Building Muscle Tips - Find Your Lean Body Today by Dave Vower

How do you strip the fat from your body to reveal your muscles?

Next time you go to the mall or shopping, take a look at the people around you. Look at their physiques, the people at your work, the people next to you on the bus/train, the people at the drug store and the local fast food joint. What is the average body type these days? Do people look like Rambo? or do they look like the fatties on Wall-E? Well, unless you train hard like Rambo, or physical exercise is part of your communities lifestyle, the standard then you'll see is to be overweight.

So how does one overcome the tendency our body's have to put on a few extra pounds? Now that we've got it so good, we've got to come up with a way to stay healthy and lean without popping pills and getting liposuction!

Building Muscle Tips - Strip That Fat From Your Body and Reveal Your Muscles Today!

OK, here's how it's done:

Strip The Fat Step 1. LIft Weights Don't worry, you wont become muscle bound overnight. It takes years of bodybuilding to get big like those guys. The cool thing is though, that muscles burn energy faster than any other cells in your body. So lift weights, and your body will burn more fat. Simple. Workout every couple of days and you'll notice the difference.

Strip That Fat Step 2. Aerobic exercise is a waste of time. Yep, you heard me if you want to burn fat fast, DON'T do it. You've got to be crazy right? Everyone says it's the best way so it must be true. Nope. Well, it does work, but it's not the best way. And it's hard work! If there's an easier way, wouldn't that be best? (haha, I'm such a lazy coach!)

So What's The Best Way To Train? Well, muscles burn more fat because they speed up the metabolism. So, what we've got to do is speed up the body's metabolism so it burns fat like a furnace! We can do this by doing short (15 minute) intense workouts. It's just like going for a jog for an hour, except you take all hard work, and put it into 15 minutes! This is commonly called High Intensity Training or Fartlek running.

Here's the training cycle:

It's divided into 2 parts. One intense, and the other less intense.

Here's an example of a HIIT training session:

# Stretches

# 5 min warmup

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 1 min walk/jog

# 20 second sprint

# 5 min cooldown

# Stretches

The great thing about this kind of workout is that you'll speed up your body so much that you'll be burning excess energy for ages! And it takes only 15 minutes! It's honestly the BEST way to strip that fat from your body quickly. Bodybuilders have known this for ages.

If you're already working out 3 days a week, do this interval training only on your OFF days so you don't over train. This is because your body just does not know how to burn fat and build muscle all at once. Swap between the weight training and interval training so you can get the best of both worlds. And make sure you take a day off too. We don't want you to burn out!

Anything else? Yep... one last thing:

Building Muscle Tips - Step 3. Eat Fresh High Water Content Food.

I'm not going to discuss all the benefits of eating fresh food, and reading food labels. But this stuff is important so let's just be serious for a second. If you want to burn more fat it's not going to happen eating McDonnalds and KFC. You know it's true. So eat fresh foods. That's right, your best option is to eat food that's got heaps of nutritional value and helps get your metabolism going. That food is fresh Fruit and vegetables.

Yeah, it's a bummer eh. You've been hearing it since you were a kid. "Eat Your Vegetables!" Turns out your parents were right eh. Well, I'm not about to tell em so don't worry!

If you're feeling a little uncomfortable and you're not in a major hurry, then adjust to adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet while cutting out the heavy carbohydrates like fries and burgers and that morning muffin with your coffee etc.

As you start to see results you'll become more motivated to change your diet. But trust me, if you

1. Do a weights workout

2. Do Intense Cardio

3. Eat Plenty of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Your body will thank you for it!

Some Soccer History

If you want to understand the history of soccer, we must admit that for some reason, humans have a natural need to revive things. Whether it 's release frustration, or simply for fun, we do not even notice.

How many times have you not walked on the street as a child (not only), just kicking that pebble or cones on the ground in front of you out of boredom. It 's natural wonders upon the basis of the history of soccer.

-- When soccer was invented?

When we talk about the history of soccer many people regard England as the place that soccer was born and although it may be a true statement in a particular context, the truth is that the English were the first to organize around soccer 1863, but they did not invent it by saying. Thus, if 1863 is the year of the sport called , then what year was invented soccer and where?

Since soccer or soccer-likesports path can be traced back to ancient times, it 's difficult to pin-point a specific year, but historians of the phenomenon in general, chop it into 3 periods of time .

-- History of soccer during antiquity

They might not have had our basic modern, ancient people, but make sure you know that their pleasure. And, you guessed it, kicking a ball around (of course, bullets were extremely primitive compared to what is used today) was considered a fun activity in many areas worldwide, most of them at the same time, without interaction from one another.

In the history of soccer the first written statement regarding the start of soccer comes from a Chinese military manual around 300 BC, which describes a practice known as cuju that involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a silk fabric stretched between two poles. On the other side of the globe, the Americas, the Aztecs played a sport similar, although some compare it to more basketball soccer.

The goal is to hit the ball through a small circle of stones which was prominently on the scene 's walls, where the relationship with the basketball.

Now I n 't know you better, but it seems to me much more difficult to place a small leather ball exactly in the middle of a circle of stones that 's well above your head with your foot, to find a modern high-tech ball in a courtyard goal 8.

-- History of soccer in Middle Age

In general, we think of medieval times, as a moment when war was seen as a necessity and a Working rather than a calamity. Despite being a very serious, dark period of time, a certain way medieval people have managed to take some time for some sports, especially soccer.

The forms of soccer played during this period are obviously incomparable to our current definition of sport, where they are generally classified as mob soccer .

While their fathers have fallen in war, children are often adjusted to seize a leather ball, click on the nearby field and start a war on the ground. The absence of rules often lead to fights and serious injuries and sport was considered dangerous in many places.

A clear example of what can be found in the British Museum in London, where an engraving shows a group of men who are fighting to win a leather ball with a second image shows a man with a broken arm. You do the math.

-- Modern day soccer

As mentioned above, although we 't know when soccer was invented, we know when it was organized as a sport under a clear set of rules. Being a popular practice in England, soccer was played chaotic and often it would lead to the same or outside the arrivals battles similar to those that occur during soccer matches medieval. On each match, both teams would agree on a particular set of rules, but with the absence of an arbitrator arguments often spark.

To keep things in order, some English clubs met in London on October 26, 1863 to create a well-defined and universal rules for the game.

The soccer Association was born, and while their set of rules do not apply to all clubs immediately, in a few decades, soccer clubs has increased from amateurism to professionalism, their laws and driving restrictions has become the standard for everyone.

As you can see, there 's really not right how to respond to the When was invented soccer? Question and you 'll make your fair share of arguments to hand whatever period you think was the spark that caused the wildfire that soccer is today.

And you 'll probably agree with me on this point: it 's not really important to know when soccer was invented, but rather recognize that we are fortunate to be able to take advantage of this wonderful sport at its best, as we can in modern times.
Author: John Salmon

History of Softball

The history of softball is by far the clearest of all documented sports related histories. Meaning that football history, soccer and golf among other sports all have much more convoluted beginnings compared to softball history. It is a relatively young sport that was originated in Chicago in 1887. The story has it that after receiving the score of the Yale and Harvard football game that a group of young men jumped up and one young man threw a boxing glove at another who proceeded to hit it with a pole. George Hancock who is often credited with creating the game then drew out a diamond on the floor and took the handle of a broom to use as a stick. They tied more boxing gloves up to be used as an oversized ball. Suffice that it is odd to say that softball history originated indoors and was developed by men. The original game was loosely based on a shortened version of baseball with a smaller field and a larger ball. Shortly after this Mr. Hancock painted permanent lines in the gymnasium, prepared some new rules and coined the sport indoor baseball.

Softball history’s popularity grew rapidly and Hancock then formed a publication on all of the rules of the game. Canada adopted the sport as it was easy to play indoors. Then the game took a turn on the outdoor fields in the summer and was called indoors/outdoors.
Different teams and leagues began to grow all over the northeast. Chicago while credited with the development saw teams popping up in Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts. Then the great gold rush took easterners west to gain riches and along with them they brought there sports, which helped develop the west coasts teams.
Women’s softball was also developed in Chicago and West Division High was the first to have a team in 1895. They played mostly indoors and were not initially recognized as comparable to the men. It took the women’s leagues much longer to gain credibility and the real crossover was the growth in popularity of baseball. As baseball became much more popular the male players shifted to it while the women began to make softball there own. Now a day’s both men and women of all ages can enjoy the sport.
Throughout the 1900’s leagues and tournaments began to pop up everywhere. The National Championship was first played in Chicago in 1933 and it included both male and female competitors. The sixties and seventies saw professional leagues come and go for women. The slow pitch game evolved on the international level with the Softball World Championships in 1965. It ultimately set the platform for the Olympics which greatly improved softball history. The game began to shift as players became much bigger and stronger and less pitching and defense were incorporated. The officials and high ranking decision makers of the leagues around the world began to make a shift to fast pitch softball beginning around the 1980’s and 90’s. At first the changes were met with much resistance but the game has since embraced the changes.
Fast pitch has altered the appearance of the game dramatically. The sport is much more a game of speed and defense rather than offense and power and it has also produced much more media coverage and growth in the sport than ever.
The game of softball is appealing to so many levels of our society. Young men and women can enjoy the game on either a social or competitive level. The thousands of softball leagues around the country provide for a great social backdrop. College teams flourish and the international scene is more popular than ever. Softball history has come such a long way in the last hundred years from poles and boxing gloves to international notoriety, so goes the history of softball.

Author: RecruitCity

15 Foods That Build Muscle- Top Muscle Building Foods

Eating the right foods is just as important as training hard. It can actually determine how fast you build quality muscle. So, what I'm going to do is share with you 15 foods that build muscle. That way, you can quickly and easily build muscle mass in a short amount of time.

The top 15 foods you should eat to build muscles are:

1. Steak (red meat)- good source of protein. Steak has vitamins and other nutrients in it that are crucial for muscle growth. The fats in steak has been shown to help increase your testosterone. If you're serious about putting on muscle, add this to your meal plan.

2. Brown Rice- great carbohydrate source. Slow digesting, which means it won't spike your insulin levels.

3. Pasta- great source of carbs. Two cups provide about 90 grams of high-quality carbs. This will definitely help you build muscles.

4. Avocado- Helps increase your testosterone and also has other health benefits.

5. Eggs- This is a must if you are trying to build muscles. Great protein source.

6. Chicken- Lean protein. Great for anytime of the day.

7. Fruits (apples, bananas, strawberries)- Carbohydrate source. Also, fruits have many health benefits.

8. Oatmeal- Complex carb. Great for helping with carb intake.

9. Turkey- Great for lunch. Excellent protein source.

10. Salmon- Good source of protein. Salmon has omega fatty acids in it. Its a serious mass builder. You should eat this at least three times a week.

11. Cottage cheese- slow-digesting protein. Cottage cheese is a great late night snack.

12. Salad- Add olive oil and vinegar to your salad. It has alot of health benefits.

13. Tuna- Lean protein source. Tuna also has fatty acids in it. It's great for helping with muscle growth.

14. Whole wheat bread- Great carb source.

15. Almonds- Great as a snack. Almonds have a decent amount of protein in it. It also has healthy fats in it. And is good for increasing testosterone levels.

Eating these foods is important if you're trying to build muscle. Don't skip meals. Make sure you eat every 2-3 hours. You should intake at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day and 1.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day.

An example would be if you weighed 200 pounds, you would consume 200 grams of protein per day and 300 grams of carbs per day. This will ensure that your body is constantly in "muscle-building" mode. If you don't intake enough protein, your muscles won't grow.

These are the 15 foods that build muscle. Add them to your meal plan. Train hard. Drink plenty of water. And watch how fast your muscles grow.

Author: Tony Smith

Why Cardio, Aerobics, & Spinning Suck For Fat Loss

I'm not a huge fan of cardio, spinning, or aerobics in terms of people looking to lose body fat obviously in short time periods. I mean if somebody likes doing it; if somebody wants to be the triathlete, you know what, go ahead and do it and love what you do.

But I'm not a big fan of it for those people I see who are running on the sidewalk and look like they despise every single minute they are doing it.

That is probably a greater percentage of the people who do it when they are looking to lose weight. There are a lot of research studies to say that aerobics and cardio aren't the greatest way to lose weight. And I'm not a fan of having somebody do stuff they don't like to achieve a goal when there are other ways to do it.

I'm not a big fan of certain machines in the gym for cardio. It may not be the machine itself, but it may be the excuses. Its human nature that some of these machines allow us to slide by and do stuff that we think is helping us, but subconsciously we're taking the easy way out.

I have what I call the human nature test; because I always make fun of elliptical machines and I really think that they are not again what people make them out to be.

Let's say you take 100 people. You go to a mega gym - you've got 100 treadmills and 100 elliptical machines - you take 100 people into that room and you say, "Okay, you have to work out for 30 minutes at a pretty good pace. You choose your machine."

You know darn well that 70-80 of those people are going to be on the elliptical machines rather than the treadmill. To me, that says something. I just think that we're wired to take the easy way out.

You can extend it even further and say, "Okay, you've got 100 people; you've got 100 treadmills and a track. Go do your training. You can either do the treadmill or the track." You know 80% of those people are probably going to use the treadmill.

Humans take the easy way out when given hard choices. The other thing that I'm against in terms of cardio is - I refer to it as one of the dark sides of cardio - is that people can get injured doing a high volume of cardio work.

Of course, to be fair, you can get injured doing a high volume of body building work. When I was young and reading the magazines, I was doing too much upper body work and had a little bit of shoulder problems; not anything I haven't been able to get over.

So injury risk is often proportional to the volume of exercise you do. Too much volume in lifting, too much volume in cardio, or even too much volume in crunches and you're going to end up in the doctor's office or the physiotherapy office.

Ironically, many trainers and physiotherapists are the worst offenders of over-use injuries. There is one physio that I worked in a gym where she worked, and she literally could not walk properly because she did so many spinning classes.

Spinning classes are another thing I'm not a huge fan of. On one side, there's great benefit to your fat loss program because of the group mentality because social support is huge. Working out in that group encourages you to come back. And a lot of people have fun with it. Plus, its interval training in nature. So lots of good things about spinning.

But I figure, why do something for 45 minutes when you can get the same results in 20 minutes? Also, I'm not a big fan of the high RPM spinning because I think that's where a lot of hip problems have been developed in people that I've trained personally and also in some of the classes I've watched.

I just don't think that it's great for your hips, especially in women who have hip problems already from childbirth, to be going at 140-160 RPM or whatever they are doing and you just watch their bodies flopping around without the right torso strength and endurance and stability there, they are going to end up with problems.

One last thing I'll say on this is that an aerobic training program is probably one of the worst places to start a 300 pound person out on a fat loss program because their muscles are not prepared for this and neither are their joints. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to run with an extra 120 pounds on my back, or even walk quickly. We need to re-examine where we start people out.

So if you are not getting the results you want but you are doing a lot of cardio, spinning, or aerobics classes, decrease the volume, try some interval training, and focus on quality workouts for fat burning
I'm not a huge fan of cardio, spinning, or aerobics in terms of people looking to lose body fat obviously in short time periods. I mean if somebody likes doing it; if somebody wants to be the triathlete, you know what, go ahead and do it and love what you do.

But I'm not a big fan of it for those people I see who are running on the sidewalk and look like they despise every single minute they are doing it.

That is probably a greater percentage of the people who do it when they are looking to lose weight. There are a lot of research studies to say that aerobics and cardio aren't the greatest way to lose weight. And I'm not a fan of having somebody do stuff they don't like to achieve a goal when there are other ways to do it.

I'm not a big fan of certain machines in the gym for cardio. It may not be the machine itself, but it may be the excuses. Its human nature that some of these machines allow us to slide by and do stuff that we think is helping us, but subconsciously we're taking the easy way out.

I have what I call the human nature test; because I always make fun of elliptical machines and I really think that they are not again what people make them out to be.

Let's say you take 100 people. You go to a mega gym - you've got 100 treadmills and 100 elliptical machines - you take 100 people into that room and you say, "Okay, you have to work out for 30 minutes at a pretty good pace. You choose your machine."

You know darn well that 70-80 of those people are going to be on the elliptical machines rather than the treadmill. To me, that says something. I just think that we're wired to take the easy way out.

You can extend it even further and say, "Okay, you've got 100 people; you've got 100 treadmills and a track. Go do your training. You can either do the treadmill or the track." You know 80% of those people are probably going to use the treadmill.

Humans take the easy way out when given hard choices. The other thing that I'm against in terms of cardio is - I refer to it as one of the dark sides of cardio - is that people can get injured doing a high volume of cardio work.

Of course, to be fair, you can get injured doing a high volume of body building work. When I was young and reading the magazines, I was doing too much upper body work and had a little bit of shoulder problems; not anything I haven't been able to get over.

So injury risk is often proportional to the volume of exercise you do. Too much volume in lifting, too much volume in cardio, or even too much volume in crunches and you're going to end up in the doctor's office or the physiotherapy office.

Ironically, many trainers and physiotherapists are the worst offenders of over-use injuries. There is one physio that I worked in a gym where she worked, and she literally could not walk properly because she did so many spinning classes.

Spinning classes are another thing I'm not a huge fan of. On one side, there's great benefit to your fat loss program because of the group mentality because social support is huge. Working out in that group encourages you to come back. And a lot of people have fun with it. Plus, its interval training in nature. So lots of good things about spinning.

But I figure, why do something for 45 minutes when you can get the same results in 20 minutes? Also, I'm not a big fan of the high RPM spinning because I think that's where a lot of hip problems have been developed in people that I've trained personally and also in some of the classes I've watched.

I just don't think that it's great for your hips, especially in women who have hip problems already from childbirth, to be going at 140-160 RPM or whatever they are doing and you just watch their bodies flopping around without the right torso strength and endurance and stability there, they are going to end up with problems.

One last thing I'll say on this is that an aerobic training program is probably one of the worst places to start a 300 pound person out on a fat loss program because their muscles are not prepared for this and neither are their joints. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to run with an extra 120 pounds on my back, or even walk quickly. We need to re-examine where we start people out.

So if you are not getting the results you want but you are doing a lot of cardio, spinning, or aerobics classes, decrease the volume, try some interval training, and focus on quality workouts for fat burning

Author: Craig Ballantyne

How To Get Ripped Abs Quick - 3 Super Abdominal Exercise Tips

How To Get Ripped Abs Quick

So, you want to get ripped quick. With or without ab exercise equipment. Maybe summer is coming and you want to look really good in those swimming trunks or bikini.

Bad news...you're not going to get ripped overnight. Good news...it can be done in a realistic time frame, which will of course depend on your current condition.

Get Ripped Quick - Super Tip 1: Sorting out your diet

First of all you need to sort out your diet. Don't cut down on your calorie intake too severely as this can lead to muscle loss and also negatively affect your metabolism.

Ideally you want to strike a good balance between your intake of fat, carbohydrates and also protein.

The most important foods that you should cut out are refined sugars and starches. On the flip side you'd want to make sure you take in plenty of whole, natural, unprocessed foods like vegetables, organic meat, nuts, fruit and eggs.

Super Tip 2: What are the best type of cardio exercises to do?

Forget about doing endless long cardio in your ab exercise routine. You want to switch to shorter, more intense workouts. Not only are they more effective at speeding up your metabolism, but they're also more fun, easier to fit into your busy schedule and easier to stick to. Examples include:

Rope Jumping
Short Sprints
Hill Sprints
Stair Climbing
Interval Training
Waist High Roundhouse Kicks on a Punch Bag

If you don't know, interval training is quite simply where periods of intense exercise are mixed with periods of less intense exercise, or recovery. A simple example would be doing a 70m hill sprint, then walking back down before doing another.

Interval training improves the performance of the cardiovascular system and also helps remove the risk of strain injuries that can occur during repetitive endurance exercises.

Quite simply, you burn more calories during short, high intensity exercises than with long, slow cardio exercises. If you want to get ripped quick, interval training is the way to go.

Don't over train, however. You will inhibit your body's recovery and get exactly the opposite results of what you want. An injury caused by over training can also put you out of action for a long time, and there's no need for me to explain what that means. Exercise about 3, maximum 4 times a week, and listen to your body.

Super Tip 3: What are the best abdominal exercises to do?

Focus on full body exercises instead of exercises that only isolate the abs. Most of your exercise time should be spent on these. I'm talking about pushups, pullups, squats, lunges, mountain climbers, static jumps. These are specifically exercises that don't even require any ab exercise equipment, gym equipment or weights.

To get ripped quick you need to engage your entire body. Be sure to include some exercises that specifically target and isolate the abs in your routine, like jack knives, suspended leg lifts and reverse crunches, but don't do ONLY those. Get your whole body working and you'll burn fat much more effectively.

Author: Nicolaas Theron

8 Franchise Business Opportunities to Help People Lose Weight

In recent years, America has become increasingly aware of what is now one of our biggest national health risks: obesity. There are no two ways around the fact that, as a country, we're fat. Some reports claim that as much as one-third of adults in the United States are not just plump, but obese (meaning roughly 50lbs or more overweight). Perhaps it's a problem that has been a part of our society for some time, but the sudden awareness of it and all the health problems associated with it has brought along an interesting response: a sharp increase in diet and fitness businesses. Everywhere you look, another fitness establishment is cropping up, trying to help America slim down, but it's more than a noble cause; the diet and fitness industry is one of the biggest in the industries in the country.

For those entrepreneurs whose interest is health, ranging from operations specializing in fitness, to those that take a more holistic, diet-and-exercise approach. But if starting from scratch seems less than appealing, here are some great weight loss franchises that can get you off on the right foot with your business.source:http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles

How an EMS system works

EMS systems involve having more than one electrode placed upon the skin. From there, small electronic pulses are emitted, usually by the push of a button. These pulses cause the muscles to contract. The contraction is similar to what is received when exercising. This is the very contraction that is needed to keep the muscles stimulated. It is true that an EMS system can't be connected all of the time, but it is great to have that available at a certain point or at points during the day to make sure the muscles get that bit of "exercise" that they need.

As for the effectiveness, EMS systems are quite effective, which is why so many individuals own them for various different reasons. As stated before, bodybuilders own them to help them in their bodybuilding routines. There are even some who use them to relieve muscle pain. The best way to relieve pain is by stimulating the muscle so that it can heal. If you've ever heard the saying, "Work it out," then you understand how an EMS system can do this. These are all reasons why doctors prescribe them to be used for those with such conditions as Muscular Dystrophy, for paraplegics, and for those who have encountered severe injuries that have resulted in severe muscle damage.

Luckily, EMS systems are not an incredibly high investment. Many individuals are able to afford them and every individual can invest in the device that fits their particular needs. Certain ones give off a certain voltage, are different colors, different sizes, come with more or less electrodes, etc. Some may come with one type of electrode while others come with electrodes specially designed for different areas of the body. But again, they are not very expensive, making EMS systems an easily accessible treatment method for anyone. Anyone with a muscle disorder or injury should invest in an EMS system to improve the quality of their life and to keep up a healthy appearance. Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/equipment-articles

Using Electronic Muscle Stimulation Systems to Prevent Muscle Atrophy

Electronic muscle stimulators, or EMS devices, are electronic devices that stimulate the muscles. Many bodybuilders use them to speed up muscle repair after a strenuous workout. When they have worked out hard, they get microscopic tears in their muscles and it is the healing of those tears that allows their muscle mass to grow. This would explain why EMS systems are commonly used in preventing muscle atrophy in those who are physically disabled.

For a person who has a disease or has been in an accident that prohibits them from using certain muscles, those muscles will begin to deteriorate over time. You may notice someone with atrophy in their legs have legs that are smaller than they should be. This is because the muscle is deteriorating away. Along with that muscle mass goes the strength. Although they may not be able to use the atrophied muscles anyway, it is healthier to prolong or altogether prevent the atrophy from occurring.

Other reasons to prevent atrophy

Another reason in which EMS systems are used to prevent muscle atrophy is the fact that there have been medical breakthroughs that have enabled individuals who have not been able to use their muscles for years to suddenly use them. People who could not so much as stand are standing, so it was important to keep the muscles stimulated. Even if there is no hope of a person being able to utilize those muscles, they still need to be stimulated since medical breakthroughs are happening every single day. One just never knows when they're going to be notified of a new development, so their muscles have to be primed and ready to go. Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/equipment-articles