Alex Miller
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Alex Miller, Founder and CEO of Upgraded Points Expert
Alex Miller Quick Facts
Alex Miller is the founder and CEO of Upgraded Points, a website that offers insider strategies for travelers to maximize their credit card points, miles, and rewards to enhance their travel experiences. He is a native of England and has been a travel enthusiast for more than 25 years.
Articles by this expert
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Article
11 Tips to Make Flying the Best Part of Your Business Trip
In my 25-plus years of travel experience, I have learned that being adaptable and well-prepared can smooth out any travel hiccups, which is especially important for business trips. But it helps even on leisure trips. Last year, when my wife and I were flying from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City, I managed to avoid a big setback by thinking on my feet. During my research for the trip, I’d come across information from several major traveling resources indicating that my wife, Erin, would not need a visa because she was a U.S. citizen.
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Article
Add Some Weights to Your Mixed Martial Arts Training
Masutatsu Oyama’s Expirament with Mixed Martial Arts and Weight Training Decades ago, the late Mas(utatsu) Oyama, founder of Kyokushinkai Karate, and arguably the undocumented godfather of mixed martial arts, once conducted an informal test between two of his students to determine what kind of physical conditioning was best for hand to hand combat performance. The first student’s preparation for the competition consisted mostly of calisthenics as background conditioning. The
October 28, 2011
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Sleep—The Forgotten Recovery Aid
If you have been bitten by the weight training bug, sleep may be the last thing on your mind. You have probably devoured all reading materials that instruct you how to efficiently tear down muscle cells. In fact, you search for new methods for this form of constructive self-torture, don’t you? In fact, after a workout, perhaps you mentally chastise yourself thinking up ways you missed at better damaging the muscle fibers. What does not kill you makes you stronger, right? On t
October 27, 2011
Article
Super-Size Me: The Search for the Secret of Supercompensation
The goal of your body is not one of supercompensation. The body’s goal is to continue its survival by staying in a state of homeostasis (balance). Your goal as the “driver” of the body, who wants to constantly physically improve, is not to be balanced or to remain the same. As a weight trainer, you always want to be getting stronger. Many iron lovers regularly work their bodies well past fatigue and into a state of neuromuscular exhaustion two to six days every week. You wis
October 17, 2011
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Sports Nutrition FAQs
Why is Sports Nutrition Important? Athletes need to focus in on sports nutrition including what kind of supplements to take if they are to be competitive and on top of their game. They not only need to know the required ratios of organic nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats but also when to take them. This is especially true of extreme sports in which strength and endurance activities may require above average consumption of nutrients. Why Does Sports Nutritio
October 16, 2011
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The Significance of Nutrient Ratios
What are the best nutrient ratios of carbohydrates to proteins to fats? Before delving into that let’s first see what these nutrients are all about: The Importance of Carbohydrates in Nutrient Ratios Eating in our society today revolves around diets that are high in carbohydrates and rightly so, because the world’s population has never been greater than it is at this time. Generally speaking, carbs are very inexpensive. They keep vast populations of the world alive and nour
October 16, 2011
Article
Exercise and Hydration: Fill ‘er Up
Most weight trainers and exercise enthusiasts underestimate the importance of hydration. You can’t live a week without staying hydrated. Water helps to regulate temperature, protects/buffers vital internal organs and is useful to our digestive system. It is in well over half of our bodily tissue. Muscles are composed of 75% of it. The Institute of Medicine says that Americans get approximately 80% of their daily hydration requirements from water intake and other beverages and
October 16, 2011
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Planning Recovery for Strength Training Workouts
There is more written about how to perform strength training workouts than about recovery. Most everything you read about weight training is about how to get a good workout, what is the best method to work a particular muscle group, how to get a good pump, etc. Although it is true that the purpose of a strength training workout is to safely break down tissue as quickly as possible, it is also true that if this is carried too far, you may eventually suffer from overtraining. M
October 14, 2011
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Shoulder Injuries and Weight Lifting
Of all the places on your body to be injured, shoulder injuries in weight lifting will render your upper body strength next to useless. If your shoulder is badly hurt, you will have a challenging time pulling or pushing anything heavy. According to a particular study with elite powerlifters, the most commonly injured areas when lifting iron are the shoulders, lower back and knees. The study also found that if you are older tha 40 then you chance of an upper body injury was a
October 10, 2011
Article
Elbow Pain When Weight Lifting
Feeling elbow pain in your weight lifting endeavors can be very annoying and frustrating, let alone maybe downright excruciating. Usually the pain becomes chronic, that is, it seems to never go away. You may be given the advice by a health care professional to rest completely by not lifting weights at all for awhile. Then, you start lifting again and the pain is back. Sometimes just turning a door handle or picking up a small object is painful. First of all, take the mystery
October 10, 2011
Article
Weight Training Injuries: A Bummer for Your Gym Life
How Do Common Weight Training Injuries Occur? The 3 usual areas particular to weight training injuries are the shoulders, the back and the knees. The shoulders can have rotator cuff issues. The lower back can have a bad sprain or possibly a bulging disk resulting in the sciatic nerve being aggravated. The knees can develop sprains and cartilage wear and tear. How do injuries occur? It may happen like this: You have been weight training for some years. One day you’re doing r
October 9, 2011
Article
The Six Best Shoulder Exercises
There are about a half dozen of what may be called the best shoulder exercises. Powerlifters, Olympic weight lifters, and bodybuilders work on their shoulders for somewhat different reasons. Bodybuilders want to get that wide-at-the-shoulder look tapered down lats to a slim waist V shape. The Powerlifters and Olympic weight lifters work on shoulder exercises to toughen up that part of their body so as to avoid shoulder injuries when training for and performing their major lif
October 8, 2011