Fit

Rob Gronkowski apparently is indeed officially off the market, according to a former Patriots cheerleader. Camille Kostek said in an interview with The Boston Globe that she and the New England Patriots tight end are seeing each other. Kostek, a former Patriots cheerleader, opened up in an interview with the Globe centered around her new relationship and new modeling gig with Benrus. “Rob and I have been seeing each other,” she told the Globe. “We’re both super busy right now. Obviously he does a lot and I do a lot.” Kostek left the Patriots’ cheerleading team after this past season, and some wondered if her relationship with Gronkowski forced her to leave. However, Kostek told the Globe she was just looking for new opportunities. “I kind of relate myself to Vince Wilfork,” she explained. “There wasn’t a better way to close it out.”

More from Athlon Sports: Top 10 coaches on the hot seat this spring / Top 20 WRs on the rise in 2015 / Alabama is ready for another title run / Florida could win SEC East in 2015 / North Carolina's D must step up in 2015 / South Carolina in danger in SEC East A handful of SEC teams enter the offseason with uncertainty at quarterback, but there's no doubt about which player belongs at the top of the rankings for 2015. Mississippi State's Dak Prescott is the reigning first-team All-SEC quarterback and one of the top signal-callers in college football for 2015. After Prescott is where the intrigue begins in the SEC. Auburn's Jeremy Johnson is poised for a breakout year in his first season as the starter, while Texas A&M's Kyle Allen and Tennessee's Joshua Dobbs are two other rising stars to watch in 2015. Missouri's Maty Mauk and Arkansas' Brandon Allen are experienced options looking to make a move up the rankings. Note: To help compile the rankings, t...

While NFL teams pool their resources and prepare to add reinforcements in Thursday's NFL Draft, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback William Gay is in the midst of a different mission. The eight-year veteran is working tirelessly to end domestic violence. Gay has a personal and tragic connection to this issue. When he was just 7 years old, his stepfather shot and killed his mother before turning the gun on himself, leaving William and his two brothers without a family. The roller-coaster ride he experienced following that tragedy is documented in a spot he recently filmed for Verizon. Gay is teaming up with the telecommunications provider's HopeLine service to help stop domestic violence by encouraging the community to donate their used phones -- the goal is to reach a million by the end of 2015 -- at any Verizon store, to provide support to victims and survivors of domestic abuse. Gay hasn't stopped there. The 30-year-old Steelers vet has spent countless hours speaking at semina...

Lydia Ko has golf skills that reach way beyond her 18 years, and now she's shown a massive amount of heart to match. The LPGA world No. 1, who just defended her title at the LPGA Swinging Skirts competition, announced on Wednesday that she has pledged to donate the prize money she'll earn at the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout in Irving this week to help the Nepal earthquake relief effort. "Obviously, it was very unfortunate when I got to hear that there was an earthquake in Nepal," Ko said via GolfChannel.com. "We had a big one in New Zealand, too, a couple years ago, and it affected a lot of people. It was in Christchurch, where we call it the Garden City. It still has the name, but there is still evidence of what has happened there. Natural disasters you can't do much about. Sometimes, it's hard to be prepared for it, so I thought, those people there, nice people and very innocent, so I wanted to give this tournament's earnings and donat...

A new UFC light heavyweight champion will be crowned at UFC 187 in May as Daniel Cormier steps in to replace Jon Jones as he faces Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson in the new main event for the card taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Cormier received the title shot following the announcement that Jon Jones was stripped of the belt and suspended indefinitely after he was arrested on Monday on felony charges stemming from an alleged hit-and-run accident where he's been accused of leaving the scene after a three car pile-up. UFC president Dana White spoke about the decision on FOX Sports Live on Monday after the organization stripped Jones of the belt and suspended him indefinitely. "When you have a guy like Jon Jones who has defended his title as many times as he has, and for us to have to go in and strip him of his title and suspend him it's not fun, but you know what they say -- the show goes on," White said. "Anthony Johnson is ready for th...

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been stripped of his title effective immediately and is suspended from the promotion indefinitely. UFC president Dana White made the announcement via "FOX Sports Live" on Tuesday night. Jones was arrested on Monday in Albuquerque on allegations of leaving the scene of an accident, which is a felony charge in New Mexico due to one of the drivers suffering a fractured wrist and arm. The injured driver, later identified as Vanessa Sonnenberg, was taken to the hospital because she is pregnant and felt like she might pass out at the scene. Jones was sought as a "person of interest" in the hit-and-run accident, but the Albuquerque police eventually upgraded him to a suspect before issuing a warrant for his arrest on felony charges for leaving the scene of an accident. Jones eventually surrendered to police on Monday before being released on $2,500 bond. White said he finally spoke to Jones on Tuesday to get his side of the stor...

Here’s a simple truth you already know: No amount of motivational posters will help you if you are not in the right place in your head, if you push yourself too hard, never let off steam and fail to manage your expectations. This begs the question: how do you get to that right place inside your head? Well, there are a few tips:  Give it time.  It’s not that we cannot stick to exercise for a long period of time because we’re weak; it’s because we try to do it overnight and on top of that we expect immediate results that don’t happen, that make us give up. Commitment to fitness is not something we can just turn on like pulling a switch in our heads; it’s always a gradual process. You start small and you build up from there, one effort at a time, one day at time. You have to slowly re-educate yourself and get used to the idea of exercise, incorporate it in your daily life in small ways first, and only then will you be able to commit to it more seriously long term.  Reward yo...

Prolonged periods of inactivity and a diet high in saturated fat and high sugar lead to visceral fat storage, fat in our midsection that surrounds our internal organs. Some of the fat from the fat cells in that area can get into the main vein that supplies and delivers blood to our liver and then end up in our bloodstream raising our cholesterol levels. So apart from being visually unappealing it can also cause a variety of health issues like increased blood pressure, hormonal imbalances, cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance which then leads to type 2 diabetes. All and all it’s not a pretty picture, on the inside or on the outside. The fat in this area is often the last one to go because its storage is a safety feature of sorts. The body sees it as a reserve needed to ensure our survival for when times are tough and food is scarce. The subcutaneous fat that we carry under our skin that leads to cellulite in women and saggy thighs in men, is a lot easier to get rid of as it is ...

Sleep is nature’s Borg Regeneration Pod. While many of our systems power down while we sleep many others power up so we barely save any energy at all between our sleeping and waking stage. While we are asleep our brains kick into high gear, doing a lot of housekeeping and repair in our mental connections. This is activity that improves the function of our brains when we wake up so we can remember things better, have more efficient ways to pull up memories, learn faster and respond quicker to unexpected emergencies. Similarly, when we are asleep our muscles also begin to undergo changes in their activity. Voluntary control and muscle function are largely disabled and involuntary movements take over. Muscle building and repair goes on during the sleep stage and the body uses the downtime to focus on cellular repair and the streamlining of its inner processes. This is when muscle soreness from intense exercise stops or gets better and muscles get stronger and bigger.   As a matter of ...

Everything starts for a reason and fitness is no exception to the rule. Unless you have a really good reason to start you won't be able to stay committed and follow through with your resolutions. The good news is that most of it is mental which means you can actually put a plan of action in place that will remove all the obstacles standing between you and your fitness goals:  Start small. What you really need is to change your habits, and how you feel and look will change on their own. The moment you concentrate on the action and not on the end result is when you truly transform, inside and out. Start with small changes in your diet and exercise habits, start by eating better and adding a few squats and planks into your daily routine or pick up a 30-day challenge. It is important that you stick to the small things first, before you demand anything more radical from yourself. The harder you push from the start the harder it’ll be to stay on track.  Find the right activity for y...

Studies show that most people gain weight when they are in a relationship. It’s not just that the hunt is over and we already have someone to share our life with and we don’t feel the pressure to stay in shape, it’s also the fact that we now have to coordinate everything we do with our other half we now share everything with. Staying in shape while in a relationship can be challenging, but it can also be something that brings you closer together and helps you bond. Something that makes you and your relationship stronger. It all depends on how you approach it. Recruit your other half to participate Work on the principle that couples who train together stay together. All you need is a little bit of planning with all parties being aware of the precise time and the kind of training you will be doing so everyone is mentally and physically ready for it. Talk it out, look at available options together, make it a couple thing and work around your schedules and other commitments. There are many...

ou can be a gamer and you can be into fitness, if you know how to find the balance between the two. More than that, one can complement the other quiet beautifully once integrated, there has been plenty of gamification in fitness and plenty of fitness in gaming in recent years. The two have a lot more in common than meets the eye: in both worlds we upgrade and level up our characters; we meet the targets and work hard for our gains. Both, essentially do the same thing, both have similar rules and both require you to spend time, and effort to improve your skill if you ever want to get better at it, better in the game of life, whether actual or digital.  Video games have been blamed for rapidly climbing obesity rates. They’ve been demonized and given more and more of a bad rep. Yet, they have never really been at the core of the problem which is slowly killing us all. The problem that isn’t about what we do, but about what we don’t do: move. A sedentary lifestyle is to blame for our b...

Here, there is some magic sparkling dust that you can sprinkle all over yourself and instantly feel energized and eager to get up and work it, work it like there is no tomorrow. Or, here is a magic pill that gives you an itch until you go and work it off running here and there like the Energizer bunny. And if these two didn’t work you’ll have go for the last resort-solution… grow a pair and cultivate a back-bone of some sort. Do it, not because someone on the internet told you that you should, but because it’s the right thing to do, the healthy thing to do. Motivation isn’t something extraordinary that some people just possess – it’s something you cultivate and promote in yourself every single day. No one likes pain, soreness, hell, even a little discomfort of any kind. And, let’s face it, it’s very comfortable sitting pretty in front of the screen counting hours before the next meal… but you know who else has that kind of lifestyle? Hamsters. And they have a running wheel which they u...

For well over a decade Bud Foster has been considered one of the best defensive minds in all of football. The Virginia Tech DC's rep grew even more last season when his Hokies went to Columbus, harassed Ohio State freshman QB J.T. Barrett and rattled the Buckeyes' offense, sticking Urban Meyer with his first regular-season loss at OSU, 35-21. A big key to the Hokies' triumph over the eventual national champs was going to the Bear defense. Just exactly what the Hokies did, why they did it and how the change-up impacted their defense for the year has been detailed in a fascinating series that's just come out via the coaching site, XandOlabs.com. The site, which offers premium content, is done by football coaches and for football coaches, but a lot of the material also resonates for regular fans of the sport, especially the ones intrigued by the X-and-Os. Mike Kuchar (a former colleague of mine and a friend) spent a lot of time in Blacksburg this spring with the Hokies...

MADRID -- After the most difficult draw imaginable in the last eight, the best possible pairing in the semifinals. Having overcome the hugely complicated challenge posed by Atletico in two tense quarterfinal games, Real Madrid was rewarded with a tie against Juventus on Friday as Barcelona and Bayern Munich meet in the other pairing. These four teams have made more European Cup and UEFA Champions League semifinals than anyone else in history and no rival is easy at this stage of the continent's premier club competition, but Juventus has not reached the last four since 2003 and the club's passage to the penultimate stage is something of a surprise. Despite last season's 5-0 aggregate defeat of Bayern in the semifinals en route to "La Decima," Madrid was keen to avoid Josep Guardiola's side in the last four this time around and definitely did not want to face Barcelona, either. Of the three possible rivals in the semifinals, Madrid wanted Juventus above the othe...

DETROIT Left off the Cleveland Indians' roster at the end of spring training, Danny Salazar is trying to make the most of a second chance. Thus far, he's doing a fine job. Salazar struck out a career-high 11, Brandon Moss homered twice and drove in seven runs, and the Indians routed the suddenly slumping Detroit Tigers 13-1 Friday night. Thanks to some help from center fielder Michael Bourn, Salazar (2-0) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and went on to pitch seven strong innings. "This is what we've expected to see from Danny all along," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He looks like a different pitcher than he did in Florida, and we're going to challenge him every day to keep that going." Salazar gave up six hits and three walks. "I'm challenging guys now, and tonight I was able to throw all my pitches when I needed them," he said. "That's the difference." ANAHEIM, CA - OCTOBER 5: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Ang...

Best game:  Warriors 123, Pelicans 119 (OT) Dick Wolf is going to write an "SVU" episode about what the Warriors did to the Pelicans on Thursday. That was a flat-out abduction. The Pels were up 20 in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were shooting under 40 percent from the field. Dubs not named Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson had combined for exactly  zero  3-pointers.A Pelicans victory seemed inevitable. But the Warriors outscored New Orleans 39-19 in the fourth, capped with Curry's late three — he finished with 40.                  Why the Pelicans didn’t foul up three with less than 10 seconds left in regulation is confusing. Why they ran risky out-of-bounds play after risky out-of-bounds play, lucking out of not one but two turnovers in the final minutes of the fourth is confusing.Why their crunch-time offense got away from Anthony Davis, who finished with 29 points and 15 boards, confusing. Why they took 10 seconds to foul C...

Routines can help you get things done, but they can be so boring and predictable. When you are stuck in a rut, your life is not as interesting and happy as you want it to be. How can you make your life more adventurous and more exciting? Easy! There are so many things you can do spontaneously today. They might not be for everyone, but sometimes doing something daring can bring the spark back into that dull life. Check out the list of the most spontaneous things you can try today. 1. Rock a new style Yesterday you saw a nice pair of jeans or a bold red dress and you didn’t buy it. You may think that you’d never be able to wear those jeans or that dress. Actually, you can! Go shopping and buy things that can change your style. Don’t be afraid to rock a new style! It’s one of the most spontaneous things you can do today to impress everyone around you. 2. Get a tattoo Tattoo is not for everyone, but my friend took this bold and risky step! I strongly believe in living life without regrets,...