer
cells than each was individually. The scientists believe that as selenium
concentrations in your cells rise, the ability of sulforaphane to elevate
TR-1 increases.

The take-home message: Eat meat with vegetables regularly. In

addition to fish, foods such as turkey, Brazil nuts and mushrooms are
excellent sources of selenium. And cruciferous vegetables- broccoli,
cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage-are loaded with sulforaphane.

Nuts + Beer
These two pub staples can decrease your risk of a heart attack.
Numerous studies have shown that nuts, unsalted, boost HDL (good)
cholesterol levels while reducing the "bad" LDL. And it's thought that
alcohol acts as a blood thinner, helping prevent the formation of clots
that can block blood flow to your heart.

What's more, Swedish researchers found that the fat and fibre in nuts
slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream. This can help
smooth out the effects of moderate alcohol consumption. For best
results, try to eat about 15 minutes before taking your first libation.

The take-home message: Moderation is the key here. Up to 100gm of

nuts and one or two glasses of beer or wine a day have been shown to
reduce heart-disease risk without leading to weight gain.
 Salsa + Avocado
Your idea of health food is about to become
tastier. Bright and vividly coloured vegetables- such as the ones used in
salads and salsas-are rich in carotenoids, powerful plant pigments that
reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and cataracts. But here's a
little-known secret: to fully benefit from these disease-fighting
compounds, you need to eat them with fat. In fact, Ohio State University
researchers found that people who ate a salad topped with half an
avocado absorbed five to 10 times more beta-carotene and lutein-
carotenoids found in carrots and spinach, respectively-than those who
had salads sans the fatty fruit. And eating avocado with salsa boosted
the absorption of lycopene-a carotenoid in tomatoes-by almost five
times.

"Fatty acids are needed to help carotenoids dissolve in the intestines,"

says lead study author Steve Schwartz, PhD. "These lipids are also an
essential part of creating lipoproteins, which transport the carotenoids in
the bloodstream."

The take-home message: Any time you eat colourful vegetables-

whether raw or cooked- have some fat, too. And it doesn't have to be an
avocado: 30gm of cheese, two pats of butter, or two tablespoons of full-
fat buttermilk (ranch) dressing will have the same effect, says Schwartz.

Garlic + Fennel
These foods fight disease, but without the need for an after-dinner mint.
Both garlic and fennel contain active compounds that help prevent
cancer, according to University of Texas researchers. In fact, these
chemicals target cancer in different ways, so they complement each
other. But the active compound in fennel-anethol provides another perk:
it helps neutralise garlic breath. Japanese researchers found that
anethol speeds the rate at which you produce saliva. Saliva inhibits
microbial overgrowth, and also clears the bad-breath-causing sulfur
compounds that garlic releases.

The take-home message: To make any dish healthier, try mixing garlic
with fennel seeds, which contain more anethol than the leaves do.
Here's a garlic-fennel seed rub you can use to season meat:
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper

Place the seeds on a flat surface, and use the bottom of a heavy pot to
crush them. Mix the crushed seeds with the remaining ingredients and
rub liberally on meat before grilling or roasting.

Liver + Spinach
Eating these two compatible foods together produces a special remedial
effect for anaemia as both aid in blood formation, complementing each
other. Spinach is very high in iron and many other essential minerals
and vitamins, as is the mutton liver (kaleji). Best to have the liver
roasted, as roast meat is invariably less fattening than meat prepared
any other way.

The take-home message: While it's packed with nutrients, mutton-

unless you take care to remove the lard (charbi)-is also high in
cholesterol. Even when you eat a roast, don't make every meal a mutton
meal in pursuit of those red blood cells. While the liver boosts your
blood cell count, it also contains purines, which are bad for arthritis and
gout. It has high protein content, so this means too much mutton could
make your uric acid level shoot up, causing gout about 30 years ahead
of its time.

Dal + Rice
As mom always told you, dal-chawal is good for
you. (But not in humungous quantities.) If you are physically active-in
fact, if you're looking to get a good body-have a moderate portion of rice
and dal every day. The combination of cereal (rice) and pulse (dal) gives
you the benefi t of all the essential amino acids, the building blocks of
protein. The deficiency of methionine (an essential amino acid) in dals is
supplemented by the high levels of the same in rice. You can get the
same benefits from other rice-dal combinations, like idli and sambar, or
khichri.

The take-home message: Have one servingspoon portion of rice for

lunch or dinner with one bowl of dal. Don't think this is a very small
meal, especially when you take into account all the other veggies or
meat that go with a meal. The health benefits you get from rice will be
negated by the high calorie intake if you stuff yourself.

Mutton + Ginger
Mutton is not a good pick for warm weather, as it generates heat in your
body with its high protein content. But in winter, you may be tempted to
have it sometimes. If so, cook it in ginger paste or combine it with ginger
in any other way. The root helps in blood circulation, aiding digestion
even when you eat a heavy meat like mutton. Gingerol, the antioxidant
in ginger, also decreases the production of nausea-inducing compounds
in the digestive tract. This property lessens the ill-effects of giving in to
greed and polishing off large chunks of mutton.
The take-home message: We repeat the warning about cholesterol
and uric acid. Mutton is one food you cannot eat with abandon. Ginger,
one of the wonder foods of traditional Indian cuisines, extends its
benefits to any meal.

Caffeine + Exercise
A daily cuppa run may protect your skin. Researchers found that when
sunburned mice guzzled caffeinated water and then hit the running
wheel, their risk of developing skin cancer plummeted. Turns out both
caffeine and cardio trigger damaged skin cells to self-destruct before
they can turn cancerous. When the two are combined, this effect is
exponential. Case in point: the rodents that drank and ran had one-third
as many damaged skin cells as mice that did only one or the other.
The take-home message: To realise the same effect yourself, drink
one or two cups of coffee after your workout session, say the scientists.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Some couples were just never meant to be together. Divorce these
dangerous combos

Spinach + Warfarin
If you take the blood thinner warfarin typically
prescribed to prevent the clots associated with deep-vein thrombosis-
you'll want to avoid leafy greens such as spinach and watercress. The
high levels of vitamin K in these vegetables can negate the
anticoagulant effect of the drug.

Grapefruit juice + Anti-allergy drugs

Compounds in grapefruit render sneeze- and
sniffle-fighting fexofenadine-the active ingredient in allergy medicines-
nearly powerless. In fact, a recent study found that 1 cup of this citrus
juice can act for 24 hours to block the intestinal enzymes needed to
digest the drug.

Kava + Alcohol
Kava, an extract from a South Pacific plant, is
marketed as a stress-reducing supplement. However, its active
ingredients-kavalactones-act on the same receptor in the brain as
alcohol. Combining the two increases the impact of alcohol intoxication,
and results in lower scores on both cognition and balance tests.

Milk + Meat
Traditional Indian wisdom says it's not a good idea
to combine any milk, dahi or paneer with any form of meat or fish. Why?
Because different proteins have different digestive requirements. The
strongest enzymatic action on milk occurs during the last hour of
digestion, whereas on meat it occurs during the first hour. Having the
two together would cause indigestion of both. Have any number of
similar meats or fish together, but avoid raita, paneer, milk-based
dessert like kheer, rasgulla or ice-cream with them.

Eggs + Juice
Orange juice inhibits the proper digestion of eggs,
and vinegar dressing in salads inhibits the digestion of meat/steak.
When acid foods enter the stomach, they inhibit the secretion of
hydrochloric acid, and the protein-digesting enzyme pepsin can work
only in the presence of hydrochloric acid, not just any acid. Avoid
pickled onions with meat/fish for the same reason. Use dahi as
marinade for paneer tikka or fish or chicken, instead of vinegar or lime.
(Now, we did say milk or milk products are bad with meat or fish, but
only if eaten as a separate item. It's perfectly alright to cook non-
vegetarian products in dahi.)

Honey + Bread
You love pouring a spoonful of honey over your
morning toast, especially to drive away the winter morning soreness in
your throat. While bread (starch) and butter (fat) make a good
combination, when you add honey or jam it results in acidity. Sugar
interferes with the digestion of the starch in bread. When sugar enters
the mouth together with starch, the saliva secreted during chewing does
not contain ptyalin, which it normally would in case of starch alone.
While the starch is getting digested in the stomach, the sugar also
remains there. And since it takes time for starch to be digested, the
sugar starts to ferment. The byproducts of sugar fermentation are acidic,
which in turn further delay the digestion of starch, causing acidity. Have
your toast with omelette and have the honey 30 minutes or so before
breakfast.
The threat The problem
33,800 tonnes of pesticides
were consumed in India in
2007 according to
Prostate Euromonitor International.
cancer A 2007 Canadian review
connected chemicals in
pesticides with prostate
cancer.
Korean researchers say
PCBs and toxic chemical
compounds, may increase
Diabetes your diabetes risk. PCBs
are banned, but lingering
amounts accumulate in
fish.
A study conducted by
ICMR says that indoor air
pollutants like combustion,
Bronchitis building materials, and
bio-aerosols are 1000
times more likely to reach
your lungs.
University of Michigan
researchers found that fine
particles released from
Heart
power plants, cars, and
disease
electricity generators are
contributing to a host of
heart problems.
Why you should care What you can do
A study by the
International Agency for
Drink red wine.
Research on Cancer in
Researchers found that
2000 evaluated prostate
drinking four to seven
cancer in Indian cities. 5.5
glasses of red wine a week,
per 100,000 men have it.
cuts your prostate-cancer
The percentage has
risk by 48 per cent.
increased rapidly in eight
years.
Avoid bluefish and
31,039,932 Indians were
summer flounder, both
estimated to have diabetes
high in PCBs. Swap in
in 2005. Not only is the
black sea bass, mahi-mahi,
disease itself debilitating,
or skipjack tuna. And eat
but it doubles your stroke
fibre, which cuts diabetes
risk.
risk by 30 per cent.
Around 30 per cent of our Prevent smoking and
population suffers from exposure to second-hand
some form of lung smoke. Use a humidifier in
infection due to indoor air your room as warm, moist
pollution. In 2006, air relieves coughs and
12,598,197 men had an loosens mucus in your
acute respiratory infection. airways.
A 2007 Norwegian study
35,886,689 Indians are
found that 300 milligrams
estimated to have had
a day of anthocyanins,
coronary heart disease in
abundant in blueberries,
2005. That's a 32.7 per
can cut your risk of ticker
cent increase (from
trouble by as much as 60
27,040,912) since 2000.
per cent.