Keep your shirt on Simon

Is all publicity good publicity? Simon Cowell may not think so when he opens today's papers and sees his topless torso shining out. The reason? His is the most popular picture used for a story about the increase in men have ops for man-boobs. Best keep your top on in future, Si. Daily Mirror P28

Fighting Fat

The Guardian(Mon 29 Jan) explains how to keep your kids healthy and happy.

Our children have never been fatter. Nor have they ever been so prone to eating disorders like anorexia. What can parents do? How do you steer your kids away from one danger without pushing them towards the other? Lucy Atkins has some practical advice.

Some parents are very good at kidding themselves that their overweight child is fine. "It's just puppy fat," is perhaps the most common excuse. Some panic and impose crash diets. Others simply call the child "fatso" and laugh it off. None of this is helpful. Indeed, our collective ineptitude on the subject of our children's expanding girth is such that a parliamentary watchdog has called for the appointment of an "obesity tsar", in part to give parents clearer guidelines about what to do if their children are fat. A few pointers would certainly come in handy.

To Read more click here

Get a Free trampoline when you join Eat Right

Guardian Unlimited - Healthy Thinking Lose weight and get fit with Eat Right, the Guardian's healthy eating club. Join from just £2.99 a week and they will design you a personalised diet and exercise plan, with support from their team of expert nutritionists. Sign up before the end of January and you will also receive a free exercise trampoline worth £19.99. To sign up click here

Get a Good Posture

Feeling like a slouch? Take this Mens Health test to check your posture then use the fix to straighten up

Wall test

Stand with your feet about 12 inches from a wall and rest your back against it. Place your right hand on the small of your back, palm facing the wall. Then tighten your abs until your palm is pressed against the wall. In this position, your body should have four points of contact with the wall: your tailbone, palm, upper back, and head. If you have to tilt your head back to reach the wall . . .

Your problem is... Kyphotic posture-also known as slouching.

The cause: Your abdominal and chest muscles have shortened, while your back extensor muscles and spine have weakened. Sitting for extended periods of time leads to this imbalance.

Fix yourself

Step 1: Mobilise your spine. Lie across a foam roll (available at www.perform better.com) or a thick PVC pipe so that it's perpendicular to your spine at the lower part of your rib cage. Reach overhead so your spine extends over the roll and hold for a count of 10. Move the roll up your spine about 2 inches, then repeat. Continue this process until the foam roll reaches the base of your neck.

Step 2: Use this dynamic backward lunge to stretch your abdominal, groin, and chest muscles. Hold a single 10-pound dumbbell with both hands. Step back with your left foot until your left knee nearly touches the floor. As you lunge, turn your torso to the right and reach up over your right shoulder with both hands. Then return to a standing position. Repeat for a total of 15 reps on both sides.

Step 3: Perform a single-arm dumbbell row with external rotation. However, instead of pulling the dumbbell to your rib cage, pull it to a position by your ear, allowing your torso to rotate upward. Repeat for a total of 15 repetitions with a lighter-than-normal dumbbell. Then switch arms and repeat.

  Words by Bill Hartman

Calpol

Great advert for medicine featuring parents over reactions to their kids sport.

Great advert for the children's medicine featuring parents over safe over reactions to their kids sport. The mother running to the finish of a 5 year olds sports day 10yard run with a silver insulating blanket is classic. You can see the whole ad on the site (and no they're not paying us!!)