I've been sick for a few days so the girls have been on their own.
I decided to try something new today, Barbell Complex's
A complex is a series of lifts you complete with no rest and without putting the weight down, they go quick and really get your heart and lungs going. Not quite as much as our hill sprints though.
We started with a simple set of eight moves, 6 reps a piece, for 4 rounds
90 sec. rest between rounds. I was afraid the girls would struggle with an olympic bar, but they handled it pretty well. We'll be adding weight in no time!
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bent-over Rows
Hang-cleans
Front Squat
Push-press
Back sguat
Good-mornings
We followed the 4 rounds with 4 hill sprints with jogging rest.
Finished early but definitely felt worked.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturated Fat Article by Mike Geary
Is Saturated Fat Evil, or Not So Bad After All?
The myths, lies, and misconceptions about saturated fat and your health.
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
I've written many times in the last couple years about the mistaken beliefs in society about saturated fat and the false perception in the media AND with MOST health professionals that saturated fat is bad for you.
If you've seen in some of my articles, I've even showed you why saturated fat can even be GOOD for you in some cases, despite every health/fitness professional in the world just accepting the false belief that it's bad for you.
Note - I'm NOT saying that an "Atkins style" diet is good for you! Atkins is NOT a healthy or balanced way to eat! Atkins typically promotes processed meats full of nitrates, nitrites, excess salt, and imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratios (since most grocery store meats are grain fed and not raised in a healthy manner). Also, Atkins plans typically have a lack of many other important food groups, nutrients, and antioxidants.
Rather, what you'll see in this article, is that saturated fat is a perfectly natural part of the human diet and has been for eternity... it is NOT the evil demon it has been made out to be!
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to FINALLY see a big name publisher have some guts to publish an article about why everyone in the world may be wrong about their beliefs about saturated fat.
I picked up a new issue of Men's Health magazine over the weekend, and they have a huge 6-page article in there about the faulty research in the past about saturated fat, and some new emerging research that is showing why it may actually be more good for you than you would believe.
I've got to give them credit... the article was VERY well researched and put together beautifully to summarize where the studies in the past have gone wrong, and why recent studies are showing that everyone may have been wrong for the last 5 decades about saturated fat.
I'd highly suggest you read the entire article if you can. If not, I'm going to try to give you a quick summary of the findings here since it was a long article...
The "Fact" that saturated fat is bad for your health has never been proven by legitimate studies
First of all, did you realize that although doctors, nutritionists, fitness professionals, and the media all have told you that it's a FACT that saturated fats are bad for you, this "FACT" has actually never been proven!
It's actually not a "fact" at all. It was a hypothesis! This goes all the way back to a flawed research study from the 1950's where a guy named Ancel Keys published a paper that laid the blame on dietary fat intake for the increasing heart disease phenomenon.
However, there were major flaws to his study. For one, in his conclusions he only used data from a small portion of the countries where data was available on fat consumption vs heart disease death rate. When researches have gone back in and looked at the data from all of the countries, there actually was no link between fat consumption and heart disease deaths. So his conclusions were actually false.
Second, his blaming of fat intake for heart disease was only one factor that was considered. There was no consideration of other factors such as smoking rates, stress factors, sugar intake, exercise frequency, or other lifestyle factors.
Basically, his conclusions which blamed heart disease deaths on fat intake were really just a shot in the dark about what a possible cause may have been, even though all of those other factors I just mentioned, plus many others, may be the bigger cause.
Unfortunately, Keys study has been cited for over 5 decades now as "fact" that saturated fat is bad for you. As you can see, there certainly is nothing factual about it.
Since that time, numerous other studies have been conducted trying to link saturated fat intake to heart disease. The majority of these studies have failed to correlate ANY risk at all from saturated fat. A couple of them made feeble attempts at linking saturated fat to heart disease, however, it was later shown that in those studies, the data was flawed as well.
Another issue with flawed studies is that many studies have lumped artificial trans fat intake together with saturated fat intake, and mistakenly laid the blame on saturated fat despite the overwhelming evidence that artificial trans fat is the REAL health risk. This is a HUGE mistake as there is a vast difference in how your body processes nasty artificially created trans fats vs the perfectly natural saturated fats that have been part of the human diet since the beginning of man.
Do we actually have evidence that saturated fat may actually be good for you instead?
Well, let's consider a few examples...
Did you know that there are several well known tribes in Africa... the Masai, Samburu, and Fulani tribes... where their diet consists mostly of raw (unpasteurized) whole milk, tons of red meat, and cows blood? The typical members of these tribes eat 5x the average amount of saturated fat compared to overweight, disease-ridden Americans.
Despite their very high saturated fat intake, they display extremely low body fat levels, and heart disease to natives of the tribe is virtually non-existant.
Now most critics of this example will say that it must be related to superior genetics... however this is false, as when they studied tribesman who had moved out of their native lands and started eating more modern day diets, their blood chemistry skyrocketed with heart disease risk factors.
This is true of certain pacific island countries inhabitants as well. Several studies have shown that certain pacific island nations had VERY high intakes of total fat as well as saturated fat from tropical fats such as palm, coconut, and cocoa. Tropical plants in general have naturally higher levels of saturated fats in their tissues due to the warmer climate.
Despite super-high intakes of saturated fat, these island natives were typically very lean and heart disease was virtually non-existant. However, when researchers followed up with islanders that had moved away from their native island and adopted a typical western diet, the heart disease risk factors were through the roof. Hmm, once again, another example of people that started eating LESS saturated fat and more processed western foods and INCREASED their heart disease factors.
In fact, did you know that although saturated fat intake does increase your LDL bad cholesterol, it actually increases your HDL good cholesterol even further, hence improving your overall cholesterol ratio, which has been proven to be more important that just total cholesterol level (actually total cholesterol is an almost useless number... inflammation is the REAL problem, but that's a whole different topic).
Another fact worth noting in favor of saturated fat...
Saturated fat is comprised of various different types... the 3 most common types are stearic acid, palmitic acid, and lauric acid.
Stearic acid is found in animal fat and cocoa in higher levels. Research continues to show that stearic acid has no negative impacts on heart disease risks. If anything, it's either neutral or beneficial. In fact, your liver breaks down stearic acid into a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which is the same type of fat that makes up most of heart-healthy olive oil. Bet you didn't know that!
Lauric acid is beneficial as well. Not only has it been shown to increase your HDL good cholesterol levels significantly, but it is also lacking in most Americans diet and has even been shown to have some powerful immune-boosting effects potentially. It is even being studied currently in HIV/AIDS research to help improve immune function in patients.
Tropical oils such as coconut and palm are the best sources of the healthy saturated fat - lauric acid.
Palmitic acid is the other main component of saturated fat and has also been shown to increase HDL good cholesterol to the same, if not greater extent than LDL bad cholesterol, thereby making it either neutral or beneficial, but certainly not bad for you.
So, if all of these researchers have tried so hard over the years to point the finger at saturated fat, but have continued to fail to show a correlation between saturated fat and heart disease risk, what are the REAL culprits for heart disease?
Well, here are the REAL causes of heart disease risk:
•Trans fats (artificially hydrogenated oils)... see my previous Trans Fats article here for a full explanation
•Heavily refined vegetable oils such as soy, cottonseed, corn oil, etc. (inflammatory inside the body, and typically throw the omega-6/omega-3 balance out of whack...remember, inflammation is the REAL cause of heart disease, NOT dietary saturated fat or cholesterol). Read more about healthy cooking oils vs unhealthy cooking oil
•Too much refined sugar in the diet (including high fructose corn syrup)
•Too much refined carbohydrates such as white bread, low fiber cereals, etc
•Smoking
•Stressful lifestyle
•Lack of exercise
•Other lifestyle factors
So why does it seem that so many attempts over the years have tried to lay the blame on saturated fat... do you think it might have anything to do with the muli-billion dollar vegetable oil industry, which has taken over for cooking oils for what used to be mostly animal fats and tropical oils in decades past...
hmm... do multi-billion dollar industries really have an influence on the way data is portrayed to the public? Of course they do! And don't even get me started on the cholesterol meds industry! Again, I digress.
I hope this article has opened your eyes about the truth about saturated fat and how you've been misled over the years.
The true FACT is that saturated fat is a neutral substance in your body, and even beneficial at times, not a deadly risk factor for disease. The REAL risk factors are what I listed above.
Here are 2 more articles that are must reads about this topic if you haven't read them before...
Dietary Fat Surprises
Truth about Saturated Fat
Til next Ezine issue... Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - http://TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com
The myths, lies, and misconceptions about saturated fat and your health.
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
I've written many times in the last couple years about the mistaken beliefs in society about saturated fat and the false perception in the media AND with MOST health professionals that saturated fat is bad for you.
If you've seen in some of my articles, I've even showed you why saturated fat can even be GOOD for you in some cases, despite every health/fitness professional in the world just accepting the false belief that it's bad for you.
Note - I'm NOT saying that an "Atkins style" diet is good for you! Atkins is NOT a healthy or balanced way to eat! Atkins typically promotes processed meats full of nitrates, nitrites, excess salt, and imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratios (since most grocery store meats are grain fed and not raised in a healthy manner). Also, Atkins plans typically have a lack of many other important food groups, nutrients, and antioxidants.
Rather, what you'll see in this article, is that saturated fat is a perfectly natural part of the human diet and has been for eternity... it is NOT the evil demon it has been made out to be!
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to FINALLY see a big name publisher have some guts to publish an article about why everyone in the world may be wrong about their beliefs about saturated fat.
I picked up a new issue of Men's Health magazine over the weekend, and they have a huge 6-page article in there about the faulty research in the past about saturated fat, and some new emerging research that is showing why it may actually be more good for you than you would believe.
I've got to give them credit... the article was VERY well researched and put together beautifully to summarize where the studies in the past have gone wrong, and why recent studies are showing that everyone may have been wrong for the last 5 decades about saturated fat.
I'd highly suggest you read the entire article if you can. If not, I'm going to try to give you a quick summary of the findings here since it was a long article...
The "Fact" that saturated fat is bad for your health has never been proven by legitimate studies
First of all, did you realize that although doctors, nutritionists, fitness professionals, and the media all have told you that it's a FACT that saturated fats are bad for you, this "FACT" has actually never been proven!
It's actually not a "fact" at all. It was a hypothesis! This goes all the way back to a flawed research study from the 1950's where a guy named Ancel Keys published a paper that laid the blame on dietary fat intake for the increasing heart disease phenomenon.
However, there were major flaws to his study. For one, in his conclusions he only used data from a small portion of the countries where data was available on fat consumption vs heart disease death rate. When researches have gone back in and looked at the data from all of the countries, there actually was no link between fat consumption and heart disease deaths. So his conclusions were actually false.
Second, his blaming of fat intake for heart disease was only one factor that was considered. There was no consideration of other factors such as smoking rates, stress factors, sugar intake, exercise frequency, or other lifestyle factors.
Basically, his conclusions which blamed heart disease deaths on fat intake were really just a shot in the dark about what a possible cause may have been, even though all of those other factors I just mentioned, plus many others, may be the bigger cause.
Unfortunately, Keys study has been cited for over 5 decades now as "fact" that saturated fat is bad for you. As you can see, there certainly is nothing factual about it.
Since that time, numerous other studies have been conducted trying to link saturated fat intake to heart disease. The majority of these studies have failed to correlate ANY risk at all from saturated fat. A couple of them made feeble attempts at linking saturated fat to heart disease, however, it was later shown that in those studies, the data was flawed as well.
Another issue with flawed studies is that many studies have lumped artificial trans fat intake together with saturated fat intake, and mistakenly laid the blame on saturated fat despite the overwhelming evidence that artificial trans fat is the REAL health risk. This is a HUGE mistake as there is a vast difference in how your body processes nasty artificially created trans fats vs the perfectly natural saturated fats that have been part of the human diet since the beginning of man.
Do we actually have evidence that saturated fat may actually be good for you instead?
Well, let's consider a few examples...
Did you know that there are several well known tribes in Africa... the Masai, Samburu, and Fulani tribes... where their diet consists mostly of raw (unpasteurized) whole milk, tons of red meat, and cows blood? The typical members of these tribes eat 5x the average amount of saturated fat compared to overweight, disease-ridden Americans.
Despite their very high saturated fat intake, they display extremely low body fat levels, and heart disease to natives of the tribe is virtually non-existant.
Now most critics of this example will say that it must be related to superior genetics... however this is false, as when they studied tribesman who had moved out of their native lands and started eating more modern day diets, their blood chemistry skyrocketed with heart disease risk factors.
This is true of certain pacific island countries inhabitants as well. Several studies have shown that certain pacific island nations had VERY high intakes of total fat as well as saturated fat from tropical fats such as palm, coconut, and cocoa. Tropical plants in general have naturally higher levels of saturated fats in their tissues due to the warmer climate.
Despite super-high intakes of saturated fat, these island natives were typically very lean and heart disease was virtually non-existant. However, when researchers followed up with islanders that had moved away from their native island and adopted a typical western diet, the heart disease risk factors were through the roof. Hmm, once again, another example of people that started eating LESS saturated fat and more processed western foods and INCREASED their heart disease factors.
In fact, did you know that although saturated fat intake does increase your LDL bad cholesterol, it actually increases your HDL good cholesterol even further, hence improving your overall cholesterol ratio, which has been proven to be more important that just total cholesterol level (actually total cholesterol is an almost useless number... inflammation is the REAL problem, but that's a whole different topic).
Another fact worth noting in favor of saturated fat...
Saturated fat is comprised of various different types... the 3 most common types are stearic acid, palmitic acid, and lauric acid.
Stearic acid is found in animal fat and cocoa in higher levels. Research continues to show that stearic acid has no negative impacts on heart disease risks. If anything, it's either neutral or beneficial. In fact, your liver breaks down stearic acid into a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which is the same type of fat that makes up most of heart-healthy olive oil. Bet you didn't know that!
Lauric acid is beneficial as well. Not only has it been shown to increase your HDL good cholesterol levels significantly, but it is also lacking in most Americans diet and has even been shown to have some powerful immune-boosting effects potentially. It is even being studied currently in HIV/AIDS research to help improve immune function in patients.
Tropical oils such as coconut and palm are the best sources of the healthy saturated fat - lauric acid.
Palmitic acid is the other main component of saturated fat and has also been shown to increase HDL good cholesterol to the same, if not greater extent than LDL bad cholesterol, thereby making it either neutral or beneficial, but certainly not bad for you.
So, if all of these researchers have tried so hard over the years to point the finger at saturated fat, but have continued to fail to show a correlation between saturated fat and heart disease risk, what are the REAL culprits for heart disease?
Well, here are the REAL causes of heart disease risk:
•Trans fats (artificially hydrogenated oils)... see my previous Trans Fats article here for a full explanation
•Heavily refined vegetable oils such as soy, cottonseed, corn oil, etc. (inflammatory inside the body, and typically throw the omega-6/omega-3 balance out of whack...remember, inflammation is the REAL cause of heart disease, NOT dietary saturated fat or cholesterol). Read more about healthy cooking oils vs unhealthy cooking oil
•Too much refined sugar in the diet (including high fructose corn syrup)
•Too much refined carbohydrates such as white bread, low fiber cereals, etc
•Smoking
•Stressful lifestyle
•Lack of exercise
•Other lifestyle factors
So why does it seem that so many attempts over the years have tried to lay the blame on saturated fat... do you think it might have anything to do with the muli-billion dollar vegetable oil industry, which has taken over for cooking oils for what used to be mostly animal fats and tropical oils in decades past...
hmm... do multi-billion dollar industries really have an influence on the way data is portrayed to the public? Of course they do! And don't even get me started on the cholesterol meds industry! Again, I digress.
I hope this article has opened your eyes about the truth about saturated fat and how you've been misled over the years.
The true FACT is that saturated fat is a neutral substance in your body, and even beneficial at times, not a deadly risk factor for disease. The REAL risk factors are what I listed above.
Here are 2 more articles that are must reads about this topic if you haven't read them before...
Dietary Fat Surprises
Truth about Saturated Fat
Til next Ezine issue... Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - http://TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday Feb 19th
Three rounds of:
Situps on the Roman Chair
turkish get-ups with dumbbell
rope waves
elbow to full-extension front plank
Three sprints up the hill, jogging back down.(everyone hated these)
Pull-ups and Push-ups, Monday is test day!
Josh has set a new goal for a one-armed pull-up in two weeks!
I'm also on a quest for 10% bodyfat(according to the instant bodyfat scale) by April.
I'm at 16%-18% right now. I'm sure that will be the leanest I've ever been.
Situps on the Roman Chair
turkish get-ups with dumbbell
rope waves
elbow to full-extension front plank
Three sprints up the hill, jogging back down.(everyone hated these)
Pull-ups and Push-ups, Monday is test day!
Josh has set a new goal for a one-armed pull-up in two weeks!
I'm also on a quest for 10% bodyfat(according to the instant bodyfat scale) by April.
I'm at 16%-18% right now. I'm sure that will be the leanest I've ever been.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Goal setting by Brian Grasso
Here's a good description of how to set your goals.
My talk at this past weekend's IYCA International Summit was a true
reflection of me, Josh.
The way I think and how I take information from resources outside this
industry and use it to become a better Coach.
While the Summit DVD's are in production, I thought I would give you a
brief run-down on the section of my presentation I called 'Goal Setting'.
It was a system I first learned about in a book called 'In Pursuit of
Excellence' and have used successfully in my own life, as well as the
lives of my young athletes over the past decade.
Over the years, I tweaked and altered things a bit until it became a system
that worked beautifully -- every time it's applied.
The whole crux of this system is reversing the direction of obtaining your
goals.
That is, reversing the direction that most of us try to travel.
Rather than creating a goal and then establishing an objective or task list
that moves forward, start with the end in mind and travel backwards.
Establish your goal and assign it a 'due date'.
Next, itemize where you need to be in production of that goal by one month
previous to its end point.
Then, do the same for one month previous to that.
Keep traveling backwards until you end at your current day.
What you will have established is a literal path that takes you from where you
are to where you want to be in a successive manner.
The key is to understand where you have to be in one month in order to
obtain your goal by the target date you initially set forth.
This 'backwards chaining model' allows you to create those markers quite
easily and removes the burden of developing a giant 'to do' list without
cause or reason for how or when each of the separate tasks will be completed.
This is worked for me in business, in my personal life and for hundreds of
my young athletes who were working towards performance goals.
Read and re-read this email carefully and try to apply this strategy for yourself.
It is and has been, one of the most powerful goal attainment systems I have
ever seen or used.
I recently created an entire audio instructional of this system for all IYCA
Members and placed it on the www.IYCAMembers.com website.
If you are not already a Member of the IYCA, you can become one by
clicking the link below -
http://www.iycamembers.com/public/5.cfm
'Til next time,
Brian
My talk at this past weekend's IYCA International Summit was a true
reflection of me, Josh.
The way I think and how I take information from resources outside this
industry and use it to become a better Coach.
While the Summit DVD's are in production, I thought I would give you a
brief run-down on the section of my presentation I called 'Goal Setting'.
It was a system I first learned about in a book called 'In Pursuit of
Excellence' and have used successfully in my own life, as well as the
lives of my young athletes over the past decade.
Over the years, I tweaked and altered things a bit until it became a system
that worked beautifully -- every time it's applied.
The whole crux of this system is reversing the direction of obtaining your
goals.
That is, reversing the direction that most of us try to travel.
Rather than creating a goal and then establishing an objective or task list
that moves forward, start with the end in mind and travel backwards.
Establish your goal and assign it a 'due date'.
Next, itemize where you need to be in production of that goal by one month
previous to its end point.
Then, do the same for one month previous to that.
Keep traveling backwards until you end at your current day.
What you will have established is a literal path that takes you from where you
are to where you want to be in a successive manner.
The key is to understand where you have to be in one month in order to
obtain your goal by the target date you initially set forth.
This 'backwards chaining model' allows you to create those markers quite
easily and removes the burden of developing a giant 'to do' list without
cause or reason for how or when each of the separate tasks will be completed.
This is worked for me in business, in my personal life and for hundreds of
my young athletes who were working towards performance goals.
Read and re-read this email carefully and try to apply this strategy for yourself.
It is and has been, one of the most powerful goal attainment systems I have
ever seen or used.
I recently created an entire audio instructional of this system for all IYCA
Members and placed it on the www.IYCAMembers.com website.
If you are not already a Member of the IYCA, you can become one by
clicking the link below -
http://www.iycamembers.com/public/5.cfm
'Til next time,
Brian
It's been a while
I took a few days off, I wasn't feeling real well. I'm blaming peanuts but I don't know for sure. The ladies worked out on their own for a few days, I'm doubting it was too intense. So we went all unilateral training today, everyone discovered they had significant differences in individual limb strength.
Here's the routine:
One-arm Bench Press
lunges with dumbbells
renegade rows
one-arm dumbbell snatch
one-arm pulldowns
dumbbell millitary press
We did three sets of each for a minute each, about 15 sec rest, supersets.
finished with the mandatory pull-ups and pushups. I think the pushup girls have got it down. Paulette had an easy pull-up. Three more days and two girls to go!
Here's the routine:
One-arm Bench Press
lunges with dumbbells
renegade rows
one-arm dumbbell snatch
one-arm pulldowns
dumbbell millitary press
We did three sets of each for a minute each, about 15 sec rest, supersets.
finished with the mandatory pull-ups and pushups. I think the pushup girls have got it down. Paulette had an easy pull-up. Three more days and two girls to go!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Feb 12 2010
We worked through a circuit of 5 exercises for 45 secs. with about 20 sec rest.
four rounds with the last round no rest.
Rope waves
sledgehammers
jumprope
knee raises
side planks
Then we pushed cars around and did our daily pull-ups-Pushups.
four rounds with the last round no rest.
Rope waves
sledgehammers
jumprope
knee raises
side planks
Then we pushed cars around and did our daily pull-ups-Pushups.
Sticking with your diet
Here's a recent article by Tom Venuto:
In this issue:* Why sticking with your diet is so hard Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a we1ght loss problem today. In case you're confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics: According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all 'losers' have regained the lbs, and often gained back a little extra. According to research by the National WeightControl Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent. For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%! This means that lots and lots of people have lost wt. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don't have a wt loss problem,we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a "not sticking with it" problem. From that perspective, wouldn't you agree? In fact, the fall and subsequent regain usually doesn't take years. Many people have abandoned their new year's resolutions withinweeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, the diet is ancient history! If this is true, then shouldn't we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven't been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it? That's exactly what much of my work has focused on in the last few years. I also put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasonswhy you always seem to fall off the wagon. Understanding the problembetter helps lead you to solutions. Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you'll start getting more lasting resultson ANY program. How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was bestfor you! After all, even if you have one of the best nutrition programsin the world (such as Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle), it doesn't doyou much good if you can't stick with it. ===> more info on Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: http://www.BurnTheFat.com Here are the 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon 1. No focus: you didn't set goals, you didn't put your goals in writing, and or you didn't keep your goals in mind daily (by readingthem, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.) 2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn't put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goalis six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekendis higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach. 3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough. 4. No Accountability: you didn't keep score for your own accountability - with a progress chart, weight record, measurements,food journal, training journal, and you didn't set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else) 5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost "only" 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up. 6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn't plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn't have a menu on paper, you didn't make time (so instead you made excuses, like "I'm too busy") 7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, "I want it now" route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route. 8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn't suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type. So there you have it - 8 mistakes that cause most people to fall off the wagon. Are you guilty of any of these transgressions? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: Focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize. For accountability and support, there is no better tool than to join a support community like our Inner Circle. Take a look and see:http://www.BurnTheFat.com/innercircle Train hard and expect success,Tom Venuto,author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
In this issue:* Why sticking with your diet is so hard Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a we1ght loss problem today. In case you're confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics: According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all 'losers' have regained the lbs, and often gained back a little extra. According to research by the National WeightControl Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent. For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%! This means that lots and lots of people have lost wt. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don't have a wt loss problem,we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a "not sticking with it" problem. From that perspective, wouldn't you agree? In fact, the fall and subsequent regain usually doesn't take years. Many people have abandoned their new year's resolutions withinweeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, the diet is ancient history! If this is true, then shouldn't we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven't been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it? That's exactly what much of my work has focused on in the last few years. I also put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasonswhy you always seem to fall off the wagon. Understanding the problembetter helps lead you to solutions. Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you'll start getting more lasting resultson ANY program. How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was bestfor you! After all, even if you have one of the best nutrition programsin the world (such as Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle), it doesn't doyou much good if you can't stick with it. ===> more info on Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: http://www.BurnTheFat.com Here are the 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon 1. No focus: you didn't set goals, you didn't put your goals in writing, and or you didn't keep your goals in mind daily (by readingthem, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.) 2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn't put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goalis six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekendis higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach. 3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough. 4. No Accountability: you didn't keep score for your own accountability - with a progress chart, weight record, measurements,food journal, training journal, and you didn't set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else) 5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost "only" 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up. 6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn't plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn't have a menu on paper, you didn't make time (so instead you made excuses, like "I'm too busy") 7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, "I want it now" route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route. 8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn't suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type. So there you have it - 8 mistakes that cause most people to fall off the wagon. Are you guilty of any of these transgressions? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: Focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize. For accountability and support, there is no better tool than to join a support community like our Inner Circle. Take a look and see:http://www.BurnTheFat.com/innercircle Train hard and expect success,Tom Venuto,author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Pull-up's and Pushup's
We began a two week program to get everyone doing at least one unassisted pull-up or push-up. To do this we devote 5 minutes at the end of each workout to pull-up's or push-ups. We have begun by doing eccentric pull-ups, or just the lowering portion as slow as possible. Same with the push-ups. We use a partner to help on the way back up. After 3 days Paulette was able to do a chin-up today!! She has been working on them for quite a while however, so she had a head start. The pull-up still eludes her though.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tuesday 9th Feb
Here's an article on Cinnamon I thought was interesting. Whether or not it is entirely true I don't know.
Josh.
Unique Spice That Beats Abdominal Fat
by Mike Geary
Ok, this spice that I'm going to mention is one of the
most overlooked, but healthiest spices in the world...
You might even call it a "fat burning spice"... in a roundabout way.
And yes, it can actually help you win the battle against
abdominal fat if you use it daily...I'll explain why.
Here are some other benefits of this miracle spice:
*controls blood sugar levels
*helps maintain insulin sensitivity
*a very powerful antioxidant
*may have antibacterial and antifungal properties
*and dozens of other benefits
So what is this miracle spice?
Well... it's good old tasty Cinnamon!
Although cinnamon does not directly increase fat burning
(such as by increasing metabolic rate, etc), it CAN actually
help you to burn off abdominal fat and get leaner through
an indirect link.
Here's how...
Although cinnamon has dozens of health benefits,
the main benefit that will help you to get leaner is
through it's strong effect on controlling blood sugar
levels in your body.
In a study published in 2003 in the medical journal
Diabetes Care, groups were split into people taking
1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon per day in capsule form
(the equivalent of approx 1/4th to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon).
The results of the study showed that all 3 amounts
of cinnamon reduced fasting blood glucose levels
by 18-29% after 40 days.
Cinnamon can also increase insulin sensitivity,
which essentially means that it is helping your
body to control blood sugar while simultaneously
allowing your body to produce less insulin.
As you know, chronically high insulin levels
can make your body pack on the blubber.
How to harness this to lose more fat...
One possible way to benefit from cinnamon to
lose more fat is to use cinnamon daily in your
meals when you can, such as in yogurt or cottage
cheese, in smoothies, oatmeal, or anything else
you can think of where it would go well.
Also, you could use a cinnamon capsule
before each of your meals.
This could help to control blood sugar and insulin
response from your meals and thereby control your
appetite and cravings throughout the day... hence,
helping you to lose body fat more effectively over time.
So now you can see that not only is cinnamon a powerful
antioxidant that can help you stay youthful longer, it can also
help you to control blood sugar and get a leaner body!
Note: please make sure to consult your doctor before
adding any new foods or spices to your nutrition plan if
you are taking any medications or have food allergies.
Go to the link below to discover over a dozen more
unique foods, spices, and weird styles of workouts
that help to burn your abdominal fat faster:
==> http://TruthAboutAbs.com
Josh.
Unique Spice That Beats Abdominal Fat
by Mike Geary
Ok, this spice that I'm going to mention is one of the
most overlooked, but healthiest spices in the world...
You might even call it a "fat burning spice"... in a roundabout way.
And yes, it can actually help you win the battle against
abdominal fat if you use it daily...I'll explain why.
Here are some other benefits of this miracle spice:
*controls blood sugar levels
*helps maintain insulin sensitivity
*a very powerful antioxidant
*may have antibacterial and antifungal properties
*and dozens of other benefits
So what is this miracle spice?
Well... it's good old tasty Cinnamon!
Although cinnamon does not directly increase fat burning
(such as by increasing metabolic rate, etc), it CAN actually
help you to burn off abdominal fat and get leaner through
an indirect link.
Here's how...
Although cinnamon has dozens of health benefits,
the main benefit that will help you to get leaner is
through it's strong effect on controlling blood sugar
levels in your body.
In a study published in 2003 in the medical journal
Diabetes Care, groups were split into people taking
1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon per day in capsule form
(the equivalent of approx 1/4th to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon).
The results of the study showed that all 3 amounts
of cinnamon reduced fasting blood glucose levels
by 18-29% after 40 days.
Cinnamon can also increase insulin sensitivity,
which essentially means that it is helping your
body to control blood sugar while simultaneously
allowing your body to produce less insulin.
As you know, chronically high insulin levels
can make your body pack on the blubber.
How to harness this to lose more fat...
One possible way to benefit from cinnamon to
lose more fat is to use cinnamon daily in your
meals when you can, such as in yogurt or cottage
cheese, in smoothies, oatmeal, or anything else
you can think of where it would go well.
Also, you could use a cinnamon capsule
before each of your meals.
This could help to control blood sugar and insulin
response from your meals and thereby control your
appetite and cravings throughout the day... hence,
helping you to lose body fat more effectively over time.
So now you can see that not only is cinnamon a powerful
antioxidant that can help you stay youthful longer, it can also
help you to control blood sugar and get a leaner body!
Note: please make sure to consult your doctor before
adding any new foods or spices to your nutrition plan if
you are taking any medications or have food allergies.
Go to the link below to discover over a dozen more
unique foods, spices, and weird styles of workouts
that help to burn your abdominal fat faster:
==> http://TruthAboutAbs.com
Monday, February 8, 2010
Mon 8th Feb.
We did a full body routine but added wall squats and front barbell raises. We focused on working for 45 sec each set, no set number of reps, just time. We rested about 25 seconds between sets. Same exercises as last week.
My weight loss report from last week:
Saturday night I weighed in at 146.0 which is almost 9 pounds lost in the week. However I was also fasting Saturday from noon on. Sunday I went pretty crazy with carbs for lunch and dinner to try to bring the Glycogen and water stores back up. I was hoping that would give me a more accurate fat loss number. I weighed in at 152.0 so 2.4 pounds of fat possibly in a week. That is really good for not having really starved myself. I will continue to watch the scale and get a better average for the week. I'm going to eat pretty high calories today to make sure my body resets my metobolism, then I will go for another week.
My weight loss report from last week:
Saturday night I weighed in at 146.0 which is almost 9 pounds lost in the week. However I was also fasting Saturday from noon on. Sunday I went pretty crazy with carbs for lunch and dinner to try to bring the Glycogen and water stores back up. I was hoping that would give me a more accurate fat loss number. I weighed in at 152.0 so 2.4 pounds of fat possibly in a week. That is really good for not having really starved myself. I will continue to watch the scale and get a better average for the week. I'm going to eat pretty high calories today to make sure my body resets my metobolism, then I will go for another week.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Intersting post by Tom Venuto
Once an Endomorph Always an Endomorph? (Can Your Body Type Change?)
Tom Venuto
Are you an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph body type? To maximize your results, regardless of whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain, it’s helpful to know your body type and adjust your approach according to your type. But a big question that almost no one has ever answered is, “Does your body type change over time?” If so, then what? Do you have to totally change your nutrition and training again? And if your body type doesn’t change, does this mean you are stuck being a fat endomorph for the rest of your life, doomed because of genetics? Read today’s blog post to find out..
Somatotype is a 3-part, 7-point body type rating scale developed by a guy named Sheldon back around 1940 or so. Ectomorphs are the linear, bony, lean types, mesomorphs are the naturally muscular body types (yeah, the ones we hate!), and endormorphs are the ones with the round body shapes and the genetic tendency toward storing more body fat.
Generally, you have a combination body type, which is why you are scored with 3 numbers (Arnold Schwarzenneger in his bodybuilding prime: think pure mesomorph with the highest score of 7).
The question is, Does somatotype change? this is a very interesting question that has been asked and debated before both by the layperson (often bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts) and by scientists.
Two of those scientists were JE Lindsay Carter, a physical education professor from San Diego State University and Barbara Heath, and Anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania.
There was initially a lot of debate and antagonism provoked by the classic Sheldon system of classifying human body types (“somatotyping”), because initially, Sheldon was very rigid in his insistence that body types were permanent and did not change.
However, Heath and Carter proposed that it was plain to see that body types DID change due to normal growth, aging, physical training and dietary deprivation (they cited the Minnesota starvation study, where subjects started out looking somewhat mesomorphic and ended up looking like ectomorphic POW camp victims, literally).
Heath and Carter weren’t trying to dismiss somatotpying, they supported it and wanted to validate it.
However, they wanted to address the shortcomings of the somatotyping method and one of those was the fact that the Sheldon system didn’t accommodate for changes in physique as a result of training and nutrition.
In their voluminous 1990 textbook on the subject, Heath and Carter define somatotype as:
“A quantitative description of the present shape and composition of the human body. It is expressed in a 3 number rating, representing three components of physique: (1) endomorphy, (2) mesomorphy and (3) ectomorphy. The somatotype can be used to record changes in physique and to estimate gross biological differences and similarities among human beings. This method of somatotyping is sensitive to changes in physique over time and is used for rating both sexes at all ages.”
Look at a guy like John Bartlett for example, one of our inner circle contributing authors and an outstanding natural competitive bodybuilder. When you see him today and you ask what is his body type, you would say, “MESOMORPH all the way!”
That’s because today he is ripped and muscular
But if you look at his before picture and ask “what is this guy’s body type” you would say, “Endomorph” all the way!
Well, which is it? Or did his body type change? Clearly, John gained a lot of muscle and lost a lot of fat and looks totally different today. So could we say his body type changed? If we go by current outward appearance, then yes, absolutely.
But does this mean his body type really changed or did he overcome an inherent endomorph body type to achieve where he is now?
Or, to play devil’s advocate here, was he always a mesomorph inherently and he just really let himself go for a while and he was just returning to his normal body type of mesomorph?
These are interesting questions. The Heath-Carter method simply includes body composition as part of the rating scale of a person’s body type and says that you can rate someone based on how they look now. That includes bone structure (which changes little or not at all after adulthood) AND body composition (which can change throughout life). So you could say John was an Endomorph and is now a Mesomorph. Predominantly Mesomorph is his present classification.
However, at the same time, we could say that a person DOES have an inherent body type or set point - a physique that they will gravitate towards in the absence of circumstances or concerted efforts to change it.
I addressed this issue of changing body types versus an inherent (or “permanent” body type) in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM). The way I explained it is that I said your true body type is what you will gravitate to naturally when you are not in a highly trained state. It’s your inherent tendency. In that respect, you could say somatotype does not change, while body composition does.
In chapter 5 of BFFM I said there were three additional ways to know your inherent body type beyond Sheldon’s scale, which take into account changes in physique due to training and nutrition:
1.How you looked before you took up training (your “natural” body shape)
2.How you respond to training and nutrition (ease of muscle gain or fat loss)
3.How you respond to de-training (how well you retain lean mass and low body fat or how quickly you lose lean mass and gain fat on cessation of training)
If you wanted to make this even MORE complex, we could look at somatotyping by considering not just the outward bone structure and body composition of an individual, but also the metabolic (interior) characteristics
My “Burn The Fat” system of body typing is like a combination of:
(1) Metabolic typing (internal metabolic characteristics like carb tolerance)
(2) Somatotyping (external body shape - linearity or roundness, fatness or leanness)
(3) Miscellaneous other genetic factors.
That would be a pretty good three-part body typing system that covers the concerns about changing body types, individual metabolic types (“carb intolerant types” or protein types, etc), and genetics (which is especially relevant since obesity genes have been identified fairly recently).
I hear criticisms of the somatotyping system all the time, where people say it is not useful. I disagree. Yes, it’s perhaps too crude of a system to base your entire training and nutrition plan upon, but I believe it’s very helpful as a general tool to “KNOW THYSELF”.
In other words, if you are inherently an endomorph and you KNOW IT, then you know darn well what happens when you don’t do any cardio. You know what happens when you cheat four or five times in a week. You know what happens when you slack off. You gravitate towards gaining fat, because that is your body type’s tendency! So you can adjust your training, nutrition and lifestyle accordingly.
If you are an ectomorph, then you know what happens when you skip meals… you don’t gain any muscle! You know what happens when you do too much cardio… you don’t gain any muscle, or you lose some!, etc. etc.
And if you’re a mesomorph…. did I mention…. we hate you!
If you’d like to learn more, chapter 5 in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is about body typing. It’s full of some really valuable and motivating lessons about knowing yourself, your body and your genetics and understanding the importance of taking personal responsibility, regardless of your hereditary predispositions. If you already have the book, it’s worth re-reading periodically.
Tom Venuto
Author, Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle
Founder & CEO, Burn The Fat Inner Circle
Tom Venuto
Are you an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph body type? To maximize your results, regardless of whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain, it’s helpful to know your body type and adjust your approach according to your type. But a big question that almost no one has ever answered is, “Does your body type change over time?” If so, then what? Do you have to totally change your nutrition and training again? And if your body type doesn’t change, does this mean you are stuck being a fat endomorph for the rest of your life, doomed because of genetics? Read today’s blog post to find out..
Somatotype is a 3-part, 7-point body type rating scale developed by a guy named Sheldon back around 1940 or so. Ectomorphs are the linear, bony, lean types, mesomorphs are the naturally muscular body types (yeah, the ones we hate!), and endormorphs are the ones with the round body shapes and the genetic tendency toward storing more body fat.
Generally, you have a combination body type, which is why you are scored with 3 numbers (Arnold Schwarzenneger in his bodybuilding prime: think pure mesomorph with the highest score of 7).
The question is, Does somatotype change? this is a very interesting question that has been asked and debated before both by the layperson (often bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts) and by scientists.
Two of those scientists were JE Lindsay Carter, a physical education professor from San Diego State University and Barbara Heath, and Anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania.
There was initially a lot of debate and antagonism provoked by the classic Sheldon system of classifying human body types (“somatotyping”), because initially, Sheldon was very rigid in his insistence that body types were permanent and did not change.
However, Heath and Carter proposed that it was plain to see that body types DID change due to normal growth, aging, physical training and dietary deprivation (they cited the Minnesota starvation study, where subjects started out looking somewhat mesomorphic and ended up looking like ectomorphic POW camp victims, literally).
Heath and Carter weren’t trying to dismiss somatotpying, they supported it and wanted to validate it.
However, they wanted to address the shortcomings of the somatotyping method and one of those was the fact that the Sheldon system didn’t accommodate for changes in physique as a result of training and nutrition.
In their voluminous 1990 textbook on the subject, Heath and Carter define somatotype as:
“A quantitative description of the present shape and composition of the human body. It is expressed in a 3 number rating, representing three components of physique: (1) endomorphy, (2) mesomorphy and (3) ectomorphy. The somatotype can be used to record changes in physique and to estimate gross biological differences and similarities among human beings. This method of somatotyping is sensitive to changes in physique over time and is used for rating both sexes at all ages.”
Look at a guy like John Bartlett for example, one of our inner circle contributing authors and an outstanding natural competitive bodybuilder. When you see him today and you ask what is his body type, you would say, “MESOMORPH all the way!”
That’s because today he is ripped and muscular
But if you look at his before picture and ask “what is this guy’s body type” you would say, “Endomorph” all the way!
Well, which is it? Or did his body type change? Clearly, John gained a lot of muscle and lost a lot of fat and looks totally different today. So could we say his body type changed? If we go by current outward appearance, then yes, absolutely.
But does this mean his body type really changed or did he overcome an inherent endomorph body type to achieve where he is now?
Or, to play devil’s advocate here, was he always a mesomorph inherently and he just really let himself go for a while and he was just returning to his normal body type of mesomorph?
These are interesting questions. The Heath-Carter method simply includes body composition as part of the rating scale of a person’s body type and says that you can rate someone based on how they look now. That includes bone structure (which changes little or not at all after adulthood) AND body composition (which can change throughout life). So you could say John was an Endomorph and is now a Mesomorph. Predominantly Mesomorph is his present classification.
However, at the same time, we could say that a person DOES have an inherent body type or set point - a physique that they will gravitate towards in the absence of circumstances or concerted efforts to change it.
I addressed this issue of changing body types versus an inherent (or “permanent” body type) in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM). The way I explained it is that I said your true body type is what you will gravitate to naturally when you are not in a highly trained state. It’s your inherent tendency. In that respect, you could say somatotype does not change, while body composition does.
In chapter 5 of BFFM I said there were three additional ways to know your inherent body type beyond Sheldon’s scale, which take into account changes in physique due to training and nutrition:
1.How you looked before you took up training (your “natural” body shape)
2.How you respond to training and nutrition (ease of muscle gain or fat loss)
3.How you respond to de-training (how well you retain lean mass and low body fat or how quickly you lose lean mass and gain fat on cessation of training)
If you wanted to make this even MORE complex, we could look at somatotyping by considering not just the outward bone structure and body composition of an individual, but also the metabolic (interior) characteristics
My “Burn The Fat” system of body typing is like a combination of:
(1) Metabolic typing (internal metabolic characteristics like carb tolerance)
(2) Somatotyping (external body shape - linearity or roundness, fatness or leanness)
(3) Miscellaneous other genetic factors.
That would be a pretty good three-part body typing system that covers the concerns about changing body types, individual metabolic types (“carb intolerant types” or protein types, etc), and genetics (which is especially relevant since obesity genes have been identified fairly recently).
I hear criticisms of the somatotyping system all the time, where people say it is not useful. I disagree. Yes, it’s perhaps too crude of a system to base your entire training and nutrition plan upon, but I believe it’s very helpful as a general tool to “KNOW THYSELF”.
In other words, if you are inherently an endomorph and you KNOW IT, then you know darn well what happens when you don’t do any cardio. You know what happens when you cheat four or five times in a week. You know what happens when you slack off. You gravitate towards gaining fat, because that is your body type’s tendency! So you can adjust your training, nutrition and lifestyle accordingly.
If you are an ectomorph, then you know what happens when you skip meals… you don’t gain any muscle! You know what happens when you do too much cardio… you don’t gain any muscle, or you lose some!, etc. etc.
And if you’re a mesomorph…. did I mention…. we hate you!
If you’d like to learn more, chapter 5 in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is about body typing. It’s full of some really valuable and motivating lessons about knowing yourself, your body and your genetics and understanding the importance of taking personal responsibility, regardless of your hereditary predispositions. If you already have the book, it’s worth re-reading periodically.
Tom Venuto
Author, Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle
Founder & CEO, Burn The Fat Inner Circle
Fri. Feb 5
We did the same routine as Wednesday but with an added max. effort set at the end.
Hack squats
pull-ups
chair dips
stiff-legged dead lifts
military press
dumbbell snatch
push-ups
single arm rows
Superset each exercise with another, 20-30 seconds rest between sets, three sets of each, last set for a personal record. I think this may be the first week we have had 100% attendance for the full week. We also went harder than we ever have before and no one was complaining. I'm sure everyone will feel it by tomorrow. Congratulations!
My Fat loss report:
I was down to 149.0 lbs last night, so another big jump. I was afraid my strength was going down as well, but in this mornings workout I broke records in all my lifts except incline press. I almost quit after the first set of presses I was so disappointed. Fortunately I pressed on and found all my other lifts in great shape. I almost told myself I must be getting weaker from the diet and I shouldn't try to lift hard. Wrong! Turned out to be a great workout. I'm down 5 pounds since Monday and moved in a notch on the weight belt. Here's my diet from yesterday:
whey shake with milk,blueberries, flax and oatmeal
Kiwi
Grapefruit
cocoalmonds
raisins
white chili,lots of chicken and beans
pizza(homemade)just one slice though
Romain Salad
carrots
one small bread stick
plain yogurt
peanuts
lots of water
Hack squats
pull-ups
chair dips
stiff-legged dead lifts
military press
dumbbell snatch
push-ups
single arm rows
Superset each exercise with another, 20-30 seconds rest between sets, three sets of each, last set for a personal record. I think this may be the first week we have had 100% attendance for the full week. We also went harder than we ever have before and no one was complaining. I'm sure everyone will feel it by tomorrow. Congratulations!
My Fat loss report:
I was down to 149.0 lbs last night, so another big jump. I was afraid my strength was going down as well, but in this mornings workout I broke records in all my lifts except incline press. I almost quit after the first set of presses I was so disappointed. Fortunately I pressed on and found all my other lifts in great shape. I almost told myself I must be getting weaker from the diet and I shouldn't try to lift hard. Wrong! Turned out to be a great workout. I'm down 5 pounds since Monday and moved in a notch on the weight belt. Here's my diet from yesterday:
whey shake with milk,blueberries, flax and oatmeal
Kiwi
Grapefruit
cocoalmonds
raisins
white chili,lots of chicken and beans
pizza(homemade)just one slice though
Romain Salad
carrots
one small bread stick
plain yogurt
peanuts
lots of water
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thurs. Feb 4
Core-Intervals
We did a core circuit similar to Tuesdays, followed by 30 sec bouts of high knee running, mountain climbers, burpees, jumping jacks, speed squats and more running.
My diet experiment continues:
I didn't lose any weight yesterday, still at about 151.6, I did eat a very late meal of salad, carrots and oranges. I didn't get any vegetables in during the day so I did it all in one meal. That was my 5th meal, about 9:00PM. I did wake up very hungry around midnight and really didn't sleep too great after that. I don't know if it was the hunger or Tommy who kept crying that kept me awake. I think the large salad and lots of water late kept my weight up. I have found that the smaller meals more often have definitly curbed my hunger, my energy seems very consistant throughout the day as well. I don't have that after dinner crash anymore. After only three days I am feeling quite thinner, I know because it's easier to tighten my weight belt to the same hole as before. I can see a visable difference in the mirror allready. Very exciting!
We did a core circuit similar to Tuesdays, followed by 30 sec bouts of high knee running, mountain climbers, burpees, jumping jacks, speed squats and more running.
My diet experiment continues:
I didn't lose any weight yesterday, still at about 151.6, I did eat a very late meal of salad, carrots and oranges. I didn't get any vegetables in during the day so I did it all in one meal. That was my 5th meal, about 9:00PM. I did wake up very hungry around midnight and really didn't sleep too great after that. I don't know if it was the hunger or Tommy who kept crying that kept me awake. I think the large salad and lots of water late kept my weight up. I have found that the smaller meals more often have definitly curbed my hunger, my energy seems very consistant throughout the day as well. I don't have that after dinner crash anymore. After only three days I am feeling quite thinner, I know because it's easier to tighten my weight belt to the same hole as before. I can see a visable difference in the mirror allready. Very exciting!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Groundhog Day
Core-cardio
Warm-up playing stretch-the-band if you can.
Turkish get-ups(10lb dumbbell)
dumbbell swings(single arm and double arm
Crunches with dumbbell orerhead
supermans
v-sit
Climbing legs
bird-dog
Hill Sprints(x5
Progress report:
I lost 2 lbs yesterday, down to 152.4
I wasn't never really hungry, and I was never really full either.
The weight loss was due to glycogen levels in my liver and muscle decreasing as my carbs were much lower than the previous few days. Glycogen acts like a sponge for water so as the levels fall the water comes out, I was going all day long, clear as water. That should level out today and my weight-loss will taper off.
My energy level was great. Each meal was around 400 calories, I ended up at around 2100 for the day.
Warm-up playing stretch-the-band if you can.
Turkish get-ups(10lb dumbbell)
dumbbell swings(single arm and double arm
Crunches with dumbbell orerhead
supermans
v-sit
Climbing legs
bird-dog
Hill Sprints(x5
Progress report:
I lost 2 lbs yesterday, down to 152.4
I wasn't never really hungry, and I was never really full either.
The weight loss was due to glycogen levels in my liver and muscle decreasing as my carbs were much lower than the previous few days. Glycogen acts like a sponge for water so as the levels fall the water comes out, I was going all day long, clear as water. That should level out today and my weight-loss will taper off.
My energy level was great. Each meal was around 400 calories, I ended up at around 2100 for the day.
Moday Feb. 1st
Full body strength training circuit.
Hack Squats
Pushups
Glute-ham raises
Single-arm snatch
Military press
pull-ups
Dips
1 arm dumbbell row
2 sets of each exercise, 60 sec rest, reps to failure or 1 minute.
I'm doing a strict diet for one week staring today to see what happens, for research. I weighed in at 154.6, 31.5 inch waist.
Diet consists of 5 meals a day, every three hours, carbs, protein, fats, in every meal.
Single ingredient foods, no processed foods, fruits in the morning and lots of vegetables in the evening.
Lots of water.
I'm lifting heavy weights(3-5 reps) three times a week full-body workouts(45 min), plus 5 days of bootcamp, but I don't work real hard during these.
I will post my Diet here for all to critique.
Monday
Whey, milk, flax, spinach, mixed berry shake
Homeade, wholewheat noodle lasagna
walnuts
raisins
kiwi
yogurt
baked potato
shredded pork
spinach
Hack Squats
Pushups
Glute-ham raises
Single-arm snatch
Military press
pull-ups
Dips
1 arm dumbbell row
2 sets of each exercise, 60 sec rest, reps to failure or 1 minute.
I'm doing a strict diet for one week staring today to see what happens, for research. I weighed in at 154.6, 31.5 inch waist.
Diet consists of 5 meals a day, every three hours, carbs, protein, fats, in every meal.
Single ingredient foods, no processed foods, fruits in the morning and lots of vegetables in the evening.
Lots of water.
I'm lifting heavy weights(3-5 reps) three times a week full-body workouts(45 min), plus 5 days of bootcamp, but I don't work real hard during these.
I will post my Diet here for all to critique.
Monday
Whey, milk, flax, spinach, mixed berry shake
Homeade, wholewheat noodle lasagna
walnuts
raisins
kiwi
yogurt
baked potato
shredded pork
spinach
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