We all want a fat, toned stomach. I mean check out those abs to right. So how exactly do you go about it? In the interest of improving your exercise regimen and getting the rock-hard results you crave, here are seven pro-tips for getting better, well-defined abs:

1. Start off by losing fat. A good target is losing a pound of a week. Sadly, spot-reducing body fat (meaning targeting your stomach area) isn’t really possible. As such, you’ll have to reduce your overall body fat. A good fact to remember: for every pound of body fat you hope to lose, you’re going to have to burn off approximately 3,500 calories more than what you’re eating. If 3,500 sounds like a scary number, good. Recognize that this will be challenging and it will be time-consuming. Fortunately, you can make things easier on yourself by starting off slow. Start by burning 500 more calories a day than you consume. By the end of seven days, you will have lost 1 lb. of unwanted body fat. A pound of week is a good, healthy goal. You don’t want to set unrealistic goals that will cause more damage to your body than good, and you don’t want to set goals that don’t challenge you and don’t produce results.
2. Aim to do at least an hour of aerobic exercise per day at your optimal zone. What exactly is your optimal zone? Your optimal zone is essentially at what heart rate you burn the most stored body fat. A good formula to figure out your optimal zone is 220 – your age. Your optimal heart rate is unique to you. Work for your optimal zone and don’t compare it to your friends or workout buddies. Aim to keep your heart rate constant rate to maximize your weight loss potential. If you can manage to do this right after you wake up before you eat, this will also aid your results in drawing from fat stores instead of glycogen.
3. Towards the end of the day, strive to reduce (or better yet, eliminate) your complex carbohydrate intake towards the end of your day. This means no rice, breads, or pastas for dinner. You can still keep them on your grocery list and eat carbohydrates for lunch or breakfast. In fact, you should keep them in your diet to give you more energy for your exercise routine.
4. Do your best to eat your last meal 3 hours or more before you go to bed. This will give your body more time to burn off those calories.
5. Put in some good hard work on those abs. Even though you won’t see any real improvement until you’ve worked your body fat percentage down, this doesn’t mean your abs aren’t getting stronger underneath your belly fat. If you continue to work your abs, even though you can’t see any improvement yet, once you melt away that body fat, your abs will appear defined and toned.
6. Since more muscle means a faster metabolism, work on weight training to build more muscles. Though you may be working out your arms, the muscles you build in other areas of your body actually help you in the long run to better define your abs.
7. Get plenty of rest and drink lots of water!

Follow these simple steps and watch your abs improve! Just keep in mind: this metamorphosis will not happen overnight. That being said, those hard-earned abs will be all the more satisfying when you think back on the work it took for you to achieve your bathing-suit-ready body.

Here are some core strengthening exercises that are Caveman Approved!

1. The Pilates Hundred

2. Mountain Climbers

3. Three New Mat Exercises

4. The Russian Twist – a personal favorite!

5. Flutter Kicks

6. Crunches & Planks With An Exercise Ball

Ever want to caddie for a pro? Well one lucky fan got to this week. Ben Crane decided to give his usual caddie the day off Wednesday at the HP Byron Nelson Championship Pro-Am in Texas. Where did he go for a replacement? Why, to Twitter of course! And it seems like it worked quite well!

Ben Crane is no stranger to the Interwebs. He’s teamed up with three other pro golfers, to form the “Golf Boys,” a parody rap group with a pair of YouTube hits. Remember those?

Crane challenged his 100,000 followers on Tuesday in a series of tweets

Thinking of giving my caddy @joelstock the day off tomorrow at the HP Byron Nelson Champ ProAm. Anyone want to carry my bag for the day?

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 14, 2013

If you’re interested hit me back on Twitter w the reason why it should be you. Use #caddyforcrane. I’ll try to pick the best good one. — Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 14, 2013

You don’t need to know anything about golf, but have to be able to carry a 50 lb bag for 18 holes. Tee off at 12:20 at TPC Four Seasons

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 14, 2013

Tournament is in Irving, TX so probably have to be in DFW area. Most creative “resume” in a tweet wins. #caddyforcrane — Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 14, 2013

He immediately got some pretty straight forward responses and, this being the Internet, some weird ones as well:

@bencranegolf was Portland Golf Club caddy of the year in 2010. 6 years of experience. Now a Duck at the U of O. #caddyforcrane

 

— Joseph ‘Bunko’ Kelly (@kevin_goff) May 14, 2013

 

Amazed/scared RT @nullusordo: I have a rough tongue, like a cat, and can clean the grooves of a wedge in seconds.My tics are mostly silent

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 14, 2013

But one fan had a pretty strong case for winning:

@bencranegolf former acu golfer. Just graduated from college and live in Rowlett. Oh and my birthday is tomorrow. #caddyforcrane

— Morgan Johnson (@MojoGolfNG360) May 14, 2013

Crane thanked everyone for their submissions:

Thanks for all the submissions. They were funny, humbling, insulting, terrifying & generous. I think I found my caddy. Will announce shortly

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 15, 2013

Introducing my @hpbnc ProAm caddy, @mojogolfng360. Tomorrow is his birthday. Thought caddying would be a fun gift. Let’s go low, buddy!

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 15, 2013

And Mr. Crane was good on his word. On Wednesday, he tweeted out a picture of himself and and his new caddie:

New tagline for @twitter: “Instantly connect to what’s most important to you…& hire a ProAm caddy” @mojogolfng360 twitter.com/bencranegolf/s…

— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) May 15, 2013

If you could caddie for anyone Rock Heads, who would it be? Let me know in the comments below!

Sunglass songs:
“Cheap Sunglasses”, ZZ Top, Deguello, 1979, Billboard #89
“Sunglasses At Night”, Corey Hart, First Offense, 1983, Billboard #7
“The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”, Greetings From Timbuk 3, 1986, Billboard #19

 

It’s no, well, secret that restaurants will often have an unlisted menu. In-N-Out Burger has had one for years. Now Panera has joined in. While it’s not listed in stores, Panera has been promoting it via social media. You’ll have to ask an employee to see it; employees will either pull out the secret menu card or scan a code that’ll put the menu on a customer’s mobile device. But only if you ask. You can also check it out online here at Panera’s website. If you’re cutting carbs,avoiding gluten or managing diabetes, you’ll want to take a look at the new “secret” items. The new menu includes two power breakfast egg bowls, two salads, a chicken hummus bowl, and a steak lettuce wrap. Scott Davis, who oversees menus for Panera Bread, explains, “This is probably the most extreme anti-kind of Panera diet you can have, right? It doesn’t include bread and flour and that sort of stuff.” This menu is a way for Panera to appeal to the growing population of health conscious diners. Check out the new healthy options and get their nutritional information below!

• Power Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey: Roasted all-natural, antibiotic-free turkey, egg whites, warm baby spinach, roasted peppers, and basil pesto. (The Skinny: 180 calories, 7g carbs, 25g protein)
• Power Breakfast Egg Bowl with Steak: Two all-natural eggs, seared top sirloin, sliced avocado and tomatoes. (The Skinny: 230 calories, 5g carbs, 20g protein)
• Power Mediterranean Chicken Salad: All-natural, antibiotic-free chicken, baby spinach, romaine, tomatoes, apple-wood smoked bacon, diced eggs, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil. (The Skinny: 360 calories, 12g carbs, 35g protein)
• Power Mediterranean Roasted Turkey Salad: All-natural, antibiotic-free roasted turkey, baby spinach, romaine, tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, fresh squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. (The Skinny: 320 calories, 12g carbs, 22g protein)
• Power Chicken Hummus Bowl: All-natural, antibiotic-free chicken, with cilantro jalapeno hummus, baby spinach, cucumbers, diced tomatoes & red onions finished with fresh squeezed lemon & fresh chopped cilantro. (The Skinny: 330 calories, 23g carbs, 33g protein)
• Power Steak Lettuce Wrap: Seared top-sirloin, leaf lettuce, cucumbers, diced tomatoes, red onions, basil pesto and finished with fresh lemon juice. (The Skinny: 280 calories, 7g carbs, 28g protein)

The tiff between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods continues. You may remember that Garcia claimed that Woods intentionally distracted him during a his second shot at the second hole Saturday when Woods pulled a club out of his bag causing a response from the crowd. Garcia shot wide right. Woods said that a marshal told him that Garcia had already hit. Replays have since shown that the crowd made noise when Garcia was over his ball, but not in his backswing. Ron Sirak breaks it all down over at Golf Digest.

On Monday, two marshals, John North and Gary Anderson, told Sports Illustrated that Woods didn’t ask about Garcia’s status and they didn’t tell him anything.

“One of them, Gary Anderson, said on Sunday, ‘He didn’t ask us nothing, and we didn’t say nothing. We’re told not to talk to the players.’”

Anderson’s boss, John North, was the chief marshal for the first three holes. He stood over Woods’s ball to protect it from the throng and was five feet away when Woods played his shot.

‘Nothing was said to us and we certainly said nothing to him,’ North said. ‘I was disappointed to hear him make those remarks. We’re there to help the players and enhance the experience of the fans. He was saying what was good for him. It lacked character.’”

But hold your horses folks, the saga continues! Today, two other marshals, Brian Nedrich and Lance Paczkowski who say they were within 10 to 12 yards of Woods, came forward to contradict what the others said in the SI piece two days before.

“’It is not true and definitely unfair to Tiger,’” said Nedrich, who was a marshal at the second hole. ‘That’s because I was the one Tiger heard say that Sergio had hit.’

Paczkowski, who walked with Woods all 18 holes with a team of escorts, said he even asked Woods if he needed any more fans moved.

‘He said, “No … I’m good,”’ Paczkowski said. ‘We talk to players all the time, if we need to in regards to their needs and crowd control.’

The claim that Woods didn’t ask marshals whether Garcia had hit or not also is misleading because Woods never said he asked for help — only that he was told Garcia had hit.”

Want more drama?!

Woods is also involved in a controversy about whether his ball drop on the 14th on Sunday was correct. Jay Busbee breaks it down here. Woods took his eye off the ball by the time it made the purported late hook, so he could not say with certainty about where the ball crossed the hazard. So he asked his playing partner Casey Wittenberg and NBC commentator Mark Rolfing.

As quoted in an unbylined AP notes story:

“”He asked me exactly where it crossed,” Wittenberg said. “I told him I thought it crossed on the corner of the bunker, right where he took his drop. And it’s all good.”

The PGA Tour’s Mark Russell, as quoted by Bob Harig:

“They both saw it,” Russell said of Woods and Wittenberg. “They’re back there with a television commentator [NBC's Mark Rolfing], who basically agreed with them. He said he hit a high hook. The problem is on television, that area looked the same, and they thought he dropped up there where it splashed. He dropped it 60 yards back of that. The players had the view of it.”

Now viewers have gone all CSI to determine if the ball drop was correct. The best effort has to go to Cork Gaines at Business Insider. He breaks down the angle of splash and how it doesn’t match the hard hook angle that would be necessary for the drop spot to have worked.

The splash

What the shot would have had to look like

Let me know what you think about these developments Rockheads! Post below in the comments!

The Players Tournament brought the 78th win for Tiger, but it’ll be remembered for Sergio Garcia’s meltdown. On Saturday, Garcia blamed Woods for a bad shot on the par-5 second hole. He said that Woods pulled a club out of his bag when Garcia was about to hit the ball. The crowd cheered and Garcia said that affected his shot.

On Sunday, heading into the 17th home, Garcia and Woods were tied for the win. Unexpectedly, Garcia hit the water, not once, but TWICE with two consecutive shot to end with a quadruple bogey. Then with a double bogey on the 18th, Garcia fell from first place to a tie for eight. ESPN’s Darren Rovell noted that Garcia’s bad playing on those two final holes cost him $800,00!

Sergio Garcia is getting all the press, but I’m sure Tiger is fine with that – he’ll just take his trophy.

Here are the Caveman’s favorite videos from the 2013 Players Championship

Sergio Garcia’s Breakdown


Lee Westwood vs. The Tree in Round 3


Round 4 Recap


Geese Interrupt Play in Round 3 of THE PLAYERS


“Turtle Time” in Round 2 of THE PLAYERS

It may seem the opposite of what you’re trying to do, but every exercise routine needs a rest day. It’s all about balance. By scheduling rest days in between training session, you allow both your body and your mind to recover for the next session. Taking off days means you can train harder next time. Still don’t believe this caveman? Check below for more reasons to take a rest day!

1. It helps your body repair itself: The body needs time to adapt to the stresses of exercise. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise can cause tiny tears in your muscles, and rest is what will help the muscles recover, rebuild, and become stronger. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise.

2.You’ll help avoidinjury: You may not realise that you’ve overworked a muscle or joint until later. Without rest, it can become a full-blown chronic injury. Make sure you ice, foam-roll, and rest your body regularly, but especially when you feel a possible injury creeping on.

3. It helps you mentally: An fitness routine is as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. We all know how har it can be hard to stick with a routine, especially if you’re burnt out. And while exercise is one of the best ways to lift your mood, feeling guilty when you’ve missed a workout and stressing over whether or not you’ve worked out enough can be major demotivators. Make a standing date for a rest day during the week so you aren’t second-guessing your decision to sleep in instead of get up for a run. If you’re burnt out, you won’t be consistent; without consistency, you won’t see results!

Things To Do On A Rest Day

• Recovery exercises – stretching, walking, yoga
• Foam roll tight muscles
• Do activities with friends
• Get a massage
• Sleep!

If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit aka use more calories than you eat.  This, of course, isn’t easy. Just doing a set of squats won’t be enough. You’ll need to do harder workouts more often. The FDA says that the best way to exercise for weight loss is the kind that gets your heartbeat up, so light-intensity exercise — like walking or doing some household chores — won’t contribute very much.

It turns out that exercising 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week might not be enough. In 2001, American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommended that all adults under 65 exercise at least do moderately-intense cardio, 30 minutes a day, five times a week or vigorously-intense cardio, 20 minutes a day, three days a week, to lower risk of disease and keep their hearts healthy. They recommended 200 to 300 minutes per week for long-term weight loss.

In a statement, the ACSM says research shows that, “between 150 and 250 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity is effective in preventing weight gain greater than 3% in most adults but will provide ‘only modest’ weight loss.”  The guidelines,published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, recommend that overweight and obese adults are more likely to lose weight and keep it off if they exercise at least 250 minutes per week. Exercising for more than 250 minutes per week has resulted in “significant” weight loss for these individuals.

So if you’re trying to lose weight that 30 minute elliptical session might not cut it. To see the result you want, you’d be better served with 50 minutes of cardio and strength training.

Recommendations from the American Cancer Society and FDA are similar. The American Cancer Society recommends that you get at least 45 to 50 minutes of exercise five times a week to help lower your breast cancer risk. The FDA recommends that in order to maintain weight loss, five times a week, you should exercise for at least an hour and up to 90 minutes.

300 minutes a week takes a lot of dedication and this caveman knows how hard it is to find an hour each day for fitness. So, break it up. As long as the exercise is moderate to vigorous(you heart rate is raised and breathing is more difficult), the same benefits can be achieve by breaking up exercise into 10-minute sessions.

Is 300 minutes a week seem like too much for your Rockheads? What amount of exercise gives you the best results? How do you fit exercise into your day? Let me know in the comments!

The Players Championship isn’t officially a major, but you wouldn’t know it by all of the coverage and hoopla. With a $9.5 million purse and 600 FedEx Cup points on the line, it definitely feels like a major. That means that the top players will turn up including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson. There’s no torrential rain on the forecast(unlike earlier), so all signs point to an exciting weekend!

What: The Players Championship
When: Thursday May 9 – Sunday May 12
Where: The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Verde Beach, Florida

Purse: $9,500,000
Winning Share: $1,710,000
FedExCup Winner’s Points: 600

Par: 72
Yardage: 7,215
Course Designer: Peter Dye
Champion: Matt Kuchar

Website: http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/the-players-championship.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pgatour
What It Online: http://www.pgatour.com/news/2013/05/06/live-video-the-players-championship.html
Live Leaderboard: http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html

TV Schedule (Initial Airings)
Thursday: Golf Channel 1-7p.m., 9p.m.-12 a.m. ET
Friday: Golf Channel 1-7p.m., 9p.m.-12a.m.  ET
Saturday: Golf Channel 9-7 p.m. ET, CBS 2-7 p.m. ET
Sunday: Golf Channel 9-7 p.m. ET, CBS 2-7 p.m. ET

Radio Schedule (PGA Tour Network on Sirius 208XM 93)
Thursday-Saturday 12-7 p.m.

Great Links
PGATour.com’s Live Shotracker
TPC Sawgrass Interactive Yardage Book
Take A 360° Tour Of The Course
Click HERE To Download A Map Of The Course! (PDF Warning!)

Scratch’s Thoughts:

The story earlier in the week was all about the veritable monsoon that hit the course. The famous #17 hole was a literal island for a day or two. Thanks to the hard work of the grounds staff, it appears that there shouldn’t be an lingering damage, but keep an eye on those greens.

Matt Kuchar is going to try to become the first to be a repeat winner at this tournament. He’s paired with Tiger and Brandt Snedeker on Thursday; those two have already had a pretty good season, but without consistency. TPC Sawgrass seems to have been a hard course for Tiger. The last time he had any luck here was 2009 when he tied for eighth place.

We may very well see a surprise winner. Don’t believe me? Did you know who Derek Ernst was until Sunday?

Sunglasses aren’t just dark lenses and UV protection. They can also be, well, weird. Check out these strangest shades below from Oddee.com!

Dripping Sunglasses

Cool melting sunglasses by Anna Ter Haar made for Klavers van Engelen fall/winter 2008-2009 on the Milan fashion week.
(Link | Photo)

Gold Chain Glasses

BLESS Duo Fringe glasses from talented design duo of Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag. They’d be pretty distracting while driving.
(Link)

Spy Sunglasses

These spy sunglasses have a small hidden camera to record what your eyes are looking at. The system has a rechargeable battery and 8GB of internal memory able to record videos in VGA resolution for up to 80 minutes.

(Link)

Line Sunglasses

MackDaddy offer their own take on new-age futuristic with these “Shades Line” sunglasses. If they were red, you could dress up as Cyclops!
(Link)

Lego Sunglasses

Lego teamed up with French optical company Lynx Optique to create these sweet Lego sunglasses that feature Lego bricks on the sides. In theory, you could build whatever you want on them depending on your mood. And, yes, it’ll hurt like heck if you step on it.
(Link)

Pyramid Stud Sunglasses

Unique A-Morir Barracuda Pyramid Stud sunglasses by Kerin Rose. The designer is best known for her sunglasses, which are all made by hand in her workshop. To date she has made sunglasses for Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Mariah Carey. Very cool, but I’m not sure you can actually see out of them.
(Link | Photo)

Pearl Sunglasses

Decked out with pearls, it came from the limited edition of Sonia Rykiel’s spring/summer 2009 collection. Because diamonds would be gauche.
(Link)

Sunblade Sunglasses

This trendy accessory was invented as an alternative to glasses; you can also lift the anti-glare shield anytime you want to make eye contact. Do these remind anyone else of Blade Runner?
(Link)

Dior Blow

There are only 500 pieces of this Dior Homme sunglasses called “Blow.” These futuristic glasses come in five different colors to go with whatever outfit you wear. Why would you name your sunglasses that?!
(Link)

Chanel Lace Sunglasses

Another designer idea from the fashion house. Expensive and not so comfortable lace-covered sunglasses from Chanel. Price: $895.
(Link | Photo)