CK- FMS.........WOW!

WOW!

That is what I have to say about the CK-FMS certification. My hats off to Gray Cook, Brett Jones and Dragon Door for putting on such a high quality certification. If you are an RKC, I highly recommend you take this cert. It beautifully ties together the hardstyle KB system with Gray Cook's Functional Movement Screen.

Seeing Pavel as a student also proved to me why he is such an incredible teacher and mentor, because he is a "student" first. RKC's have a great commander in chief in Pavel. We are lucky to be alive right now and reap the benefits of people like Pavel, Gray Cook and Brett Jones. Right now my head is spinning from the cert, but I am starting to piece everything together that I learned. Below are some of the primary principles (although not an exhaustive list by any means) of the CK-FMS system that stood out to me as being essential and significant.

1) The Functional Movement Screen is a system (not a program) that allows you to SCREEN clients for DURABILITY.

* Performance Vs. Durability = there is a difference. High performance does not always lead to durability.
* The Movement Screen is a DURABILITY DETECTOR

2) Advanced Pattern Detection = You must find the weak link in the chain.

3) Goldman Algorithm = Be consistent and methodical on the front end.
*Basically you have a movement standard and a baseline.
*You must have structure on the front end. This FMS is an algorithm that protects the therapist /trainer / coach against any biases and expertise. If you don't go through the screening you may miss the most important aspect that the clients needs to have addressed.

4) Asymmetries are the #1 indicator that can predict a future injury. Bottom line: fix asymmetries that come up in the screening process.

5)Core Stability is foot position dependent. Train different stance,including kneeling position, lunge position, single leg stance, etc.

6) Most of the space in our brain regarding movement is dedicated to the hands and feet. Bottome line: get strong hands (grip) and you will have stronger shoulders and a stronger body. Wear good shoes (Pavel has been preaching this for years).

7) The body never thinks in terms of individual muscles. Think Movement Patterns. The nervous sytem works by MOVING the body as a whole. I think we all know this but it's nice to hear again from some of the most knowledgeable coaches out there.

and there is so much more to write....I think I will wait to post the rest when I am not so sleepy!

Thanks to Aaron and Fawn Friday for having a get together at their house. The Friday's are the nicest people you will ever meet. So gracious and just so down to earth. Good people!!!!! Tracy and Rif were there at the party.....and let me tell you, Tracy knows how to cook great tasting healthy food!

It was nice to finally meet some blog friends, Franklin (my roomate at the cert), Sean, Gabi, Kate and Maura. It was also cool to see Mike T. Nelson and his girlfriend Jodi. It's alway great to see old friends and RKC TL's, Seniors, and now Masters Instructors. RKC school of strength is the place to be!

UCLA RKC Recap

What a weekend!!!

The RKC never ceases to amaze me....the students....Pavel.....the instructors......and the energy. If you have never been to an RKC it's hard to express in words alone. RKC is a school of strength first, but for me and my family it is a way of life. The community that collectively makes up the RKC transcends anything I have ever experienced. Since my first certification in 2003, the RKC has transformed my life and my business. There is an energy that is absolutely electrifying once you catch hold of it. Perhaps it's because more than 100 people eager to learn and grow and improve are all simultaneously on the same QUEST. All who come to the RKC are humbled by their experience and that is a GOOD thing!

Anyone who comes with too big of an EGO, ready to conquer the the RKC community is quickly put in their place and that too is a good thing. You go in excited and willing to win, and you leave tired, exhuasted, yet totally VICTORIOUS! Becoming an RKC is tough........and it doesn't come easy. You must EARN it with sweat, bloody hands, and a warrior spirit!

Seeing Pavel teach is always a blessing to me as his communication skills and coaching always helps me in more ways than I know. Watching Dan John teach was also amazing. What a great addition to the RKC community. Brett Jones was focused as usual, and Andrea Ducane gave a great explanation on how to learn the Clean and how to teach new students kettlebell exercises.

Team Snideman

I had the absolute privilage to work with 10 amazing people: Ricky, Dominic, Mike, Megan, Celina, Hugo, Jacob, Kingston, Kenneth, and Barrett. Everyone gave it their all and left victorious in many ways. I am proud of all of you! Thank you for your effort and for your willingness to learn!!!!

NEW Master RKC's Rif and Kennth Jay

Yoana and I are so happy for these guys. Talk about two honorable men that walk with total integrity. I got to hand it to Pavel, he has really assembled a fine group of top instructors. These guys are the best out there, period!!!!!

RKC Assistants, Team Leaders, Friends

It is so awesome to be able to see old friends that Yoana and I have made during our years with the RKC, and it's always great to make new friends. Tracy and Rif are always fun to hang out with. In fact Tracy took Yoana shopping in Santa Monica and I nearly lost my fortune. Rumor has it that Tracy loves to shop. Luckily Yoana ended up buying nothing.....Rif cannot say the same about Tracy though :)

We also got to see our good friend Dr. Mark Cheng (phenomenal teacher)and his lovely wife Courtney and his beautiful boy!

I finally got to meet Will Williams.....gotta love that guy's passion and enthusiasm, great teacher. Doug Nepodal....what a cool guy! Zar Horton....he is the man!!!! Chris Holder......good friend...loyal friend.....he is awesome for the RKC! Trisha Dong, Missy Beaver, and my assistants Dave and Laura, they rock!

And it was really cool to finally meet Zachariah Salazar....this guy knows his stuff. He is a great teacher and just such an approachable and likable guy. Seeing Steve Belanger was awesome as was seeing and meeting all the new assistants that I had never met before!

RKC this Weekend!

(pics from the TSC last year)


So Yoana and I are off today to go to UCLA for the RKC. Can't wait. It's always so much fun teaching new students. The week after that I get on a plane and head to St. Paul, Minnesota for the CK-FMS. Now that should be awesome!

Busy times.....but fun times!

Santa Monica Trip, Breakdancing, and now we're off to Santa Fe!

Last weekend went up to Santa Monica to hang out with Yoana's side of the family. Fun times, good times......

Breakdancing:

May be one of the best forms of exercises out there......and one of the best ways to get RIPPED ABS!!!!! Check out the guy in the middle of the picture....totally RIPPED! This one crew in Santa Monica was unreal...talk about athleticism and motor control. The things they could do were jaw dropping. Yoana and I stayed for their entire show on the sidewalk of the Promenade in Santa Monica. Hundreds of other people did the same.

I also went to the rings on Santa Monica Beach next to the peir. Swinging from ring to ring is challenging but super fun. I think my new goal is to become a Ninja Warrior ( for the show in Japan - and I am not kidding.)

We are off on a road trip tomorrow to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We'll do a stop over in Sedona as well! Should be fun!!

Happy 4th of July!

Today we celebrate the birthday of the United Stated of America!

John Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and later our second president, made a prediction about Independence Day in a letter to his wife Abigail: "It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore."

I hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July and great weekend!

Blessings!

Franz, Yoana & Marianna

Kettlebell Prone Bridge | RKC Franz Snideman

This is a great substitution exercise I came up with for the renegade row, especially if you only have one kettlebell. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

The "CAUSE" state VS. The "EFFECT" State

A couple of years ago I took some workshops with Combat Expert Tim Larkin.(go to http://www.targetfocustraining.com) For those of you who do not know who he is, he is undoubtedly one of the BEST experts and teachers on combative fighting tactics than can save your life. More importantly, Tim focuses on teach people the difference between living your life in the "EFFECT" state,or the "CAUSE" State. What's the difference between the two?

When you are living in the EFFECT state you are allowing people, circumstances and external influences to EFFECT you in whatever way they want to. For example, let's say a gang banger walking down the same alley way as you pulls out a knife and walks quickly towards you. The EFFECT state naturally would mean you would run the other way or retreat. Maybe not such a good idea if you are in a dead end alley way. So in essence what is happening is that the action of the man with the knife (CAUSE STATE) is making you retreat (the EFFECT STATE). A person in the CAUSE state might have never been in the alley way to begin with. Or, he would have immediately realized that by retreating he is giving his power away. Thus he would have charged the attacker (something the attacker would never guess would happen) and would have put the gang banger in the EFFECT STATE.

Hopefully you can clearly see the cause / effect relationship here. The problem with living in the EFFECT state is that you lose your personal power and thus are left to the devices of fate, or worse yet, the non-ethical and immoral actions of a sociopath. How many people are walking around the streets, beaten down, emotionally destroyed, victimized, and only because they were never taught to realize that they do have a choice, and that living in the EFFECT state is voluntary.

There are so many areas of our lives where if we are brutally honest with ourselves we will be able to see how we have been living in the EFFECT STATE. For example, let's take food as a potential area of recurring problematic behavior for you. So you decide to go on a diet and clean up your eating habits. One week into the diet you attend a party where there is unlimited amounts of sweets, alcoholic drinks and junk food at your disposal. A person who chooses to live in the CAUSE state would be pro-active and take action as to not give in to these temptations. What might they have done?

Well, for one they might have thought ahead and known that the party would have had bad food options and instead eaten healthy food before the party began. This would have made them resist the temptation because they would have been full while at the party. I have experienced that going to a grocery store or a party while super HUNGRY can spell total disaster. The person living in the CAUSE state would be pro-active and prevent the dietary sin from taking place. The person living in the EFFECT state would have gone to the party hungry and given into his weaknesses and totally derailed himself from his true goals.

Personally, I can think of many areas of my life right now where I intentionally and often unintentionally choose to be a victim and life in the EFFECT STATE. So ask your self, what areas of your life are dominated by the EFFECT STATE? Where have you chosen to live in the CAUSE STATE? One of the things I learned from Tim Larkin is that people living in the CAUSE state prevent bad things from happening in the first place. If you think ahead and are always aware of your surroundings, you will avoid potential attacks from predators, whether they be real people or behavioral problems such as eating poorly and laziness.

Now that I am a parent, I see the wisdom in living in the cause state as opposed to the EFFECT state.

Read the following words by Tim Larkin:

"The sad fact is that teaching a child to physically
fight an adult "predator" is woefully ineffective and
very misguided.

If a hyena were stalking a lion cub none of us would
expect the cub to be able to fend off the hyena. Yet
we somehow wish that our children would be able to do
just that.

Effect State will not only get you killed -- but also
(tragically) those loved ones you are responsible for
like children and elderly relatives. We'd like to
think that there's some special training we can give
our kids that will relieve us from our responsibility
should we falter in our vigilance...

--- THERE ISN'T... it's ours until they are past that
vulnerable stage of life."

9.72: Usain Bolt 100 meters world record

This is unreal! Usain has got to be the favorite in China for the Olympics! I never thought anyone would beat Tyson Gay but I this guy came out of no where!!!

Sprinting is getting more and more EXCITING!!!!

Trip to Mexico with the Familia

We just back last week from a great and super fun trip to Playa Del Carmen, about 1 hour south of Cancun by car. This was a last minute spontaneous trip that I felt we needed to take. I was absolutely cooked from work and frankly I felt like we all just needed a nice Caribbean vacation to relax. Marianna (who will be 5 months old this Thursday) did great and watching her soak in all the stimulation was so cool. Infants learn so much every day that it's hard to imagine what is going on inside their brains. As nice as it was to travel it is always nice to return to San Diego and to Revolution!!!

Got some great reading in, got plenty of rest, got plenty of sun and more importantly I got to spend 24 hours a day with Yoana and the baby! We also got some training in ( of course), archery, jumped off cliffs into rivers, snorkeled, and got plenty of time at the beach and in the Caribbean ocean. Did a lot of contemplating on life as well and how fortunate Yoana and I are at this stage in our lives. We have much to be grateful for and we must give praise and honor to our lord and God Jesus Christ. God is good! Over and over again I still am in awe of our new baby. Talk about a life changing event. I never knew how awesome it would be and the level of emotions one could feel. Truly life changing.

Vacations are always good for me as they allow me to stop, breathe, and climb up the trees to see where I am headed in life and where I am taking my family. It allows to me to re-evaluate my objectives, my motives, and my commitment to living out my deepest held morals, values and ethics. Frankly stated, we all need to time to re-sharpen the saw and contemplate the deeper things of life. The day to day routine sometimes has a way of keeping us from the deeper things of life.



In the words of George Bernard Shaw,

"This is the true joy in life, that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It's a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

I would add the your life is God's gift to you. What you do with your life is your gift back to God!




Training wise: Here is my weekly program design to enhance my sprinting

Monday - Strength day in the gym
SL Deadlifts 5//5 x 5
Double Clean and Press 5 x 5
Bent Over Rows
Stretching

Tuesday - Speed day on the track
120 meters x 4 (95%)
50 meters x 3-4
Stretching

Wed - off

Thursday - Tempo Days
100 yards x 10 (65-70%)

Friday - Power/ Strength day in the Gym
Snatches with KB's / varying weights and Rep ranges
Weighted Pull Ups
Stretching

Saturday - Speed Day on Grass
Cone / Agility Work
20 meters x 3-4
30 meters x 3
40 meters x 2
60 meters x 1 - 2

Race Completed!

Well, my first race of the season is now over and I am happy to say I didn't injure myself. My sprint training since the birth of my daughter has been sketchy so my expectations for this first 100 meter were very low. I took fourth in my heat (out of 9 competitors) and ran a very slow time of 12.2 seconds. I felt my hamstrings and calves start to cramp at around 60 meters and I slowed it down and let several athletes pass me. If I had not slow down I think I would have pulled a hamstring or strained both calves. Racing is a huge shock to my body and I could tell that my body is not in race shape......not in the slightest. But that is what first races are for. Soreness today is unreal....glutes and hamstrings and obliques are fried! Feels good though!

I basically jogged as 12.2 seconds 100 meter which lets me know that I'm doing okay. If had been able to hold on I think I would have ran closer to 11.6 or 11.7. Definitely need to add some longer sprints into my training and more importantly, I just need to get out twice a week on the track. Overall I am happy I didn't injure anything and that I wil live to run another meet! I think my next meet is in June so that gives me some time to prepare! I have to keep things in perspective....running a business, new baby, keeping my marriage good, family stuff, personal growth study, bible study.....I only have so much time to dedicate to sprinting as I am entering a different time in my life. That perspective makes me less upset because realistically I have other obligations that require alot of energy and passion. It only means I have to be more disciplined with the little time I do have to train and FOCUS!

In talking with the Women's Track Coach for San Diego State University Mike LoBue, he gave me some great training advice to increase my finishing strength in the 100 meters as well as teach my body to handle the lactate better! It basically goes like this; run any where from 150 meters to 300 meters at about 85% speed, rest 45 seconds, and them immediately run a 50 meters at 100% speed. While pre-fatigueing your legs and then running the all out 50 meter sprint, you are training your body to sprint when your blood lactate levels are super high. This allows you to supercompensate so to speak so that finishing a 100 or 200 meters in competition will feel better.

I don't know about you guys, but I am so EXCITED for the Beijing Olympics this summer. Of course I am most excited for what will happen in the track and field world. American sprinter Tyson Gay looks to be the favorite and for a reason!

Track meet this Saturday

Time for me to lace up the spikes and compete. It's been exactly one year that I ran the 100 meters at the UCSD Triton invitation in La Jolla. It is always a fun and HUGE meet with lots of colleges from all around the country. The only downside to the meet is that UCSD is a super slow track. No one runs fast times there.....and that includes me. I hope to beat my pedestrian time of 11.7 that I got last year. My PR is 10.72 so I still have a long way to go to best that. Not sure if I can get back to that time but I would like to get to low 11's or at least a 10.9 in the 100. I'm 35 later this year so I know that father time is crawling on my back. Funny how when you are in your 20's you think aging will never get to you and that it will never affect you...but it does...to everyone! Funny thing I feel so much stronger and mobile at 34 than I ever did at 24. Just gotta keep that speed going...use it or lose it...right?

Training

Monday
TGU's for 5 minutes with 24kg
Tactical lunges 20kg 2 sets x 8/8

Wednesday
Clean and Press with 28kg 10 sets x 2/2

Pics of my Little Princess!

Marianna will be 4 months old on April 29. This has been the most amazing experience for us and every day keeps getting better! We're just a little time into this whole parenting adventure and I love it!!! I never could have imagined what it feels like to be a parent......it is something so supernatural that it's impossible to explain. Having a child is a miracle from God!

Alwyn Cosgrove on the Hierarchy of FAT LOSS

This following Q and A is taken from Strength Coach Alwyn Cosgrove's blog
This just makes sense and I must agree with Alwyn on these key principles in the fat loss puzzle!


Q: You mention the Hierarchy of Fat Loss a lot but haven't really explained it. What do you mean by the Hierarchy?
A: The highlighted text is a "link" to a full article where I describe exactly what it means. I am guessing you have never clicked through right?

Essentially the Hierarchy of Fat Loss (note the link) is based on the idea that in a time challenged society there are certain activities and behaviors that will result in better or faster results than other activities.

My hierarchy for fat loss is therefore:

1. Correct Nutrition

There's pretty much nothing that can be done to out-train a crappy diet. You quite simply have to create a caloric deficit while eating enough protein and essential fats. There's no way around this. The fact is - you can get lean without doing any exercise at all -- so diet remains the single biggest difference maker.

2. See #1

Yep. It really is that important. Not eating a Big Mac with a large fries and a large soda saves you about 1400 calories and takes zero seconds. Eating them and then trying to burn off the calories will require 2+ hours of pretty hard work....

Diet is #1 and #2....By comparison - training only begins at number 3 on the list....

3. Activities that burn calories, maintain/promote muscle mass, and elevate metabolism

I think it's fairly obvious that the bulk of calories burned are determined by our resting metabolic rate or RMR. The amount of calories burned outside of our resting metabolism (through exercise, thermic effect of feeding, etc.) is a smaller contributor to overall calories burned per day. The biggest chunk is your RMR.

We can also accept that RMR is largely a function of how much muscle you have on your body — and how hard it works. Therefore, adding activities that promote or maintain muscle mass will make that muscle mass work harder and over time- elevate the metabolic rate. This will become our number one training priority when developing fat loss programs. There are studies showing RMR to be elevated after 12 weeks of only 800 calories when resistance training is performed. Other studies show an acute effect of increased metabolism for 38 hours post workout.

So if you only have time to do one activity - make it resistance training.

4. Activities that burn calories and elevate metabolism

The next level of fat loss programming would be a similar activity. We're still looking at activities that eat up calories and increase EPOC.

EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) is defined scientifically as the "recovery of metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels" and "can require several minutes for light exercise and several hours for hard intervals."

Essentially, we're looking for activities that keep us burning more calories after the exercise session.

In every single head to head study, interval training outperforms steady state in terms of fat loss - for two reasons -- 1) You burn more calories minute-for -minute performing the activity and 2) you burn more calories in the recovery period as a result of the activity.

If you have more time - a couple of interval training sessions per week will be the next thing I'd add.

5. Activities that burn calories but don't necessarily maintain muscle or elevate metabolism

This is the "icing on the cake" — adding in activities that'll burn up additional calories but don't necessarily contribute to building muscle or increasing metabolism. This is the least effective tool in your arsenal as it doesn't burn much outside of the primary exercise session, but it is very easy to recover from.

This category is slower or less intense aerobic work.

So the "hierarchy" is essentially a practical way of allocating your training time to the most effective activities.

What's interesting is that most people tend to start from the bottom of the hierarchy and try to work up. They do hours of low intensity cardio without adjusting diet - and eventually start doing some intervals. At some point they join a gym and "Do weights". I've lost count of the number of people who've told me they are going to start weight training when they "get in shape..."

I'm not saying exercise isn't important when trying to lose fat. But start with an effective diet. Add in resistance training. That's the cornerstone of a fat loss training program. (please note another link for you to click...) Then start adding in interval work, longer cardio etc.

Sprinting increases Power and Strength in the Gym

One of the incredible things about sprinting is the effect it has on you central nervous system in recruiting fast twitch muscle fiber, mainly the type IIB fibers. Those are the fibers that have the biggest potential to produce force. Simply put you can increase type IIB fiber activation by trying to move your body as fast as possible,. a.k.a, Sprinting; or you can lift something that is very heavy for you. One of the benefits I have noticed from my increased sprinting these days is an increase in strength in many of my gym lifts, such as presses, pull ups and front KB squats. With track season in full gear I have some track meets coming up, one at the end of April. I have been on the track only once or twice a week for the last month I can notice that the neural drive to my muscles is always increased after a fast sprint session.


Take home advice:

If you are stuck on a particular lift or feel weak, add a day or two of high intensity sprints to your training regime and you will increase your strength in the gym. Although if you are new to sprinting you must cautious in the beginning as sprinting is very taxing to the CNS. I would cut your gym volume back a bit if you plan on adding in some sprint days.

The following template would be a safe and effective place to start when beginning a sprinting program:




Monday = Sprint Session A
Full Body Joint Mobility
High Knees 3 sets of 10 yards
Butt Kickers 3 sets of 10 yards
Karioka's 3 sets of 50 yards each direction
and any bodyweight loosening drill that helps you feel loose and explosive

4 x 30 meters (1 minute recovery)
4 x 50 meters (2 minute recovery)

Remember that this is not a workout per say...you are trying to spring as fast as possible so if you need to rest more between sets....by all means take more rest!!!

Friday = Sprint Session B
Same warm up as Monday

5 x 60 meters (As fast as possible - 3 to 5 minute recover between runs)

If you are not about to out and hit the track, try some of the following to increase fast twitch muscle activation:

Vertical Jumps onto a high Box
Standing Broad Jumps
Single Leg Plyo Hops

Get out there and use the Type IIB fibers. God gave you them for a reason!!!

TSC La Jolla at Revolution Fitness

First of all I have to give a big shout out to Mike LoBue (head track and field strength coach and Jumps coach for San Diego State University). Mike and his lovely wife Brooke always bring a huge group of SDSU athletes and fitness nuts to join in on the TSC torture. The TSC would not be the same with out Mike and Brooke's help. And for that Yoana and I are very appreciative of all they do. Mike and Brooke...you guys rock!

It was fun to have Erik Blekeberg and Charlie Reid back again. These guys are true veterans of the TSC (even though they are only 22 and 23 years old) and always are the life of the party. CHEK Level 4 Robert Yang also came out to compete. Max Shank, at only 20 years old, absolutely kicked butt in his first TSC. Watch out RKC community, Max is taking the August RKC at UCLA and he will tame the BEAST, no problem!

It was a great group as usual with many first timers particiapating in the TSC. What a frickin awesome event as it truly brings out the human spirit in all of us! Congratulations to all of you who competed.

Women's Division
Kristen Karnio 23 yrs BW 160.8 DL 275 Pull Ups 3 Snatches 127
Brooke LoBue 27 yrs BW 139.2 DL 225 Pull Ups 15 Snatches 112

Men's Elite Division
Max Shank 20 yrs BW 193.4 DL 475 Pull Ups 19 Snatches 100
Mike LoBue 30 yrs BW 178.6 DL 435 Pull Ups 20 Snatches 82
Erik Blekeberg 22 yrs BW 221 DL 525 Pull Ups 14 Snatches 88
Charlie Reid 23 yrs BW 190.2 DL 450 Pull Ups 15 Snatches 78










Men's Division
Mike Pellicio 23 yrs BW 172.8 DL 415 Pull Ups 34 Snatches 102
Norm Hardman 34 yrs BW 183.4 DL 385 Pull Ups 18 Snatches 114
John Shilling 21 yrs BW 246.6 DL 450 Pull Ups 5 Snatches 102
Fernando Navarro 26 yrs BW 157.0 DL 380 Pull Ups 23 Snatches 98
Casey Wheel 22 yrs BW 163.3 DL 365 Pull Ups 21 Snatches 100
Robert Yang 34 yrs BW 186.0 DL 470 Pull Ups 21 Snatches - n/a

Dr. Mercola on Breastfeeding

(The following I found on Dr. Mercola's website and I wanted to share it with others. Yoana is breastfeeding Marianna and thank God she is)


Breast milk is the perfect food for a newborn baby; it is made by nature and absolutely nothing has been overlooked. For a newborn, one of the biggest benefits is that breast milk transfers antibodies, or immune molecules, to your baby that give them automatic immunity to illnesses that the mother is immune to. This is just what a new baby, whose immune system is not yet mature, needs.

Another quite remarkable benefit of breast milk is that the opposite also holds true. So if your baby is exposed to a new infection the organism will get transferred to the mother via breastfeeding, and the mother will make antibodies to fight the germ. Those specific antibodies then get transferred back to your baby at the next feeding thus improving their immune response.

The Benefits of Breastfeeding are Seemingly Endless -- For Baby AND Mom

Along with the added protection against type 2 diabetes, studies have found that breastfed infants have extra protection against:

* Heart disease
* Immune system cancers such as lymphoma
* Bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease
* Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
* Asthma and allergies
* Respiratory infections
* Eczema
* Type 1 diabetes

Breastfed infants also tend to have higher intelligence and a lower risk of obesity than formula-fed infants.

On top of that, breastfeeding is a mutually beneficial experience for moms and babies. In fact, women who breastfeed have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers and osteoporosis later in life. They are also able to return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster (breastfeeding uses up about 500 calories a day!).

What are Your Rights as a Breastfeeding Mom?

Despite the undeniable benefits, in the United States breastfeeding is still not as widely accepted as it should be. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among infants born in 2004 (the most recent data available):

* 74% were ever breastfed
* 42% were still breastfeeding at 6 months of age
* 21% were breastfeeding at 1 year of age
* 31% were exclusively breastfed through 3 months of age
* 11% were exclusively breastfed through 6 months of age

So while over 70 percent of moms begin breastfeeding right after birth, only 11 percent are still doing it exclusively six months later. This means that most children are not receiving the benefits that come from exclusive breastfeeding in the first months of life.

Even the CDC states, "Compared with breastfeeding combined with formula feeding, exclusive breastfeeding provides more protection against lower respiratory tract infections, acute otitis media [ear infections], atopic dermatitis [skin irritation], and childhood obesity."

There are, of course, hurdles for many women who would like to breastfeed exclusively, particularly since not all workplaces and public areas are as open to it as they should be.

Which is why, if you are a woman who wishes to breastfeed, you must know your rights.

As of January 2008, the National Conference of State Legislatures states that 39 states have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location. These states are:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming

Meanwhile:

* 21 states exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws
* 14 states have laws that address breastfeeding in the workplace
* 12 states exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty

To find out the laws in your state, La Leche League International has compiled an excellent list of breastfeeding legislation in the United States, which you can search by state.

So please do not assume that you are not “allowed” to breastfeed in public or at work. In most states, it is actually against the law to try to prohibit you from this natural act.

If you want to give your child the best start nutritionally, ideally you will breastfeed exclusively for the first six months. Breastfeeding should then be continued at least for the first year, and The World Health Organization recommends continued breastfeeding until your child is 2 years old or older.

For Moms Who Can’t Breastfeed

As natural as breastfeeding is, a small percentage of women are unable to breastfeed due to physical reasons. This can be an extremely emotional issue, as many women then feel they have “failed” their child in this way. But in no way should you ever blame yourself for an inability to breastfeed.

New moms who are experiencing difficulty breastfeeding can first contact a lactation consultant to rule out any problems with positioning or routine that may be interfering. If, however, you are simply unable to breastfeed, remember that you are still doing the best you can for your child.