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Today Joe Biden is expected to sign two new executive orders that will increase food aid and expand protection for federal employees. Regulations include improved grocery stamp benefits, a $ 15 minimum wage for federal employees, and expanded unemployment benefits.

What’s in the two executive orders?

The following is expected:

• The president urges the Department of Labor to provide unemployed Americans with unemployment benefits if they refuse jobs that could endanger their health. according to the New York Times. A federal right of refusal would protect job seekers from being forced to take jobs that could expose them to the COVID virus.
• The executive action will also seek to expand the protection and benefits of federal employees by restoring some collective bargaining rights, guaranteeing a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour (plus paid emergency vacation benefits), and eliminating a previous Trump Executive Order under which certain public employees Service was named a Schedule F classification. The classification made it easier to dismiss employees as it was less protected under public service regulations.
• Via CNNPresident Joe Biden will ask the Department of Agriculture to improve the situation Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) by 15%, giving a family with three children more than $ 100 additional support every two months. The funds are intended to compensate for the loss of school feeding programs.
• Biden will also increase the benefits of SNAP grocery stamps for the 12 million Americans (roughly 40% of the lowest-income SNAP recipients) who did not qualify for additional relief under previous relief packages. According to the New York TimesThe order increases the benefits for a family of four by 15% – 20% per month.
• The president will also ask the Treasury Department to find a better way to deliver relief checks to eight million low-income Americans who do not file taxes and are hard to come by. The IRS had created one Non-filer tool to help these people get their aid checks, but many are still unclaimed.

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I love my protein shaker. (I was even known Mix cocktails in it.) It’s a staple in my life as a meathead because I find protein shakes to help me achieve my muscle building goals. However, a protein shake is not an automatic necessity when you lift weights. So let’s talk about how you know if you actually need one.

Protein is important to everyone

Everyone needs protein, but most casual coaches can get it as much as you need from a healthy diet. When trying to build muscle, you may need more protein than you can comfortably get from your diet. And as you lose weight, keep your protein intake high so you don’t lose too much muscle along with fat.

The amount of protein you need, regardless of which of these categories you fall into, can be achieved through a normal healthy diet. Meat, eggs, dairy products, tofu, artificial meat, and to a lesser extent grains and beans are excellent sources of protein. Protein shakes and supplements are not required. They are just a ready-made meal.

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What about all those shaker bottles in the gym?

If you need to get a lot of protein in your diet, a shake before (or during) your workout is a way to pack some of it. One mindset is that you should do this Space protein throughout the day for better muscle protein synthesisThe shake would be just one of many protein-rich meals that an athlete consumes in a day.

When you’re new to the gym, there’s no need to enter your nutrient timing or drink pre-workout powders or other specialty supplements. Exercising and chugging shakes is not a package deal. You can just do your workout and have healthy meals before and after. Don’t add anything else to your routine unless you have a specific reason to do so.

Think of protein powder as a food, not a supplement

Sure, the FDA regulates it as a “supplement,” but I’d rather think about it Protein powder as food. If I wanted 30 grams of protein in one meal, I could achieve that goal with a chicken sandwich or protein shake. Which one I choose depends on which one accomplishes my immediate goals better.

Do you want something filling? If you are hungry the sandwich is a better choice. But if you’re trying to get something to your stomach before an early morning workout, a protein and carbohydrate shake can do the job without feeling too full.

Are you tracking your macros? Protein powder contains protein with very few other nutrients. If you’re counting calories or limiting macronutrients like carbohydrates, the powder can come in handy as it’s low in calories but still has a huge protein punch.

Are you lazy? Protein powder is cheaper than many other sources of protein, and shaking a blender bottle is faster than cooking a fancy meal. To be completely honest, this is probably the main reason it’s popular with bodybuilders, especially those who eat four to six meals a day. A shake is just a meal that you don’t have to cook.

How to Make a Great Protein Shake

Okay, let’s say you’ve decided to have a protein shake. What’s the best way to do one?

First of all, you want to choose a protein powder. Don’t buy whatever is the most jacked-up guy on the label at GNC. Many products marketed like protein shakes are actually “mass winners” that provide a lot of calories in addition to protein. If you are looking to increase your calories in order to gain weight, this is a good thing, but consider carefully whether you might want to eat food rather than a maltodextrin slurry.

Next, once you have your actual protein powder –We have a guide to the most common types here– You need something to interfere with. I use a blender bottle (no brand loyalty, it’s just the one I picked up at my grocery store). Any shaker with a whisk is sufficient. Unfortunately, stirring with a spoon or shaking a regular glass will not mix the powder well enough into the liquid.

If you want to make thicker smoothies with lots of fruit and other ingredients, consider using a real blender. But let’s look at the quick and easy type of protein shake that I would say is the best.

I use a 16 ounce bottle, the smallest I could find, then pour in 8 ounces of water (if I’m trying to minimize calories) or sweetened, flavored almond milk (if I try to maximize flavor) . I love the blueberry lavender and matcha-flavored almond milk from Trader Joe’s, but chocolate or vanilla would be fine too.

Then I put a scoop of unflavored whey powder in it. Protein powders come in a variety of flavors. When deciding on a flavor, make sure you like it before you commit to getting a full pitcher. The unflavored stuff goes well with any drink (or other foods like yogurt) but that’s the choice I made. If your powder is flavored, you may prefer water or a milk or neutral flavored drink to my flavored almond milk.

Finally, throw in the whisk and close the lid tightly. I like to swirl the mixture for a few seconds before I start shaking because otherwise I find that some of the dry powder is forced into the drinking spout.

The result is 8 ounces (give or take) of a thin, protein-containing liquid that you can quickly chug before you start exercising. If you find the taste rough, I recommend making it with less liquid so that less of the mixture can be drunk. Or you can toss it all down the drain and have a sandwich instead.

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So you want to learn to play the drums. Hit the skins. Hit some wooden circles with sticks to get that sweet, sweet rhythm. In this endeavor, I salute you, especially if you are a child who lives at home with your parents (they will learn to deal with the noise).

Drummers are a strange breed. We sit in the background and most of our efforts go unnoticed and not appreciated, especially by people who don’t play music or who don’t understand how well drumming compliments a style of music. When I was taking lessons at the local music store as a kid, my drum teacher compared playing a drum kit to flying a helicopter: both skills require you to keep multiple body parts in sync at the same time, and everything else will spell disaster.

One thing to note is that learning the drums takes time, but once you get a feel for simple beats and rudiments, some things will become more fun.

Start with sticks and an exercise pad

Drumming is an investment that costs time, energy and money. It can also test the patience of those around you, as the cacophony of the sound is created by beating drums without much skill or practice. If it’s your child who wants to learn – and even if it is you, a presumed adult – I’d suggest starting small by purchasing a plastic exercise pad and a couple of drumsticks.

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These don’t sound great (they’re plastic, after all), but they’ll help you get a feel for the basic, rudimentary skills that are the building blocks of better drumming. From there, read the YouTube tutorials. There is Tons of themand they show you what you need to know: Paradiddles, single-stroke and double-stroke rolls, flams, single-stroke-fours, single-stroke-fives, buzz-rolls and and so on.

These basic instructions will give you at least something to take with you for a drum lesson once you feel ready to begin.

Maybe buy a snare first

You will find that I do not advise anyone to buy a full kit right away. Drum kits – decent ones anyway – are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. First, you need to learn how to set one up: you need to know how to arrange your high hats, rack digs, the floor grave, kick drum, and any cymbals and ancillary equipment you may find attractive. There are also lots of tedious buttons and pieces of felt.

With that in mind, buy a sling to get started. You can practice the same basics on the snare as you can on the plastic pads, only it sounds more like you are actually drumming. My parents did this for me when I started, and it was a good move for them. They wanted to see if I was actually interested in drumming verse, and the very idea of ​​drumming – and my daily presence on the snare drum was a good sign that I was ready to move on to actual drumming.

Start the lessons

Unless you’re a virtuoso talent, you need lessons – at least for a while. In times of pandemic and social distancing, it can take a little longer to actually be in the same room with a teacher, but finding drum lessons online should be easy enough. If you feel like building a relationship with a drumming sensei there are plenty Online resources at your disposal. I would recommend reading a teacher’s reviews (if available) and making a challenging decision from there. If none of the larger digital-first lesson plans seem to be working, check with your local music store as they may have online classes anyway.

Once you find a good teacher, you will definitely get a book of basic drum tabs. The drum notes show you how drum beats are articulated in writing so you can learn to read basic music. It’s like speaking a different language, so you start small and build from there.

Buy a drum kit

Congratulations, you earned the right to spend money on a big old drum kit that John Bonham and Buddy Rich would be proud of. Talk to your teacher or the people in the drum shop about the kit that best suits your ambitions. My personal point of view is rather minimalist: I play a four-piece kit with a crash cymbal and a ride cymbal (not that you would ever need more than one ride cymbal).

If you can jam and groove with a smaller kit, you don’t need anything special. At the very least, you should definitely start playing with other people (if you can safely do so in the middle of the pandemic) and just enjoy yourself. And if you want to pretend you’re Neil Peart and buy a 30-piece kit, go for it. I would love to play around with you.