Last week was the end of week 4 for the 1st class program in "You are your own gym". I do not wish to share the numbers or too much of my experience yet. I will say there have been some positive results.
Today I want to to do two things. The first is to update on my stepdad's P90X and the second is to talk briefly about the workout program Insanity.
Unfortunately P90X seems to be a fall off and get back on sort of thing. Miss a few days, then hit a week straight. Little else needs to be said. I will give some praise to the fact that through P90X, my stepdad has slimmed down some. The flip side is I am concerned how permanent it will be. Only time will tell and I hope for the best.
As far as Insanity goes, I've heard good things. It, like "You are your own gym", is a body weight program. It runs a 150 tag and is not for the faint of heart. It is suppose to be for those already in good shape, with experience on a program. I know of two men I could say are very fit who claim it is awesome. One of these men told me it was going fine, then when he bent over for a stretch or certain part of the workout, sweat rained down. I actually read one reviewer suggest keeping a mop or something handy. I'm sure a towel would do it, but when you actually need to wipe the floor to workout you have my attention. This one has only a 60 day challenge period but is said to get you very ripped. 30 day money back guarantee, which is always nice. This one has a specified nutrition plan of what to eat on certain days of the program...which I don't like as much. At a certain point these programs must get elite in nutrition to guarantee success though, so I understand. Really depends what kind of stuff they make people eat, if it's like a certain other program which cuts carbs for the first month, leaving you feeling very non-energized and tired. I'd be a little hesitant.
After I graduate from the master class of Mark Lauren's program, I might give this one a try.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Five high ranking vegetables for optimal health.
1. Kale- This is my favorite. Kale has vitamin A,C, Dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, and various amounts of other vitamins. I have two ways I enjoy making Kale. The first way is the steam it. The second way is to make "kale chips". Kale is somewhat chewy, but if you eat sunflower seeds or don't mind taking time to eat/snack, this shouldn't bother you.These can be made different ways, but I tend to take a pan, cover it with aluminum foil, sprinkle some olive oil on the foil, rip up leaves and place them in the oven at 275 until crisp. Add seasoning and you have a super healthy and tasty snack. This one even has some fiber (mostly in the stalk).
2. Spinach. This vegetable kicks butt for vitamins A, C and K. Fresh spinach is good to consume raw or steamed, much like Kale and most other vegetables. Spinach is a great food to incorporate into your diet to improve your health, partially due to it is very easy to find. This is great to rip up and put into your eggs.
3. Broccoli. Broccoli is a great one to spot at parties. Chances are good if you look past the cookies, there is a vegetable dish and this one usually makes it in there. Broccoli is good to eat with cheese or old bay.http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Spinach/Spinach-Bunch/21565
4. Peppers. - The spice of life may be variety, but the spice of vegetables is a pepper. These are very easy to move around, or in most parts of Maryland, grow your own. Check out what Whfoods.com said on their website, "Bell pepper is not only an excellent source of carotenoids, but also a source of over 30 different members of the carotenoid nutrient family. A recent study from Spain took a close look vitamin C, vitamin E, and six of these carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin) in all commonly eaten foods and found that only two vegetables contained at least two-thirds of all the listed nutrients. One of these foods was tomato, and the other was sweet bell pepper!"
5. Soybeans. - A half a cup is worth about 8 grams of protein. Soybeans fit easily into any soup or recipe, they're also available online to buy bulk for great prices (most beans are). Also a good source for dietary fiber.
1. Kale- This is my favorite. Kale has vitamin A,C, Dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, and various amounts of other vitamins. I have two ways I enjoy making Kale. The first way is the steam it. The second way is to make "kale chips". Kale is somewhat chewy, but if you eat sunflower seeds or don't mind taking time to eat/snack, this shouldn't bother you.These can be made different ways, but I tend to take a pan, cover it with aluminum foil, sprinkle some olive oil on the foil, rip up leaves and place them in the oven at 275 until crisp. Add seasoning and you have a super healthy and tasty snack. This one even has some fiber (mostly in the stalk).
2. Spinach. This vegetable kicks butt for vitamins A, C and K. Fresh spinach is good to consume raw or steamed, much like Kale and most other vegetables. Spinach is a great food to incorporate into your diet to improve your health, partially due to it is very easy to find. This is great to rip up and put into your eggs.
3. Broccoli. Broccoli is a great one to spot at parties. Chances are good if you look past the cookies, there is a vegetable dish and this one usually makes it in there. Broccoli is good to eat with cheese or old bay.http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Spinach/Spinach-Bunch/21565
4. Peppers. - The spice of life may be variety, but the spice of vegetables is a pepper. These are very easy to move around, or in most parts of Maryland, grow your own. Check out what Whfoods.com said on their website, "Bell pepper is not only an excellent source of carotenoids, but also a source of over 30 different members of the carotenoid nutrient family. A recent study from Spain took a close look vitamin C, vitamin E, and six of these carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin) in all commonly eaten foods and found that only two vegetables contained at least two-thirds of all the listed nutrients. One of these foods was tomato, and the other was sweet bell pepper!"
5. Soybeans. - A half a cup is worth about 8 grams of protein. Soybeans fit easily into any soup or recipe, they're also available online to buy bulk for great prices (most beans are). Also a good source for dietary fiber.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
What bodybuilders and bloggers have in common.
Any guesses as to what they have in common? Chances are, you think today's post will be about how bodybuilding and blogging is an art from that requires diligence....practice....commitment....etc etc. Good point, there's some truth in that. That's not where we are going today though, really the post title for today could say what bodybuilders, bloggers, and people in any area of life that hit a point and stop improving.
If we had a graph of productivity for the majority of people who have been doing something for a few years, you would see their skills drastically improving in the beginning than level out (sometimes even decrease if progress is halted long enough). Why is this? Briefly, people get into an autopilot at some point usually. Instead of ten years experience, they get one years experience repeated 10 times. What bodybuilders (and friends) have to do with this is that many get stronger and stronger, than go into maintaining mode. In some professions and areas of life backsliding happens when 'maintain' mode comes on, but bodybuilders can sometimes just hold it. It is easy to see a ripped person and assume they hit they're wall, but c'mon. There are normal people who deadlift 400, 500 pounds. Yet you honestly believe that dude is at his max because he looks good in a bathing suit and can benchpress 220? If his life depended on him being able to bench press 275 by this time next year, think he could make that happen?
So the first reason is the ever present threat of being comfortable. I may have touched on that before.
The second is also very, very important. Guy (or gal) stopped learning. They stopped looking actively into what can help them squeeze that extra 10,20,30, 40 percent out. Believe me, at a certain point 10 percent is the difference between pretty cool and down right impressive when it comes to weight. Some bloggers risk the same thing, they stop learning, so they're posts get harder to write or more bland. Anything you can think of that a person could commit to, same thing. In my opinion, one of the best things for people who have been active in something for some time, as well as someone brand new, is to get a coach. A accountability partner may work if they understand some of what you are doing, and you can hold yourself responsible to them in terms of giving your best. Robert Kiyosaki says it well "Professionals have coaches. Amateurs do not."
Coaches share expertise and are there to get the best out of you, if you want to get out of 'maintain' mode, or jump way ahead in your experience, seek a mentor or coach who has gotten what you want.
If we had a graph of productivity for the majority of people who have been doing something for a few years, you would see their skills drastically improving in the beginning than level out (sometimes even decrease if progress is halted long enough). Why is this? Briefly, people get into an autopilot at some point usually. Instead of ten years experience, they get one years experience repeated 10 times. What bodybuilders (and friends) have to do with this is that many get stronger and stronger, than go into maintaining mode. In some professions and areas of life backsliding happens when 'maintain' mode comes on, but bodybuilders can sometimes just hold it. It is easy to see a ripped person and assume they hit they're wall, but c'mon. There are normal people who deadlift 400, 500 pounds. Yet you honestly believe that dude is at his max because he looks good in a bathing suit and can benchpress 220? If his life depended on him being able to bench press 275 by this time next year, think he could make that happen?
So the first reason is the ever present threat of being comfortable. I may have touched on that before.
The second is also very, very important. Guy (or gal) stopped learning. They stopped looking actively into what can help them squeeze that extra 10,20,30, 40 percent out. Believe me, at a certain point 10 percent is the difference between pretty cool and down right impressive when it comes to weight. Some bloggers risk the same thing, they stop learning, so they're posts get harder to write or more bland. Anything you can think of that a person could commit to, same thing. In my opinion, one of the best things for people who have been active in something for some time, as well as someone brand new, is to get a coach. A accountability partner may work if they understand some of what you are doing, and you can hold yourself responsible to them in terms of giving your best. Robert Kiyosaki says it well "Professionals have coaches. Amateurs do not."
Coaches share expertise and are there to get the best out of you, if you want to get out of 'maintain' mode, or jump way ahead in your experience, seek a mentor or coach who has gotten what you want.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Exercising : group or alone (plus a memorial day thought)
Monday madness, let's kick it off. Hope everyone is thankful and safe on this memorial day. In my opinion, I would like to say that if you enjoyed something as simple as a hot shower recently, you have a big reason to be thankful. I recommend a prayer of sincere gratitude, but if you refuse to that, you really may want to thank something or somebody you get to be apart of this great place to be.
Now on to today's post. Without researching or breaking out the statistics, I would say that the majority of people (at least in America) do some form of exercise once a week or more. This can range from rock climbing to a light walk around the neighborhood. This brings up a good question, is it better to work alone or in a group? According to the American Time Use Survey, in the section titled
Now on to today's post. Without researching or breaking out the statistics, I would say that the majority of people (at least in America) do some form of exercise once a week or more. This can range from rock climbing to a light walk around the neighborhood. This brings up a good question, is it better to work alone or in a group? According to the American Time Use Survey, in the section titled
"Companions During Sports and Exercise Activities", it states that it is divided pretty evenly. You are about as likely to workout with someone as working out alone. I personally believe it really can depend on where you are and what you want. LA fitness news claims there are some good benefits, including: competition element, motivation, accountability, and although usually more in the case of women, intensity (competition).
From what I have seen, I recommend both; to have fun and trade workouts and tips (helps a lot if you and your workout buddy have similar goals). To be fair, I have heard and noticed that the people who usually get strongest, fittest, and most able are the people who train and workout alone. We have seen those pair of friends or dating pair who have been going to the gym for months or years and have little to show for it. So why do I recommend both? Just because the most fit often are seen pushing alone, does not mean they always are. Basically, depend on no one to get you in shape other than you, if you buddies call out, push it anyway (in fact, push it even harder so you are extra proud the next day).
On the other hand, there are some foreseeable benefits of hanging and working out sometimes. It may just be wise to watch who you bring to workout with you, if they aren't bringing the best out of you mentally and athletically, they may not be the right fit. It may be a good idea to have a set day to workout with a friend versus whenever it comes up, or maybe try setting the habit alone and adding in some occasional friend workouts as a reward for sticking to it.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The 5k obstacle course zombie race
I may have a future fitness goal.
Today we are going to be talking about the zombie 5k. From what I know, it is played out as follows:
You are given 3 health flags at the beginning, they say go and you run through a park with obstacles such as crossing chest high waters, climbing over obstacles, and crawling through mud and tubes. Above all, you run like a mad man and try to avoid having all your flags grabbed by the zombies. According to their website, if they told us everything it wouldn't be as fun, such as the zombie speeds and such. From what I have seen on youtube though, zombies mostly walk and try to jump out from places. The problem is that, at least according to their website, there are hundreds of them. So keeping a steady hustle is probably a good idea. If you lose all your flags you don't get your name added to the survival time list, but you can still finish. You don't get to become a zombie.
Price is a little steep, depending on date it's $77-$88. Even though there are no weapons aloud, it has to be awesome to finish alive. Apparently they have a line up of bands also to play afterward in the "safe zone" a.k.a the finish line. So maybe it's a dream or future goal, first I have to finish my strength training. If anybody wants to join it's coming to Maryland and Pennsylvania and a bunch of other locations so I figured I would give a quick review and let my readers know. Enjoy.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Strongman Vs Bodybuilder
I was riding passenger in my friend Steve Moore's car a few days ago. We were chatting about working out, and training in general. Before long we got into talking about our strongman friend Dan Cenidoza. Somewhere in there I said that Dan Cenidoza is a bodybuilder as well since it is practically the same thing as a "strongman". Steve told me if I called Dan a bodybuilder he would slap me.
Okay, let's expand our vocabulary.
It seems that although "bodybuilder" seems to be the term our society grouped anyone with a fitness goal other than cardio. The difference is like a person who plays a good variety of sports versus someone who is pro is one event or sport. In fitness, it would be like someone doing bicep curls everyday, versus someone who does a different set of exercises depending on the day. Someone who does a large number of a exercise, of course would look good curling 200 or 300 pounds, but outside that exercise, they probably lose a lot of that impressive weight.
Although someone can get big doing a few exercises a LOT, there is a good chance they will have many areas where they still are weak, because they have challenged themselves there. This is the difference between a strongman and a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders often are a little weak overall, only excelling in a few exercises which does not improve their fitness level as a whole very much. Strongman are different because they tend to focus more on different speed exercises, different motion ranges, grip strength, sometimes even things like building lung strength.
It is true that most strongman tend to care much less about looks, absolute extremes may not be for everyone. So although it may be a good idea to try to excel at some areas (usually the ones you like working most), it is probably a good idea to have variety so you can do more than look good, you can actually be strong for cases other than "quick, I need someone to lift this 250 pound bicep bar off my friend!".
Okay, let's expand our vocabulary.
It seems that although "bodybuilder" seems to be the term our society grouped anyone with a fitness goal other than cardio. The difference is like a person who plays a good variety of sports versus someone who is pro is one event or sport. In fitness, it would be like someone doing bicep curls everyday, versus someone who does a different set of exercises depending on the day. Someone who does a large number of a exercise, of course would look good curling 200 or 300 pounds, but outside that exercise, they probably lose a lot of that impressive weight.
Although someone can get big doing a few exercises a LOT, there is a good chance they will have many areas where they still are weak, because they have challenged themselves there. This is the difference between a strongman and a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders often are a little weak overall, only excelling in a few exercises which does not improve their fitness level as a whole very much. Strongman are different because they tend to focus more on different speed exercises, different motion ranges, grip strength, sometimes even things like building lung strength.
It is true that most strongman tend to care much less about looks, absolute extremes may not be for everyone. So although it may be a good idea to try to excel at some areas (usually the ones you like working most), it is probably a good idea to have variety so you can do more than look good, you can actually be strong for cases other than "quick, I need someone to lift this 250 pound bicep bar off my friend!".
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Choose a winner's snack
A few days ago I woke up somewhere between 7 and 8. I was hungry, I lied there awake thinking what I could eat before working out and starting my day. Fruity pebbles sounded tasty. I helped myself to a bowl, and in what seemed like one swoop, eat it all. Then I sat there for a minute looking at the empty bowl and thought, "eh". I have been eating whole grain bread lately so maybe I have started being able to differ quality ingredients from cheap products like the "enriched" grain in my generic fruity pebbles. This choice made me feel like my day was already a "eh" day.
This is the topic of today's post. Choose a winner's snack (and/or meal).
I believe in something called "eater's remorse". Much like buyer's remorse, it seems like a fine idea at the time, but later in the day you regret it and hate the decision. Whether it is a "cheat meal", "just a one time thing"or "a treat that I usually go without", most of us know the deal. If you have an internal debate over something, good chance it's better to just go without. Why?
Well not too long ago I was volunteering for a church/community project by doing some gardening and weeding at a elementary school. Someone brought donuts. They're were plenty for everyone, and I was hungry. This was one of those times I resisted the urge, and as a reward, somebody also broke up some Quaker snack bars for the group which I enjoyed. Most did not though, most helped themselves to these sugar filled treats. Now, I did not get to speak or observe them all for the rest of the day, but I would wager these donuts played a part. Besides the sugar crash many may have experienced hours later, which crashed productivity, it probably didn't motivate them very much.
Basically, even if they're bodies didn't feel awful later, what choices will follow that doughnut? What if you said no?
If you say no, who knows, maybe today will be the day to go for that 4 mile hike, or clean the garage. After all, if you can resist the doughnut, you can do anything.
This is the topic of today's post. Choose a winner's snack (and/or meal).
I believe in something called "eater's remorse". Much like buyer's remorse, it seems like a fine idea at the time, but later in the day you regret it and hate the decision. Whether it is a "cheat meal", "just a one time thing"or "a treat that I usually go without", most of us know the deal. If you have an internal debate over something, good chance it's better to just go without. Why?
Well not too long ago I was volunteering for a church/community project by doing some gardening and weeding at a elementary school. Someone brought donuts. They're were plenty for everyone, and I was hungry. This was one of those times I resisted the urge, and as a reward, somebody also broke up some Quaker snack bars for the group which I enjoyed. Most did not though, most helped themselves to these sugar filled treats. Now, I did not get to speak or observe them all for the rest of the day, but I would wager these donuts played a part. Besides the sugar crash many may have experienced hours later, which crashed productivity, it probably didn't motivate them very much.
Basically, even if they're bodies didn't feel awful later, what choices will follow that doughnut? What if you said no?
If you say no, who knows, maybe today will be the day to go for that 4 mile hike, or clean the garage. After all, if you can resist the doughnut, you can do anything.
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