My Evolutionary Training

The EvoT Project

2010-08-28T04:57:00.000-07:00

This used to be my personal training blog, but that's going to change soon. Soon I am going to use this space as part of the EvoT project. The EvoT project is a pedagogical excursion aimed at helping people understand the principles of evolutionary theory and science through personal lifestyle changes. Our motto is "walk the walk to talk the talk" (of evolution). Seriously, what better way to get people to understand the details of evolutionary science then to show them how it can, here and now in 2010, affect their daily lives? To show them how things like the industrial revolution, with respect to food, has created a lot of the modern diseases we see? To show them how sedentary lifestyles (e.g. sitting at a desk all day and then in front of the television all evening) approximate nothing like what our ancestors face and also contributes to a plethora of modern disease, namely obesity. EvoT is charged with changing the behavior of people in order to help update and modify their cognition about evolutionary science. This is not a stop believing in your God blog. Rather, we feel that your belief system are perfectly in line with an evolutionary theory we back so keep on keeping on if you like. Rather, we simply want to utilize a prescription of small changes in your daily routine to educate you about how your body works. And make you aware of your body - inside and out - in a completely new educational endeavor. Interested? Hop on board!

USDA Releases new nutrition guidelines, but missed again....

2010-06-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Read my thoughts here....

Paleo Licking Good!

Note: I have not read every document in great detail, but plan to, this is just an initial reaction from a sampling of the documents that have been produced. Amazing that after 15years of thinking about this, the revision says virtually nothing different.... Are we haunted by bad nutrition ghosts...? LOL

McDonalds recalls the wrong thing!

2010-06-06T05:15:00.000-07:00

Recently McDonald's in honor of the new shrek toy has released another form of of associatively based obesity conditioning ploy known as the Happy Meal Toy. This is how it works and you don't have to think too hard about Pavlov to get the idea here. Pair a fun toy (Pavlov's meat powder) with another stimulus, bad food ridden with toxins (bell) and voila you get kids who become associatively conditioned to realize that bad toxic food (that which is served at McDonald's) is associated with a toy (pleasure). It's quite clever actually and you'd expect nothing less from a giant like McDonald's to use such a clever ploy to get people to buy their product, you know because Americans are really staving off that sort of diet ;-) NOT! What's really clever about it is that it's an experiment almost opposite to trying to develop conditioned taste aversion to an alcoholic or addictive substance. The pleasure more or less over rides the aversive response and addicts keep drinking, snorting, smoking or whatever, even in lieu of the fact that they feel terrible, get ill, vomit profusely, etc. For this case, they are feeding what should make the average person ill (in fact, I know, from self-experimentation, if I were to drive up and order a fast food meal I would be ill very shortly after eating it because my bodies been more or less detoxified). However, in the well-conditioned (to the toxins not fitness that is) there is the development of a resistance. Like a vaccine or sorts.

At any rate, the latest toys are associated with the release of the new Shrek movie and they are plastic glasses. Doesn't sound like fun? You don't have your favorite glass, mug or cup? I do. So does my wife. And so does just about every kid I know. However, the new glasses/cups have a toxin cadmium in them and this has forced McDonald's to recall the glasses. For goodness sake, they would not want their patrons being poisoned from drinking their fructose loaded soda pop from a poisonous cup. They would not want their customers washing down that tasty (toxin loaded, non-organic, shit-fed beef) burger with toxic soda from a poisonous cup, would they? My word, they might lose a customer. In fact, the cadmium poisoning should be the last of their concern. Perhaps McDonald's should consider recalling their menu and serving something a bit healthy and organic and not sugar even their salads!

There is a big to do recently about the discovery of new genes that could regulate obesity. These genes are presumably associated with the regulation of everything from the brain's ability to modulate a person's perception and desire for certain high-fat foods to the bodies ability to differentially utilize and store saturated fats (and of course the old Cholesterol myth is embedded in that one). However, in none of the studies did I read mention (granted I only skimmed the articles) of hyerinsulinimia and silent inflammation. In none of these studies do they talk about the baseline healthy state - an ancestral state. This really gets me fired up.

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a relative, we were discussing that some friends and relatives are going in for surgery - apparently elective and not critical life-saving procedures. Rather these were surgeries for things that crept up on the person. Stomach pains. Pelvic issues. Inflammation. The list goes on, but I will spare you. The person I was talking to, my mother, and I then went on to consider each person' baseline state of health, from an ancestral living standpoint. Turns out that every single person we were talking about has terrible eating habits and does no exercise whatsoever. When is the medical community and the research community going to put aside, at least momentarily the idea of the reductionist model of medicine and begin to take into account the ultimate causes of illness and bad health. I used this example to explain to my mother. If I am going to prescribe a bunch of meds and surgery to a patient who is knowingly not in a baseline, ancestral state of health and wellness I am essentially doing two things: 1) treating only symptoms, for which I know nothing of the true etiology and 2) possibly causing more harm then good. I made this parallel: Treating the non-baselined patient is like starting to paint a master piece, except your canvas already has some really bad art on it. So now you have to cover up all that bad art, which you can never completely do. Then you have to make your masterpiece shine through even though some of the bad art might still be visible in the right light, at the right angle. Or you might add a color, say blue to an area that you thought was covered adequately, although it was not and now your masterpiece, which had a touch of yellow that you failed to take notice of, shows as green. Well if this portion of your masterpiece was the sky, I've never seen a green sky (yellow & blue make green). The human body, as evolution has crafted it, is a masterpiece. What we've done through USDA "intervention on our behalf" and through poor eating habits (partly not our fault as the powers that be have hijacked deep evolutionary psychological processes to their advantage) is painted over our masterpiece and essentially fucked it up! Royally!

What to do? Clean the slate. Go back to the masterpiece. Unlike the painting, in most cases we can eradicate the "bad art" overlay and get back to a baseline condition. It takes hard work, dedication, good eating habits and exercise, but it's possible. Once at this stage, then if issues, problems, and disease persist, physicians, I would think, would be in a better position to treat the "real" disease.

I am not a medical doctor, but when in the hell are medical colleges going to start prescribing Darwinian Medicine and Health to their students? I just don't think anyone can be held responsible for our health except our selves. So, while I truly believe in Evolution and that genes determine a lot of things, in the cases reported above regarding obesity I think that we've missed the epigenetic train folks. We've not taken into account that our toxic environment might have altered gene expression in a way to survive. We've not discovered a possible new reason for obesity, we've discovered a new genetic expression of obesity. So what will happen now? We will try to develop (20-30 years of research) ways to treat the genes, the proteins the genes regulate, etc. And we will probably still fail to realize that it's all an evolutionary consequence to toxicity.

Shrek, go ahead, drink from the cadmium laced cup. It's probably no worse for you than what you are putting in it to drink.

Burden of Proof

2010-04-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

Recently, on one of my new favorite sites, because it deals with my workout, there was a debate about the effectiveness of the program. The program is CrossFit. The question, posed in a most rude and upsetting manner was "What evidence?"

The question is a good one. What actually constitutes evidence? What makes a good evidence-based practice? Most of us who train, talk to others about training, and those of you who properly train others probably think the evidence is the comments, thoughts, accolades associated with your clients, friends and self, getting fitter. Truthfully speaking, yeah. That is damn good evidence, but it is not scientific. There are a few concepts that scientists try to follow and most exercise routines do not follow them closely, if at all.

Take for example the notion of peer-review. Most exercise routines are not published, that is most exercise routines you see trainers at the gym using, do routines on a DVD set you just ordered, or stick to the age-old traditional programming rampant in magazine like MH. I have never heard of a trainer publishing the results of his clients, but heck I'm new to this. There is a reason right? Each and every client is different and unique. So how do we utilize peer-review. Most of us don't. We use our results as evidence. I think this is just fine when it comes to this type of treatment program. That is, you are trying to make that client meet his/her goals, so their individual progress is the evidence.

Another example of a technique science uses is the burden of proof/falsifiability. That is, a scientist must state their ideas in a way that is inherently falsifiable and testable. And that leads to the other aspect of science that many of us rely on: replicability. Scientists need to be able to replicate methodology in precisely, or close to precisely, the way the original person executed it. When it comes to fitness this might be impossible. If you are training an overweight person and an underweight person the methods are drastically different, right? If you are training youngster versus a retiree: different, etc.

OK, so all this does not mean that there can never be an evidence-based fitness program and I think CrossFit is the new movement. Let me explain. First, peer-review is one of the worst aspects of scientific processes. It is an archaic, failing discipline in science as evidenced by the many journals that are opening up their pages to commentaries, using Web 2.0 technology to allow continual author-reviewer-scientific community correspondence. We are no longer in the times when a paper gets submitted, peer-reviewed, and then rejected or published. Rather, we are now in the age of a paper gets submitted, peer-reviewed, rejected or published, and if published opened up to a number of wonderful mechanisms for continual discussion about the research which includes, but is not limited to: blogging about the article (that is, blogging on the journal site for all to see), ability of readers to write commentaries and letters to the authors, editors, and reviewers, and so forth. As for the other aspects of scientific inquiry we cannot avoid them to be true to ourselves: burden of proof, falsifiability, and replicability. That is where CF steps in.

The entire CF process is transparent. The WODs are generated daily and people then post their scores, times, loads, reps. It is never peer-reviewed, but completely transparent. It is testable. They ask the question: can you make a better athlete than me? If you can, show us. And where there is evidence of other programs providing good outcomes, CF recruits their efforts. Take for example the recent combinations of West Side's conjugate methods and Pose running with CF programming.

Generally speaking, evidence-basis in fitness is very necessary. We've all kept a log of our progress at some point in our workout lifetime. That is we recorded that last time we bench pressed 225 10 times, this time I did an extra rep. Woo hoo. But there is more to it than this. It is not just about getting a big chest and pressing more weight. Fitness is defined as Health. So bench pressing 225, 315, or 500 lbs does not always equal "Health". In fact, for some of us, and in my opinion, that produces an individual that is far from healthy, or fit. Rather it produces a specialized athlete that can bench press a lot of fucking weight. They are not generally healthy. That is the measure that we need to use as our benchmark: are they generally healthy? Has our programming helped them to be more healthy or less healthy? If the latter, how can we adapt to change that? If the former, how can we target the things that are helping to increase their health/fitness? This means that while our programming needs to be regimented, structured and scientific, it also has to be adaptable. This is also a hallmark of good science. Good scientists are able to realize when an experiment is going awry, when unexpected results are either interesting or not and make decisions about taking a new path, or staying the course.

Of course I am so biased, but my impression of health/fitness comes from what our ancestors could have done or needed to do to survive. So I define health/fitness as being able to act like a caveman. When I just wrote that line, I was going to follow it up by saying, "Just teasing". But I am not teasing. Imagine your inner caveman and what s/he would have to do in her day. I can provide a few examples from my warped brain:

What my inner caveman had to do How to train for that (now)

Chase an animal Run, squat, snatch, jump

Drag an animal down Pull, push, engage core

Swing from branch to branch Pull-up, core, balance

If our trainees, partners, friends and family, and colleagues can act like a caveman then that makes them a good candidate for my tribe. They can join my group. They will likely be the folks that can contribute to group success, engage in camaraderie, help others, produce! The proof is, as they say, in the pudding - or or us the health and fitness that our clients/trainees exhibit.

Another good idea for food/snack, in my mind...

2010-04-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

So I usually drink my coffee black, but occasionally in the Summer hot black coffee, well doesn't do the trick. So, being paleo what is a guy to do? No milk, no cream, no whipped cream of cool whip! My goodness. I let the morning's coffee sit all day and cool. Then I pour it over ice, some almond milk (I have not tried the vanilla flavored for this yet, but bet it would be great), and a touch of agave nectar or honey if I have a really strong sweet tooth. Couple that with a paleo banana nut muffin, forget about it!

Nice Paleo dinner

2010-04-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, I've been posting a few recipes lately and thought, what the hell, this isn't a recipe "proper" but it was a damn good dinner.

Gilled Salmon topped with Mango Salsa

Side of grilled pineapple

Tomato-avocado salad

Broccoli-pine nut soup.

For the samlon, just coat in some light olive oil and add a bit of fresh ground pepper to season. Depending on thickness of the piece of salmon, grill flesh side down for about 4-8 minutes. Then flip and grill for 2-3 times the length you chose for the flesh side. The Skin will basically grills off, but I like the skin. Once you flip it coat the top in mango salsa.

Place 3/4 inch slices of pineapple on the top shelf of the grill, flipping about half way through the cooking of the salmon.

For the salad just cut up avocado and tomatoes and add a tablespoon or so of light olive oil. You can also add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper if you like, but if the avocado and tomato are fresh and ripe there is no need.

Broccoli-Pine nut soup:

Broccoli and Pine-Nut Soup, My (paleo)ancestors Way.

1 large onion, diced
1/4 clove of smashed Garlic
2 tablespoons of chopped chives
1 tbs oil
3 cups broccoli
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup pine-nuts

Instructions
Fry onion in a large pan with oil on medium heat until slightly browned. Toss in the garlic and let it simmer a little more.

Add broccoli and stock and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until broccoli has softened. Make sure you keep a lid on! Halfway through, at the chives (keep a little).

Cool slightly. Place in a food processor or use an electric blender to form a smooth texture. This will get it that lovely creamy feel!

Heat some more, serve in bowls and sprinkle with the leftover chopped chives & pine-nuts

Improvisational cooking: Caveman style!

2010-04-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

So this morning I awoke to realize that haphazardly we froze all the remaining bananas for our nightly smoothie, thus leaving me without unfrozen bananas for my paleo pancakes. Initially my reaction was: F*ck! How could I go on without my regular breakfast. Actually, I was not that upset, I was just still pissed off from having to wake up to two crying dogs that had diarrhea in their sleep area. Oh Joy! Poor lil' fellas! Anyhow, I digress, the dog situation had long passed and I was ready to make me some grub... but what to do, what to do without bananas....? I thought, well, I'll just microwave (really paleo eh) one of my paleo banana nut muffins, they are essentially the same recipe just cooked differently. So I started my eggs and opened the fridge only to find that right next to the muffins was a pre-cooked sweet potato. "Hmmmm", I thought. I wonder if I could make a sweet potato pancake. Add a little cinnamon, ok. It turns out this works just dandy! Sure, it's not nearly as sweet, in fact it's a bit savory, but it satisfied my warm breakfast, paleo craving! And it's quite filling! So, I thought I'd share the recipe and a few thoughts about my am experience. Firs the recipe:

1 small, or 1/2-3/4 medium/large pre-cooked sweet potato (it should be so cooked that it's mashable)
1 egg
1 egg white
a (small) handful of ground raw almonds
about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of coconut milk
cinnamon (as much as you like)

Grind almonds and place in mixing bowl
Add egg and egg white and stir around. It should be pasty, sort of.
Add coconut milk
Add sweet potato

Mix all ingredients together until it forms a batter. For my particular griddle pan the batter has to be very think, almost doughy, else the batter just runs out flat and I have one huge burnt unflippable pancake! Talk about a bad way to start your day :-(

Once batter is prepped, heat the griddle pan (I can't grease mine because the stove gets so hot it actually burns the grease off, but I have found that some butter flavored spray enhances the flavor just a touch, especially if you like the taste of butter. I go without greasing only because I have to). Cook like any other pancake, until you start to see some bubbles come through the uncooked side at which time you should flip. Be careful, any paleo pancake is not going to have the stiff consistency of modern pancakes to use a big spatula so that you don't lift half your pancake and leave half on the griddle. I've done that several times and it's really F-ing annoying. In order to circumvent that issue either use large spatula or make smaller pancakes. I choose the latter and it makes a nice stack of pancakes that dupes your mind into thinking you are eating at IHOP or something.

OK, that's it. Cook and eat. I use honey to top these. You could probably get more creative with your topping, like pure maple syrup would probably be fantastic as it is on just about anything.

There you go, a decent new recipe to try for a morning variation. These sweet potato pancakes are not as sweet as banana pancakes and are probably high glycemic and not "true" paleo, but they satisfy the not eating artificial modern shit, for me anyhow. Also, this event this morning got me thinking. Initially, I was really shocked to find that I had frozen all the bananas and left myself without a breakfast option. I was very upset, ok, just a little, but come on... So I improvised. I improvised like our ancestors would have had to do had they frozen all their bananas the night before ;-) Seriously, though. Our ancestors survived probably in large part to their ability to improvise, to think on the spot, to be creative, to think "outside the box". No claws, no teeth, slow, weak, no camo, no fur, no spines, no poison, no exploding ass (see bombardier beetle), and no venom resistance (see honey badger) - we're left with one fantastic evolutionary adaptation: a frontal lobe that is disproportionately larger than it should be for our bodies. I love evolution, by the way! So this frontal lobe, our executive brain, leaves us with the capacity to solve problems, come up with new solution, and think outside the box. This is the evolutionary adaptation that 1) makes humans different from other animals and 2) drove the agricultural and industrial revolutions that our paleo lifestyle now is designed to combat. Strange how these things work right. Our frontal lobes, about 100,000-200,000 years ago started to expand with increased variability in diet. Then somewhere between 150,000 and 10,000 years ago Hominid ancestors started to cook stuff. They somehow learned to harness the power of fire, probably first for warmth and then for cooking. They also learned about underground cooking - that is burying meat and veg with hot coals. This was an evolutionary milestone that resulted in even larger increases in brain energy utilization and expansion. See cooking shit allows our bodies to extract way more nutrients from the food. It's less energetically demanding to breakdown and the energy is easily utilized because the proteins are degraded through cooking. So, simultaneously we reduce our bodies energy expenditure associated with digestion and increase the energetic extraction from the food. MMMM. This is why if you eat everything that you current eat now in raw form, you WILL lose weight. Yeah sure the USDA says raw has more calories, but you shit about half those calories out. Raw diets produce weight loss. There is no debate about that!

So here we have our caveman brethren having discovered, through creativity and ingenuity of the type we don't yet know about (no time machine), allowing or the generation of an industrial tool that increases energy utilization. Turns out our bodies capitalized on sending that energy to our brains: the human brain consumes more energy than any other organ system in the body, in fact relative to it's size it essentially hijacks a majority of the energy in the body. And I don't think any of us would argue with the fact that our brains, are, well, pretty important. But, take for example, neuronal firing (just one neural process) uses about 10% of the entire bodies energy potential. This shit is fucking demanding! So caveman brother finds a way to get more energy in the body by using a creative technique. Our brains were trying to grow but energetically limited. Cooking solved this problem. Then at about 10,000 (+/-) years ago, the modern estimate for agricultural (r)evolution we learned a new trick: farming. Farming allowed us to produce large quantities of energetically dense (read as loaded with sugar and protein) foods in one location (read as we did not have to forage, hunt, and gather). Another evolutionary milestone, the black stone in 2001: a Space odyssey. Right? And yet we now know, or many of us know, that this lifestyle, while hugely beneficial to our farming ancestors, was not good for our bodies. We've created a plethora of "modern diseases" as a result of agricultural evolution. OK, but we've also fed a lot of people, reproduced to almost planetary limits, and destroyed half the earth. Oh, wait, all bad too.... It's not bad though. This was a change in evolutionary history that further gave rise to expanding brain sizes. We know from the anthropological record (read as we think we know from fossilized skulls) that there were at least two distinct periods of hominid brain expansion that correlate very tightly with the discovery of fire pits remains and agricultural evolution. Neat, eh? And yet, here I was, gutted in my kitchen that I had frozen all my freaking bananas and what was I to do. Well thank goodness for the ancestral fire pit and farmer - it's because of them that I have a modernized brain that allows me to improvise, think creatively, and survive (as if I would've died without my paleo pancakes! no seriously, I might have! LOL). I "foraged" (i.e. looked around purposefully) my "surroundings" (i.e. my kitchen, pantry and fridge [oh my!]). I discovered a food product - sweet potato - that is nothing like a banana, but somehow I knew (from experience) that it had similar properties, it was edible, and might suffice as a substitute. Then I engaged in an almost uniquely human behavior: I tried it! That's right, I went for broke, (whoa, I am really dramatizing this, aren't I? :-) I experimented. Many organisms do not have the capacity for experimentation, tool use and creative thinking: they run on instinct. Humans (& crows, and domesticated dogs, and other primates) are among a few species that are able to do this. And, in closing, I must say, THANK GOODNESS, because I don't know what I might have done had I been woken up at 5:30 am to clean up dog diarhea and then not be able to eat my paleo breakfast >:-O

-------------
On last note about Paleo (or ZONE-ish) healthy eating. I've now been doing this again for at least a month, maybe a bit longer, and I have noticed performance gains that are just awesome. Now, part of this is mental, psychological. I went for Level 1 certification, and I've been following CrossFit for a while now, and I've tried to become part of the CF Community, so all those things are driving me to do work harder, faster, again and again. But, I do really think the diet has a combinatorial effect. I am not the first to suggest this, not by any means, in fact it's partially prescribed by CF, but I did want to comment on the personal, self-experimentation aspect of it. Take for example the fact that I max deadlifted more than I ever had, while eating paleo. Then just yesterday my wife, a few students and a professor from the college's new fitness club SPORT (Students Participating in Organized Running and Training) ran a 5K for Georgia Fallen Heroes (actually it was longer than 5K, 3.7 miles) and I ran it in a personal record time. I am convinced that this works.... It's hard at times, but the longer you do it, the more people you recruit as supporters and collaborators in this effort, the more like-minded people you surround yourself with - the easier it gets!

You should be able to talk while working out? Really!?

2010-04-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

I used to hear that while you were working out you should be able to talk. The gist was that if you could still talk while you were working out then you were not over training. This always seemed strange to me, because as a competitive ice hockey player I could never talk, let along think about talking while clearing the net or skating at full throttle. And that was athletic fitness. Well today at the GLOBO I saw a trainer training a pair of clients. He trains them at least 3 days a week (read as they are paying big bucks to get a summer ready body!) I've noticed them, I've also noticed them noticing me doing CF, but I digress. So, I've often noticed them working out. He runs them through what appears to be a boot camp. The trainer has them lunge, sometimes swing a kettlebell (half ROM however, I guess the risk is too high to hold a KB over your head, LOL), pushups on stability device, etc. He usually trains them quite far (relatively speaking) from me, but not today. Today, while I was executing Tabata Something Else in the stretching, warm-up area he was also training his clients there. Whatever, they didn't bother me and I didn't bother them. But, as I was leaving, I walked past them. Today he was running a chipper of sorts: one of the two dudes had to do a minute of box steps (they are either not able or willing to do box jumps, but I've never seen them do box jumps) while the other did a sequence of push-ups and lunges. When I walked past the guy doing box steps and the trainer I was aghast to hear the two of them having a conversation about what they were doing this weekend. I even heard a chuckle! WTF!?! I realize it's Friday and sunny and ... WTF!?! These dudes are so getting ripped off. Not least because they've working out with this trainer for at least a month, but I think actually 3 months and as far as I can tell have made minimal, if any gains in fitness, but because the trainer is obviously not bringing any intensity to the game. I don't even know where to start with this: it would be one thing if they were talking about the workout. If the trainer was demonstrating or verbalizing proper execution of the movement, the ROM, or intensity. It would be one thing if the client was saying, I can't go on, and the trainer responded "yes you can!" However, it's a completely different thing to be talking about the evening's activities and laughing about it. Another GLOBO travesty.

Unfortunately, these types of things, these bastardations of fitness, training, and simply good practice get me thinking and writing. At this point, since receiving and even before receiving my L1 Cert, I've noticed (heightened perceptions to such things) "travesties in trainings at the GLOBO!"

So, today's "travesty in training at the GLOBO" = the trainer allowing his clients to talk while working out. What exactly are the fitness faux pas with this? There are several:

1) if you are talking, if you are able to talk, then your intensity cannot be at a level conducive to production of good fitness outcomes and results.

2) if your trainer is holding a conversation with you that does not revolve around discussion of your movement, your ROM, or your intensity, then s/he is not doing their job and you should ask for your money back. If your trainer is talking to you then s/he does not have your best fitness interest in mind. You are simply a paycheck a $ and you should, quite frankly, be insulted that they are insulting your intelligence and want of good training.

3) if you are talking while being trained, able to talk during a WOD/exercise then you are probably not being trained well. If the trainer allows you to perform things at such a low level of intensity then your results are probably not his/her highest priority. Rather, again, you are probably just a $

Take these 3 points as evidence that the GLOBO has one thing in mind: MAKING $$$. They do not have your fitness in mind. Rather, they design programs, they design and sculpt trainers, to be sales people and not trainers of fitness. They treat their clients as bodies and in most cases I think the GLOBO Gym would prefer their clients don't even come to the gym. The GLOBO stand to make a lot more money by selling memberships and hoping their members do not show up. That way they can bill your account every month, but if you don't show up then you are not producing any wear and tear on their expensive machines (expensive to buy and maintain!) But if you are one of those rare (I don't actually know the statistics, but would love to) that actually show up at the GLOBO, then they try to sell you personal training. Here they walk you through a series of over priced programs "designed to make you reach/attain your fitness goals." But it's a sham, isn't it? Because I have only seen one client trained by a GLOBO trainer that has shown any improvement in fitness. I've even heard the trainers talking, in the locker room about how this client or that client is not really into the training so they just take them through the motions. TRAVESTY! Why are you a trainer if your goal is to not make people healthy and fit. If you don't care about that, then why'd you become a trainer and get your certification? If you are happy with substandard "taking people through motions" you should go flip burgers! Your clients are not burgers! They come to you for help! They NEED your help! They trust your help! They trust that what you tell them to do is correct. They trust that your advice, training, and "expertise" is utilized to its fullest potential to help them, as an individual, reach their fitness and/or health goals. To not know that, to not treat them like a superstar, to ignore what your discipline is designed to do, and to take for granted the fact that you somehow have people's respect without ever having to gain it is a chronic travesty! I would disabuse the clients about this, but I've already been threatened that I can't even train my own wife. I can only imagine what would happen (my membership would probably be revoked) if I started telling clients that they are not getting their money's worth! Ha!

THIS is my sport!

2010-03-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

Today at the GLOBO I saw a new friend of mine - Todd is his name. He's been trying CrossFit main site WOD's for a few days now and loving it. And he's killing it! He is super fit and in no time will look like a perfect CF specimen, I am sure. At any rate, in addition to the WODs he's been actively perusing the main site for materials, demos, etc. He mentioned to me today that he saw somewhere on the site where it said something to the effect (paraphrasing here) that people use CrossFit to train for "their" sports (e.g., MMA, football, baseball, hockey, volleyball, gymnastics, etc). He says to me, "THIS, CrossFit is my sport; I want THIS to be my sport!" Fucking awesome! I knew he and I would get along.

This got me thinking about the "sport of fitness". That's what Coach Glassman refers to CrossFit as, the sport of fitness. I totally agree with this contention. Each WOD is a personal journey, sometimes in pleasure, often in pain, and in competition with yourself (either your last time for that WOD or just kicking ass at the current WOD). It's a sport and sometimes you've only got one participating athlete. For Today's WOD (3 rounds of 275# deadlifts, 10 reps + 50 double unders) I could've used a little help from my friend(s). I was killing it, but slipping on some of the double unders reps, which got m frustrated and made me make more mistakes. I needed a teammate, a virtual slap in the ass to say, come on SP, you can do it! No rest for the wicked, dude! KILL IT!

THIS is my sport! I will continue to kill it, as best I can, until I no longer can participate, I will work hard. My benefits are not trophy, medal, money, but personal gratification at surpassing a previously unknown ability and fitness. What more could you ask for from a program in fitness: Fun, personal satisfaction that transcends the gym, and fitness? I love my sport!

A sense of community at the GLOBO...?

2010-03-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today I experience something new, strange, and yet wonderful at the same time at my local GLOBO Gym. A sense of community. Now, this was not your typical meathead community where we exchanged weightgainer recipes and flexes of our biceps in the mirror. Rather this was a community that I felt was CrossFit like. Well it happens that it was... Let me explain. I've been doing CrossFit at my local GLOBO now for a a few months, 9 or so, I'd say. People know it because I'm not shy about letting them know, or letting them know that "No, I am not done with that pull-up bar just because I go running across the gym to the squat rack to do some thrusters (ah, Fran!). Many people are, well for lack of a better word, frightened by what I do: handstands, and the push-ups! My goodness... what are you crazy, I would hear. But today was different. A few days ago, I mentioned in another post on intensity, that a fella asked me about my workout. He actually asked if I was training for an Ironman Competition and I disabused him about that and informed him about CrossFit and their website. So today I walk into the gym and I see him in the basketball court trying to do a HSPU. He comes over to me and says he's been perusing (my words) the main page and is trying to WOD. It included HSPUs and he could not do it. He was discouraged and ready to quit. I stopped my warm-up and I told him NO! This stuff is infinitely scalable so let's see what you can do. Turns out he can do a modified HSPU with his legs on a bench or box. So he did them. His pull-ups are weak, and his kip is ugly, but we worked that a little too. I of course was not trying to "train" him, proper. I'd been reprimanded for doing that with my wife just a few days earlier - d baggerston trainer told me I could not even train my old lady - I mean WTF!? Right? But after I warmed (him and I) up, we ran through the wod together. It was great fun. He was a little nervous, but held his own and he had no choice because I was cheering him on, loudly mind you, and I was not going to let him give up! Turns out that was contagious because near my max, he started cheering me on "Come on you got this!" Others were taking notice and the one trainer, we'll just refer to him as Douche Baggerston, was not happy. I could tell. Odd looks from him weren't what I noticed, but it was the onlooking from his clients, veering attention away from him and onto us that I did notice. I kind of wanted to tick my tongue out at him, and would have if it hadn't already been hanging out panting. The workout was great, he loved it and wants to do more together or on his own! I am stoked! I feel like I made a difference.

It gets better. As I am walking out I see the spinning instructor - bad ass older lady that has more endurance capacity then a fucking camel! Well she's been doing CF at a BOX a few towns over and knows that I do it at the GLOBO. So she starts talking to me. I leaned through her that another gym had actually closed down because the trainers had defected to a CF model. So this GLOBO does not like CF. I can only assume that it is a huge slap in the face to think that 1) they spent all this money on all this shitty equipment that sucks (read my post about machines) and 2) that this new model-free system produces results. That is, they'd rather see their clients use the machines, get personal training from their trainers (which apparently is where the $ are) and not get any fitter, but yet still take their money, membership fees. Fucking unconscionable! They are selling a bogus product, a fraudulent claim. And people are fucking paying for it! I am ashamed for them, but that is their business. In fact, I reckon they make more money off people who join (e.g., new years resolution-ers) and never show up. At any rate, as disgustingly dishonest and fucked up as that is, the smalle community of 3-4 that I've started to get to know have been wonderful. They've even expressed interest in training with me outside the GLOBO, under my supervision, at my garage (i dont have any equipment yet) or at a park. This is freaking crazy - by being honest, hard-working, and having a shred of integrity about what I do, plus revealing my secret (CF main site) these people want me to train them! I love this stuff and had left the gym with a fantastic feeling about what I am doing and how CF has changed my life.

Cheers, to more community everywhere....

... more to come on this over the weekend....

Intensity evokes remarks

2010-03-18T05:06:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've written about these two ideas before: the need for intensity and compliments, or remarks. Yesterday it happened again. I really brought it to the house for my WOD: Murph - run 1 mile, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, then run 1 mile, again! Poor time of 54:57 because I attacked it all wrong, but now know for next time how to do it.

At any rate, I was rolling in my workout, wrapping up the brutal second 1 mile run, sweating, breathing, working! Afterward, I cooled down and did some NF and isolation stretching to make sure I was able to walk to my classes. While I was stretching a guy at the gym who I've come to befriend simply by seeing him on a daily basis, approached me and asked, "Can I ask you a question?" I immediately got a little defensive and thought great another person is going to ask me why I don't do the typical weights routine, etc blah blah ... But no, this fella asks me, "Are you training for an Ironman or strongman competition?" Holy cow, I was flabbergasted to say the least and highly appreciative. Not because I care to do an Ironman or Stronman Comp, but rather because this guy was giving me a really nice compliment. Really made my day.

Gave me something to think (& write) about as well. This guy obviously saw me working, hard, noticed the intensity I brought yesterday, everyday to the gym. Any of us can go into the gym/fitness center and walk around and see a lot of people just standing around. I've always sort of been puzzled by this, you come here to workout, right, so why just stand around. OR why talk on your damned cell phone. The whole idea that you should be able to talk while working out (with exception of a few conditions, like cardiac or pregnancy) seems ridiculous. If you can talk while you are working out, then it's my wholehearted conviction that you are not really working out. Rather you are just moving it: that is, going through the motions. Now there are times when talking is capable, in between 1RM's, etc, but for the most part the gym should be a place where you push yourself. Spend one hour at high intensity work capacity instead of talking on the phone for 33% of the time you are there, looking at girls asses for another 20%, talking to your "workout" buddy, etc. I mean come on. They don't call it working out for nothing. You are supposed to be working. Else they might call socializing out, cell phone talking out, douching out! Just sayin'

Another thing I've noticed is that intensity, my intensity is what I've noticed, either worries people or upsets them. People are often put off by my rather frantic fast paced walking between stations, sometimes running between stations, or constant monitoring of my stopwatch. Sometimes they approach me and try to talk to me, and I get the distinct feeling that some of them are trying to bring my heart rate down. They do that strange long pause between words and phrases and talk about nothing of real importance at the time. I must seem like a rude dick (like I normally do) when I look down at my watch and say, "excuse me" as I walk past to my next station, start a new set, etc. I am not trying to be rude, rather I feel they are being rude by interrupting my work.

At any rate, this post is not about what I don't like about when people talk to me during a workout, it's about the nice and courteous folks that do talk to me, but have the where with all to know to wait until the end of my workout, to talk me up during my stretching and cool down. To notice that I am using a stop watch and that interruption will probably mess up whatever I am doing. It's quite a nice compliment to know, or observe, or be told, that someone has noticed that you are doing these things. It suggests to me that the intensity that you bring to the gym is observable, socially observable to those that have social skills. It certainly makes people feel uncomfortable because it's not what they are used too. They've never worked out, with or without, a trainer, and been told to watch their time. Rather, often they are coached into a rest period between sets. Rest between sets has it's place, but not everyday. Bring the intensity, or as so eloquently put by one of my favorite raps songs: BRING THE PAIN. It doesn't last that long. So thanks to those people who notice my intensity. It really surpasses just about any compliment, verbal compliment, that I could ever receive. It demonstrates to me that you value intensity. People who value intensity in fitness are probably the same people that value intensity in other walks of life: their occupation, their love life, their family life, their hobbies, etc. I can respect a person like that. I like a person like that!

I think this is interesting: I wonder if people who bring the intensity to the gym/fitness center, also bring the intensity to other domains of life. In my experience this is the case. With people I know, this is the case, I wonder what others' thoughts are.

Really? I can't train my wife?!

2010-03-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

What a joke! I was in the gym the other day, the gym I pay for a membership for my wife and I, helping my wife workout. I hesitate to use the word "train" at all, because really she just needs a little motivation (13 weeks prego will do require that) and some ideas about new workouts and exercises. So I was running her through a workout, at this stage a warm-up - some Samson stretches, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, etc. The workout was not even that strange - sumo deadlift high-pulls, push-ups, and lunges. 20 minute AMRAP. However, one of the trainers says to me quite pointedly, quite intentionally, obviously with meaning, "are you working out too, Steve?" I said, "No. I am just showing Austen a new workout." He says, "be careful, they don't allow independent trainers doing work in here." Ok, if it were a warning, then I totally appreciate it, and actually at the time, I was very thankful and just threw in a few sets of push-ups and burpees here and there to make it look like I was working out too, not just training her. But, damn. This really got me thinking and a little ticked off as the thought percolated. I am like, really dude, it's my wife. She's not paying me, she's not a "client" - WTF!?

I am now not sure if the fella was trying to help me or be a tool bag.

Turns out, that for the past month or two this guy's good pal, also a trainer at this gym, was trying to get my wife to pay for some training in Kettlebell workouts. Well, a few problems with this. 1) why would she pay someone else to show her how to swing a kettlebell when I can do it for free? 2) Why would she pay to have someone show her how to use a kettlebell when the gym does not even make the kettlebells available. No, they are locked away in the secret personal trainer room where the average member cannot access that equipment. And finally, 3) why would she pay for training from a man who is obviously out of shape. The dude is fat. Fine, he can throw around a kettlebell, but what about looking the part?

I tend to think about shopping for personal training, not that I shop for that, like shopping for anything else. If a horse farmer started telling you all about "horse power" would you buy an engine from him? Would you buy health food products from this guy (LOL) or Kirsty Alley? Would you buy a cat from a puppy mill? Would you buy a fancy rat from a pet store that specialized in reptile sales? No! Hell NO! So why in the world do some trainers think that clients will sign up to pay (a lot) of money for personal training with an individual that looks ostensibly out of shape, or at the very least in worse shape then the people they are trying to gain as clients. How do these folks sleep at night? I've written about this before here. But thought I'd update it a little here, because of this past incident. Now the guy who "warned me" and I am greatful, because I'd hate to have lost my gym membership or something, is fit as a fiddle. Ripped, strong, muscular, etc. But he is one of 2, maybe 3 trainers that are in what I would refer to as "good shape". The other 3-4 are, well, turds. And as far as I can tell they aren't even gold plated! LOL.

So, this got me thinking a bit. What's the strategy here? There must be some marketing scheme behind all this "mess" right? I think there is. Let me expound my hypothesis and see what you think.

If I am a gym, and I want to get business from the largest possible most disbursed clientele around in order to rake in the $$ then I need to cater to people who are "serious" about working out and those that are what I've heard referred to as "fair weather worker outers" or "resolution lifters". I'll start by describing the first type of individual: The serious worker outer. These individuals have been dedicated to fitness for a while now. They are already generally fit, some very fit. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors: from marathoner to body builder to ex-collegiate athlete to the mom/dad who is just trying to keep up with his kids. They most likely do not need personal training. They've gotten this far on some good coaching, reading magazines like Men's Health, by watching and talking to others in the gym, or by simply having a "knack" for understanding their own kinesthetic sense of awareness and how musculature and exercise work. These are what we might call "naturals", right? The second type of gym goer is not that fit. They might have joined, bought a membership as a new years resolution claiming, "This is going to be the year I knock off these 20 pesky pounds!" They might be the person who, one day looks in the mirror and then looks down at her plane tickets to Cancun and thinks, what am I going to look like in that bikini? They join for a completely different, acute (or short-lived) reason. They may not even appear to be in bad shape, although many do in my opinion.

Knowing this, I think that the gyms target their clients with personal training - because to be honest that's where the real money is. Personal training is like the drinks at a restaurant and the membership fees are simply the meal. In case you did not know, most places make the majority of their profits off of drink orders and meals are designed to make people thirsty so that they can make more money off of drink orders. Cool, well sort of. SO the membership just gets them in the door. Then they are approached, targeted, I would say by PT. It does not take Einstein to see where my thinking is here: if someone comes in and is reasonably fit, then approaching them with a fatty PT is stupid, moronic. This is what happened to my wife. My wife can back squat her body weight, bench press 3/4 - 2/3 her body weight, clean and jerk, snatch, and she can max overhead squat over 100 lbs. Oh and did I mention she's 13 weeks prego? Wrong approach strategy here. Rather folks who are already fit are generally approached (and I must admit that there is probably a reasonable rate of error based on some sort of signal detection theory, think loose clothing, prego belly, etc) by one of the two really fit trainers. One just looks like a great athlete and the other is a competitive body builder. "Yeah they look good, many people would want to 'look' like that!" Hell yeah! On the other hand, there are those folks - the resolutioners or fair weather fitters - that need attention too. Approaching them with someone who is obviously a real athlete could be very intimidating, right. That kind of mental discrepancy wreaks havoc with our minds. Let me give you an example where it often pops in and we loathe it. The car dealership. You walk in wanting to buy an updated model of your, say Toyota Corolla. The salesperson is not happy with that because the commission is low on that car. So they try to sell you the Sequoia or the Land Cruiser. Yeah, mucho dinero there. Your Bullshit detector goes bonkers and you head for another dealership.

It's a clever little scheme (and I mean scheme in it's proper definitional sense, not the Dr. Evil sense) to target the ends of the fitness spectrum. An additional added benefit of this strategy by gyms is that those individuals in the middle 68% of the distribution will usually fall in one of three categories (in my experience and humble opinion): 1) they will be happy with where they are and their $25 / month gym membership and not care to do any personal training; 2) be impressed by the ever present fit personal trainer and desire to look like or be as strong as them which results in them seeking training by someone better than them; and 3) be intimidated by the super fit trainers and default to the turd trainer with the idea that once they get a little fitter then they will feel more comfortable training with the fit trainer. Ingenious, not ever sure it's been planned, scheme, IMHO.

At the end of the day, I feel really honoured that my wife would even want me to train her - not sure what end of the spectrum I fall in from the above discussion, but I do feel like I've become fitter and am pleased she trusts me and respects me to train her. And the fact that the folks at the gym think it's bogus for me to do so, is well just upsetting. Sorry, turd, she'd rather train with her old (and by old I mean aged) man then you....

Paleo Pasta Dinner

2010-03-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

OK, Paleo - that is NO PROCESSED CARBS - Pasta dinner, how's that possible? I know, I know, I didn't think it was possible either or at the very least possible, but would taste like shit. It didn't, Austen, my food guinea pig, confirmed it!

So here's how you do it, easy peezy! Go buy a Spaghetti Squash. It's like a butternut squash, but more yellow. Then split it with a knife, that's the hardest part of this recipe. Seriously. De-seed it. Place face down in a slightly greased or sprayed baking sheet. Bake in a 375 preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Then take it out and allow it to cool, because you need to pick it up and it'll be pretty hot. I did not wait, because I was hungry. I just used a few paper towels to attenuate the heat. OK, so now take a fork and run it along the inside of the squash, it will peel away and look a lot like spaghetti (see image). OK, so now you could pour your favorite sauce over it. You could lather it in butter and salt, or garlic. I made a homemade sauce by sauteing bacon, onion, and garlic. Then I mixed in two chopped tomatoes and some chopped basil. I seasoned it all with a tiny bit of salt, dried red pepper flakes, fresh ground back pepper... I also added about a 1/2 cup of pine nuts. I put that over the top of the squash like I would put sauce on Spaghetti. I served it with a side of oven baked asparagus. Yummy!

Paleo Ice Cream, No Seriously

2010-03-12T19:40:00.000-08:00

Paleo Ice Cream recipe

No seriously, this is not ice cream, because it's completely free of dairy. Nonetheless, if you are on Paleo and have not had "real" ice cream in a while this should satisfy you.

And it's so damn easy to make.

I use a Magic Bullet blender and do this:

1/2 frozen banana
some ice (amount depends on how think you like it, milkshake-ish should use less, ice cream-ish should use slightly more)
1/4-1/2 almond milk
I add a dash or two of cinnamon, because I like it, you could however add carob chips, fruit, raisins, etc

Blend thoroughly. Eat.
Enjoy!

Why machines are stupid, as if we did not already know!

2010-03-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

The other day, about three days ago, I observed a trainer at Gold's Gym show someone how to use a leg machine, like a hacksquat machine or something. At any rate, it took the trainer a good 5 minutes to show him how to use the machine. Now, don't under estimate the power of 5 whole minutes. Try this: start a stop watch and read the title of this post, "Why machines are stupid, as if we did not already know!" until the 5 minutes are up. How many times did you say the title? A lot a bet. I hope that impresses upon you the length that 5 minutes actually is. OK, so when it comes to explaining a lift 5 minutes is a good amount of time to describe the essence of the lift. For example, the other day I was training someone and I was teaching her how to squat. It took well over 5 minutes because squatting is not easy, intuitive, and often executed wholly incorrectly. While giving this explanation of "how to squat" I discussed foot placement, hip extension and flexion, full extension, hand position, lumbar curve, core stability, heels, heels, & more heels. But not once did I say "push that lever, or pull that dial". This is what got me the other day at Gold's. The trainer started off the session like he was selling a used sports car, discussing all of the intricate details of the machine. "Here, see, you have the pin, which goes inside the plates to vary how heavy the lift is. (he didn't use lift, that was my paraphrasing)". "And here is the platform that you stand on." "Now, this is very important", he says. "This lever right here can save your life!" Actually that's the statement that caught my attention. I was sort of eavesdropping prior to that, but that statement captured a full on head turn and gawk. You'd of thought that Vida Guerra had just strutted by me. So I am watching this trainer, and first of all I cannot get over the fact that this trainer does not at all look the part. He is sort of pear shaped, sure he had pretty big arms, but generally I would not have classified him as a "fit" man had I seen him walking through the Kroger. Trainer boy goes on to tell the client (poor sole) which lever to pull, what thing to push, etc, etc. The guy, obvously new to working out, obvious from his rotund physique, looked a little more then befuddled. Imagine holding an intense workout and all of a sudden having to fail and remember what switch to flick to save your life, legs, or just yourself from sheer embarrassment? I would find that absolutely impossible. Or at the very least absolutely impossible while maintaining any sort of intensity during your lift.

Let me see if I can relate this to a topic of interest for me. You guessed it CrossFit. Kilgore and his colleagues developed a model a while back called the Fish model (Issue 69 of the CrossFit Journal). It was essentially a means with which to plot progress in multi-mode training. The two essential curves for this discussion are the performance improvement and need for complexity of training. In Kilgore's model you can see that they are inversely related. That is as performance starts to asymptote, the need for complexity in training increases proportionally. This is to challenge the athlete ever more to be able to continue making gains in their performance. The Kilgore model is brilliant, however, it aims to describe changes across broad time and modal domain. Good thing, right. Hell yeah! But let's assume for a minute that we are also interested in plotting performance within a single slice in time; within a single workout, within a single lift. A slice of Kilgore's Fish! And let's also assume that we are interested in two facets that contribute to the complexity of training: physical and psychological. The psychological - and that includes the way that the brain controls motor unit execution (i.e. neurological) - factors of lifting, or any sport for that matter, should never be underestimated. In sports we often "quiet the mind" in order to perform optimally. In fact, one might argue that leaders in any sport are able to quell the distractions of the mind & brain in order to perform optimally under stressful, or psychologically challenging conditions. In the scientific psychological world this process if called attention, or more accurately divided attention. That is, it's your capacity for spreading your attentional attunement between 2 or more things that are going on. When we do this, when the environment forces us to focus on multiple things each of those individual processes loses something; they lose their capacity to perform at optimum levels. Think of it this way. A water tank can provide x pounds for square foot water pressure to a single hose. However, if we split that hose in to two, three, or four outlets, the water tank has to increase power in order to maintain the same pounds per square foot pressure delivered to each hose independently. Well the brain can't simply increase it's power output; there are limits on that because it's a biological organ. So when our brains are multiply tapped to do various things at once, each task tends to suffer decreases in performance.

What's this got to do with sports and fitness. A whole heckuva lot! If you are thinking about what lever to pull, push, dial to spin, etc then you are not focusing on the lift mechanics itself. Or at the very least you are not thinking about those essential mechanics in a way that would optimize both your performance and safety. Eventually, after training and practice, the mechanics become second nature. This is a fairly simple process, but to really simplify the neuroscience it happens like this. When we need to actively think about something (e.g., how to place your feet for a squat, focus on lumbar curve, tight core, etc) you recruit an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex; it's located right behind and above your forehead and eyes. There are regions of this area of the brain that are involved in myriad cool functions: self-awareness, social cognition, personality, and attention. So when we need to pay attention to something we call this part of the brain into action. If we are calling this part of the brain into action it means that energy is being drawn from other processes. Other brain areas. Through practice we can change this effect. Through practice what happens is your brain learns the movement, exercise, or whatever you are doing, at the level of the prefrontal cortex and then after you have started to master it you no longer have to pay attention to the mechanics, it becomes automatic. At that point it gets processed or executed via a subcortical system called the striatum. (Mind you, I am simplifying this greatly here). The striatum is intricately involved in Parkison's disease so hopefully you can see how it's related to motor function execution. Additionally, the striatum is a very efficient processor; because you no longer have to pay attention to the movement you don't need to utilize as much energy. Cool eh?

OK, enough neuroscience right? Back to lifting. In the heat of a lift, psychological attention to the mechanics is going to draw from the automaticity of execution of the movement. This is what happens in beginners, like myself. I focus and practice on form so that it becomes automatic. Why? So that when I go to increase load, speed, power, that form comes through loud and clear helping me to achieve new personal records! (I can only hope). However, what happens when we increase loads, time, and power? Our form often goes to shit! The reason is partly do to the musculature mechanics being unsure about the execution and that is partly related to frontal cortex attention to the movement and the corresponding load, speed, or task. Coach Greg Glassman recently did a CrossFit Journal on a topic related to this called threshold training. He explains that threshold training entails an athlete (or driver, or typer, etc) to do something intensely. They typically do poorly. But if forced to maintain that level of intensity and change one thing - performance, then they learn to effectively execute their task at the higher level of intensity. Then you up the intensity again, and repeat. This is how elite athleticism is built. Let me provide another personal example. The other day I was doing 3 rep max shoulder presses. The first three rounds were executed will sheer brilliance of technique (probably not, but bear with me). However, as the weight increased, what happened. In order to move the load my brain had to do more stuff. It was faced with a new challenge and had to rapidly adapt and try to overcome. When I hit the fail place my brain was at full attention: DO SOMETHING SO YOU DON'T DROP 155# ON YOUR HEAD MORON!!!!! Thank goodness my brain does this, right!? Thank goodness your brain does this! What happens when you hit the fail spot - energy is transferred (neurologically) from representing the efficient, efficacious, and proficient movements to energy dedicated to living. You drop the weight. In CrossFit and O -ifting the answer is an easy fix: Drop the weight and do it fast.

When else do we lose our automaticity of movement execution. Under high intensity. When you are doing Fran, you are killing yourself. And as your METCON increases rapidly, again your brain's attentional systems turn to self-preservation attention mechanisms. You might drop the weight, bend over and catch your breath, meet pukie, or any various combination of outcomes that draw your attention from the task at hand: moving a weight from low to high, and pulling yourself up, as fast as you can without dying.

Back to why machines suck. How can you maintain focus on exercise mechanics and intensity when paying attention to what lever to pull, push or dial to turn? Especially when it means saving your life! It's nearly impossible. And this is why I think machines suck at creating fitness (& there are probably a plethora of other reasons as well). It is virtually impossible to transfer neurological processing from attentional systems to automaticity, which begets intensity, which produces results! One might argue that you could learn to be automatic on a machine - very easily learn what buttons to press, pull, or turn in a flash in order to save your life. But that's just not true. Through evolution our bodies have been designed to move large loads in ways very similar to O-lifting. These are gross body movements over long distances utilizing mutli-motor and joint units. The interaction of gross motor movements and fine motor movements, such as initiating a complex sequence of finger movements to turn your wrist are diametrically opposed, in my humble opinion. Try this. Send me an email, while trying to front squat. Diverted attention at the level of neurocognitive energy (because you'd be thinking about what to write me) and at the level of motor unit integration (you are not supposed to be worrying about utilizing fingers during a front squat except to the extent that they are used to keep the bar from rolling off you. What's interesting, is that fingers take up A LOT of brain space. They are essentially how we find out about the world. We pick stuff up, feel it, roll it around in our hands, etc. We don't experience the world through our quads, hips, glutes, at least not in the tactile sense. So when we activate fine motor units during otherwise large motor unit lifts, we actually draw a lot of neural energy to parts of the brain not involved in the lifting. We are detracting unconscious motor attention from the task at hand to something that is irrelevant.

The take home message: distraction is part of any lifting, fitness, and sport program. We tend to call it training and practice. However, anything that enters this equation that is not directly related to the lift at hand would amount to an an drastic decrease in work capacity because of misdirected neural energy.

This can be modeled mathematically, sort of (I'm not a mathematician!). If we input arbitrary values into the Power equation (F * D / T = P) and divide that by arbitrary units associated with practice, training, and other distractions we can get a modest estimate of the effects each of these have on optimizing work capacity. So let's assume for sake of argument and ease of calculation that each of these three - training, practice, and other distraction - can be placed on a range from 0-1. Where a score of 0.0 means that you no longer are impacted by that variable and a score of 1.0 means that it consumes a lot of your energy, if not all of it. So a score somewhere in between, say 0.5 training, would indicate that about half of your cognitive energy reserves still need to be dedicated to training (e.g., movement mechanics), and so forth. With this in mind we can generate a few plots to show the effects. So the Power equation gets slightly modified to include an additive denominator term that accounts for training and practice (these two I vary simultaneously because I do feel that they are intricately and intimately linked and co-vary), other distractor (e.g., having to know what dials to press), and a constant of 1.

Formula 1:

Where in the numerator F = force, D = distance, T= time; and in the denominator Tr = training, P = practice, O = other distraction, and k is our constant.

If we enter arbitrary numbers in to our equation we generate a plot of performance. Let's say our Power equation is 45*3/5 (remember these are arbitrary number for purposes of demonstration) then our maximum power output, or work capacity would be 27. (indicated by the purple circle below). However, if we add the variables of training, practice, distraction, and our constant we can generate a plot that looks like:

Here, the purple dot at the top indicates our reference point for maximum work capacity. (27) The three lines represent varying different aspects of the model. The red line represents keeping the need for training (Tr) and practice (P) high (1.0) and systematically decreasing other distraction by 0.1 (going from 1, .9, .8, and so on). The blue line is similar, except in this instance we maintain O at a constant of 1 and systematically decrease Tr & P. You can see that this slightly, but only marginally increases work capacity in this model simulation. The green line represents keeping O at a low constant (here I used 0.1) and then decreasing Tr & P systematically and what you can see is that if other distractions are kept at a minimum then increases in work capacity would come as a consequence of decreasing the demands for cognitive resources/energy being directed toward attention to training and practice. That is, you are getting better!

Now, realistically, I think the detrimental effects of other distraction (O) are greater than that of either Training or Practice. So we can modify the model in several ways to account for this. I provide two examples below. In the model below what I show is the equation when doubling the effect of O and the corresponding plot:

Here, it's important to note that by simply doubling the effect of O on work capacity you make it equal to the combined effects of training and practice. Below I show the simulated model/equation when we triple the power of O and the corresponding plot:

Here, it's important to note that tripling the effect of O actually results in decreases of work performance above and beyond that associated with the effects of training and practice.

Thus, I think that the other distractions associated with many machine workouts draw significantly from our ability to increase work capacity and inhibit our quest for health and fitness. With this in mind an athlete should be prepared to be affected by training and practice, because that is part of the "game". The athlete has little control over this. However, the athlete has great control over the power of other distractions by choosing an effective and efficacious fitness program, and by purposefully and consciously decreasing extraneous distractions.

OK, just my 2¢. Any thoughts?

Fitness(2) and Sport

2010-01-29T04:13:00.000-08:00

What do these terms mean to the regular worker-outer? Are the seriously considered?

Dictionary.com
Fitness: Health

Sport: physical prowess in a particular, or several activites: swimming, running, football, baseball, fishing, hunting, etc.

Fitness (2): reproductive representation in subsequent generations (offspring, kin's offspring, offspring's offspring, etc). (i.e. Darwinian Fitness)

Do these terms mean anything to you with respect to (WRT) your exercise regimen? I will try to provide some ideas, examples, and such.

Clearly most people workout to be healthy, or to have fitness, right? Ummmm, I don't think so. Unfortunately, I think most people workout for reasons of vanity: I wanna have a 6 pack, big arms, sexy butt, etc. So why do we care, or do we care at all about Fitness=health. Turns out that this is directly related to the two other terms listed above: Sport and Fitness (or Darwinian Fitness). Here goes. Sport is essentially demonstrating or gaining or practicing to be the best at some activity or activities (see examples listed). There is no end for sporting abilities to stop growing; that is, you can alway improve and get better, faster, bigger, stronger (if you're doing it right). However, sport as we know is a recent evolutionary phenom. There is no good archeaological evidence that our distant ancestors (australopithicines, ardipithicus, etc) engaged in competitive sport. Much to the chagrin of many English blokes they do not stem from a long (evolutionary) history of footballers. Sorry mates! Not "playing" sport is one thing, but they were certainly engaged in a sport. The sport of survival. For our ancestors every turn of a new day (think sands through the hourglass LOL) was a new game. They had to hunt, gather, fight, mate, fend off predators, etc. That is we were sporting animals from the start: we had to be else we would not have survived. So sport begets fitness. We do not engage in fitness to be sporting types, we were made to be sporting types and that is how we get our fitness.

Furthermore, if you can accept (sort of) the rationale that we sport to get fitness (health) then check this out. Health, or being healthy is sexy. Or, put in other terms, what we find sexy is healthy. Let me provide a few examples. On average men prefer women with a 0.7 waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). This is pretty much a cross-cultural thing, with few exceptions being discovered. So, what's special about .7, or optimal WHR? A freaking lot! First off, optimal WHR predicts whether a woman is going to have complications getting pregnant, during pregnancy, and childbirth. Optimal design lessens the risk in all occasions. Optimal WHR also predicts a woman likelihood of developing physiological (coronary) and psychiatric illnesses; again optimality lessens the chances of developing both. Lastly, optimal WHR predicts the IQ potential of her offspring. So you might ask: Why do men find curvaceous female bodies sexy? No, it's not because the media say so, because what the media throws at us is a complete misrepresentation of what MEN want and like. Rather, it's because finding those shapes sexy in our evolutionary history often led to mating attempts. All other things being equal (which they aren't, I know that) mating with an optimally designed female led to better chances of passing on your genes (Darwinian Fitness). And here's the kicker, when you select a shape to mate with , you pass on the psychological and neurological characteristics that led you to select that shape. Pretty simple and neat, eh? There are several other examples: women find men with more money and resources sexy, but they also prefer masculinized sporty looking males. Specifically they pay attention to the Shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR); or what we know as the V-shaped male. Well, you should not be surprised to learn that SHR predicts health (mental and physical) and reproductive viability in males. So women like men "see" what is sexy because it is healthy and it is healthy because of sport.

So without belaboring another point, ask your self this the next time you walk into your gym to do a workout: Why am I really here?

Designed to be fit!

2010-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

I realized/remembered recently that this blog is named evolutionary training and yet I almost never talk about evolutionary theory. One might think: What the hell does evolutionary science have to do with this CrossFit wannabe blog? Well turns out the stuff that progressive non-repeating body weight, gymnastics workouts do is emulate our natural history. Not to mention that working out is science, an experiment on yourself and evolutionary science is the best of all sciences! Let me expound upon my thoughts.

The Natural History of a Workout Program

Our ancestors, at least our recent ancestors (circa 10,000 - 250,000 years ago) were likely some sort of hunter gatherer or farmer or combo of both practices (although recent human evolution in the last 10,000 years has exploded us into vastly different evolutionary landscapes). In both cases they had to work their asses off. Imagine the skills, strength, musculature, and endurance necessary to be a hunter, gatherer, or first generation farmer with out power tools.... Or, simply look to nature for examples of what we once were. You rarely see overweight, obese, out of shape animals. You know why? They get eaten. They fail to acquire enough resources to sustain bodily functions. They die in hibernation because they did not have the fitness to properly fatten up. They don't get selected as mating partners. The list goes on, but you'd be hard-pressed to find an out of shape (defined by species specific traits) wild-type (i.e. wild living) animal. They tend to get selected against, or as we might say weeded out!

The Hunter:

In order to be an efficient hunter you need a number of skills, not the least of which are navigation, shooting skills, tracking abilities, etc., but these are not the topics I wish to discuss here. Here I wish to discuss the fitness aspects of a hunter. In order to hunt, in an ancestral way you would have had to track animals for miles. If you found a pack of some ungulate you might want to eat, you would most likely have to construct a blind by carrying logs, and branches from far away. You'd have to have control over your body so that you could lay still in wait for hours. You might even have to climb a tree for an angle. If you get close enough to make the kill shot you'd likely have to heave a spear at the animal(s). So what fitness skills might be involved in these needed abilities? Tracking prey for hours, or even days, over long distances would require a high level of metabolic conditioning. A hunter has to be able to move past the pain of lactate build-up in his muscles in order to keep on going. Bodily control while sitting and waiting. Not making a move or sound might require a strong core. Think plank! Climbing = pull-ups. Enough said. Spearing again would require core strength to toss the spear with accuracy and power enough to pierce the flesh of the prey animal.

The Gatherer:

You might think gathering would require less fitness abilities than hunting because inherently gathering is a proximal behavior; i.e. you do it close to where you live. However, gathering requires a number of behaviors that would tap your fitness. Gathering itself requires a bit of local movement. You need to move around in order to discover the ripest of items to gather. Digging and pulling would be required to get up tubors and other ground based veggies and you might also have to reach and pull a fruit or nut from a tree. Think axe movement: up and down and up and down with resistance at both ends. Finally, carrying the collected items (which would likely have some weight, imagine a bail of potatoes) back to your home. This could be several meters. Think carrying or running with a sandbag; this could occur via carrying in front of your body, on your head, on a backpack-ish device, etc. All good means of carrying stuff and adding weight to your transit. Like wearing a weight vest.

The Farmer:

OK, I am not going to belabor this point, but farmers too have a lot of fitness advantages. They have to man-handle livestock. They have to move bails of hay, feed, etc. A farmer has to perform many of the same behaviors discussed for gatherers as well, but only the distance of gathering would be localized to the, well the farm.

So, our ancestors who were able to conduct these behaviors, our ancestors who possessed the random genetic mutations that lent them to success at these behaviors, were those ancestors that left descendants (us!). We have been designed to be fit and the number one reason we have an obesity epidemic is because of this one single true fact. We are NOT designed to eat loads of sugar, sit in front of TV, sit around and order pizzas, eat drive-thru and take out, and so forth. Our bodies are revolting! I am not the first to say this, in fact this is a pretty well-known idea. In evolutionary psychology would generally refer to this as a mismatch between current industrialized conditions (modern day) and the type of environment we were "designed" to live in. Now that's not to say that everything we have, all our industry is not part of our evolutionary history. In fact it is. Those of us who are better equipped to deal with industrialized "stuff" are going to leave more descendants that have the "deal with technology better" genes. It's just plain simple science. The main issue is that the speed of technological change is extremely rapid, exponentially faster than biological change. And one final thought: the direction of technological change is random. That is, technology emerges from memetic evolution that has no basis in genetics and the phenotypes those genes create. So get your ass to the gym! The only thing you can do is maintain your fitness so you can deal with the rapid directionless change that awaits us all...

Flattery goes a long, long, way, so be nice for goodness sake!

2010-01-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

Compliments are a wonderful thing. If they are delivered in earnest then they convey such a nice message and if received without doubt they can lift a mood as high as high can go. Furthermore, giving a compliment, that is being nice, can also make the giver feel better. Producing a smile in another person feels good. It's, well, contagious if you will...

Just the other day, I was complimented (rare as that is) twice in one day. Yes, I said twice as in two times in one day! The thing I noticed about a compliment is that they are highly valued when they come from no where. Wholly unexpected wondrous love (loosely defined) from another individual. Your dog does it everyday, I am sure. Right? When you sit down to pet, orient toward, or yell "Fido, let's go for a walk" - s/he wags the tail. Hell, that's a great compliment. That's like the dog saying - YOU FUCKING RULE DAD! YOUR PETTING IS THE BEST THING IN MY DAY!!! OH WAIT, THERE'S A SQUIRREL! Humans do not have such ostensible fixed action patterns (FAPs) for telling you how they feel about you (well, maybe, but more on that in another post). Rather humans have to use language to persuade you that 1) they are being an honest conveyor of a message and 2) that the message they are conveying means something to the receiver. Sometimes, these conditions are not met, like when a graduate students says to their major professor: "You are the smartest scientist I have ever met!" With exception of my case, for which my PhD supervisor, Prof. Gordon Gallup Jr., is the smartest person I've ever met, most PhD students are full of shit! They are being dishonest to the person, and more importantly to themselves. It takes a lot of work to deceive, try to deceive, etc. They don't call it the simple truth for nothing! The other way that a compliment can go awry is when the message, even if being delivered honestly, means little or nothing to the receiver. For example, is someone says to you "Whoa you got mad typing skillz" and you don't give a rat's ass about how fast people type, let alone your own lightning fast phalange flexing ... then the compliment falls short of having any effect.

OK, so I was complimented the other day by two people, one of whom I have known for about a year or so and the other I have never met. In the first instance a student of mine said that he really likes reading my blog. That's twice in a 10 day period someone asked me about my blog. I hadn't thought anyone actually read the damn thing, it started as a means to communicate with my pals in England about our workout regimen, but special thanks to my two readers! The student went on to say that he really liked reading it. It was a great compliment, it made me feel like whoa - I entertained a person. Ha! So cool, someone commented about my fitness-based blog. Actually another person did, as well. About 10 days ago another student said she tried my Bear Attack Defense workout and it was really hard, but a great workout. Glad to help. So This got me thinking, if (2) people read it, why not get back to it! Not to mention it's really quite fun to get your thoughts down...

The second compliment, not unrelated to the fitness and blogging, came from someone I never met, talked to, or had ever even seen. I was riding the elevator with a student. We were discussing the workings of Al Einstein's brain and a paper that we are writing on the topic. This other person rushes to get into the elevator (don't fret, I typically never take the elevator for all the expected reasons, but the student had a suitcase with her). So this person comes in, interrupts our conversation about ol' "relativity Al" boy's cortex and says to me: "Hey, you look like the 300 guy". OK, at first I was like, I look like 300 guys, so much for the adorable unique sleek look I was going for, just teasing. In all seriousness I was thinking to myself, ok... self. 300 guy. Does she mean the 300 guy that appeared in the movie (see Image 1) or the aftermath of his fame in which he turned into a toad (see Image 2)? She clarified very quickly by saying, but have you seen how he's let himself go to shit? This is the second time I received this compliment, probably because of the goattee, but whatever, I will take it and believe it's because of the muscles!

Image 1

Image 2

Compliments are wonderful. This tiny little series of statements had made my week! Energized me. Excited me (in the non explicit way, of course!) It's amazing what a nice gesture can do. I am far from the first person to write about this. And further from the person to be expected writing about this as my typical catch phrase is "I got enough friends!" I only have about 2.

So my charge to anyone out there reading this (all 2 of you) is to be nice. And be nice to someone about their fitness. If you see someone in the gym working really hard, let them know. If you see someone push a weight that is amazing, let them know. The other day a young man in my gym hang power cleaned 225 pounds with perfect form and I let know it was fucking impressive! He smiled. If you see someone who's toned up, tightened up, bulked up, or simply shaped up, let them know! Don't be perverted about it. Just let them know that since the last time you saw them, they look really good and that the workouts are obviously helping. This happens to my wife quite frequently. Encouragement can go a long way and for someone trying to lose weight, tighten up, or get big, a few words of encouragement from a complete, or relative, stranger could be just the trick to keep them going. See we all go home and expect wife, husband, mate, partner, girlfriend, boyfriend, rover, felix, mom, or dad to say good things about us. Those compliments are great too, dont get me wrong, but a compliment from a stranger or acquaintance holds more weight. See they dont have to say a damn thing. They could just keep their mouth shut (and most of the time we hope they do that, right?) BUt for someone to purposefully go out of their way to say "Way to go kiddo!" - now that's just good humanity!

So go out there and be good to your fellow workerouters for goodness sake!

Me, Myself, Versus I

2010-01-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

Homo sapiens, like every other critter that dons this wonderful planet Earth has had a long history of competition - with themselves. Let me try to explain. We are all here - that is, we as a species are all here because somehow, some way, via some processes that are not entirely worked out, our species' ancestors did things that allowed them to 1) live and 2) most importantly, reproduce. The biologist in me calls this natural selection. I hesitate to use the term here while discussing exercise in order to not disuade individuals not privy or interested in evolutionary science from my idea. Instead I choose competition as my proxy for this discussion. Think about our ancestors: they had to survive in grasslands that housed a number of predatory types (e.g., lions and tigers and bears, don't say it don't say it, oh my!). Not only did they have to evade predation, but they also had to provide for themselves and if they were "lucky" they also had to provide for their families. (I use quotes for the word lucky purposefully. It would have been a superbly easier ancestral life if we hadn't had to go out and hunt, gather, or farm our own food. We could just sit back in our stone recliner, drink our homemade fruit brew and watch the other dufuses try to catch food for a large family of 2, 3, or 4 other humans. So lucky is not really all that lucky, except in the game of evolution reproduction is like a touchdown, a goal, a hole in one (pun intended).) That is, in the game of evolution reproduction is what makes winners. So one would be lucky to have survived to reproductive age, to acquire a consensual mate and proceed to procreate. Voila! Wham bam... enough!

This is probably the reason our species has the drive that we do. Probably the reason all species have the drives they do. However, as we all know, certain individuals lack a drive, lack the motivation to "get ahead", advance, develop themselves. In fact, some people look like our ancestral lazy boy (sans the stone recliner). So what is happening in these individuals? They are fat bastards. Actually, they are a variant in the existence of our species that chooses or is designed to not be driven. Seriously, they most likely anchor the high end of our species BMI and fat to muscle mass ratio due to low exertion to ingestion ratio. They lack the urge to compete: with themselves. They lack the drive to consider their own body an experiment and a challenge. The lack the drive to be the best they can be as a Homo sapien. They do not compete with themselves! This can come in all areas of one's life. For example, I have friends, colleagues in academia who have kicked up their heels after getting their PhD, or for some it's after they get granted tenure. For them, they've done it. They are done. Accomplished their goal. For others, it comes in the form of exertion. A very good friend on mine used to say "I walk to work, so I don't need my gym membership". OK, don't get me wrong, walking is great. In fact, walking is fucking absolutely brilliant. It's one of those cool things that makes humans, well human! But walking is far from the type of anaerobic exertion needed to produce optimal fitness, as evidenced by the fact that my friend was rather out of shape. For example, if I had asked him to run to work, he'd have laughed at me. "That's 3 miles!" I think I've made my point. So....

What does it mean to compete with yourself? Go ahead try arm wrestling yourself, it don't work does it. So that's not what I mean is it? No. In short, what I mean is work against yourself. It'd be better to work against a real opponent, but we do not all have that luxury, and thus are forced to work against ourself. Many individuals who workout do this, somewhat. You've seen them in the gym. They carry a notebook around and they record how many reps of what weight they did this and make an attempt to track their progress over time. Laudatory, no? No. Actually, in the time they spend writing down that they bench-pressed 2.5 lbs more this time than the last 10 times they could've really competed with themself. They could have run 100 m. Then do it again, and try to do it faster. See, this is more what I am talking about. We need to push ourselves to the limit. The gym, our workouts are not supposed to be leisurely activities where we read the latest Dan Brown novel while trickling on the elliptical, treadmill, or reclined bike. Rather we need to focus our cognitive energy on creating competition with ourself. We need to have fast, hard, strength and power based training regimens that tap our humanly limits. Then we need to track the global speed and effort exerted over time. I tried to explain this in words to a fella at my local Gold's Gym, but it was difficult because I am shy. Instead I said try this, it's a CrossFit workout: Clean and Jerk/Press 135 lbs 30 times as fast as you can. He responded "As fast as you can?" Yes, I said, as fast as you can. That means go buy a stopwatch ($4 at wally world, right?) Then in try to do something to increase your speed the next time. That's the essence of fitness to me. This is very much in line with the CrossFit mentality, and that's because THEY ARE DOING IT RIGHT!

So, go have a fight with yourself all Fight Club parking lot style. No don't do that, you might get sent to the psychiatric hospital and I ain't bailing your ass out. Instead set up a few big exercises that you do for time. Say, do 100 repetitions of a 65 pound snatch. As fast as you can. Get the stop watch out. Yes! But that;s not it. You will also have to closely monitor your exercise. If you need to rest, you need to rest - this is not a recipe in suicide. But those rest periods should be as short as possible. And they should decrease over time. Another avenue to do this type of self-competitive exercise is to try and do a certain number of reps in a limited amount of time. Do as many burpees as you can in 5 minutes! Fuck me, right? And then try to do more the next time you do that workout.

Go for it!

Dead Legs

2010-01-14T13:53:00.001-08:00

OK so this was posted as a workout on the crossfit main page and it was bloody killer so I thought I would post it again here (probably against all types of rules) as well as what else I did.

I call this Dead Legs, because it's been 3 days and my walking is slowly deteriorating!

Repeat three times, for time:

50 meters walking lunge

100 meters broad jump (some people call this a frog leap, same thing basically)

200 meter spring

I added to this some upper body that goes little something like this:

7 rounds of:

- Hold Handstand against wall for 30 seconds (but on each successive round try to increase the hold for 15 seconds so that on round two you hold for 45 seconds, round 3 = 60 seconds and so forth so that round 7 = 2 minutes and 15 seconds

- as many handstand pushups that you can do

Repeat for 7 rounds.

When you are done that do 100 repetitions of BICEP to REVERSE GRIP OVERHEAD PRESS as quickly as you can. I used 65#, but use what you think you can complete. This looks and feels strange. You curl the barbell normally so that your overhead press is reverse handed. This should fire up your anterior deltoids and biceps. This video demonstrates it nicely: http://revver.com/video/1620697/barbell-curl-and-press-hybrid-exercise-combo/

Good luck!

B-CUP

2009-11-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Do this workout for time starting with 21 reps for all four exercises, than in the second round decrease it to 15 reps, and then on the last round decrease to 9 reps.

======
21-15-9 reps

Burpees
95# Clean & Press or Clean & Jerk
double Unders (jumping rope where the rope goes around twice on each jump)
Pull-ups.

Sunday Workout

2009-05-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

For time:

50 Sumo deadlift high pulls (45 lbs)
25 Pull-ups
20 Overhead squats (65 lbs)
15 Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood)
10 Burpees
Run 400 meters
10 Burpees
15 Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood)
20 Overhead squats (65 lbs)
25 Pull-ups
50 Sumo deadlift high pulls (45 lbs)

My time: 22 minutes

Good Crackers and a Great Desert

2009-05-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

First off, this afternoon I re-tried this recipe: http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/2009/04/grain-free-almond-crackers.html

...the Bomb! I seasoned with ground pepper, garlic salt, and cajun spice... Really nice!

Also, for desert this evening I decided to whip (literally) a banana soufle... no seriously.

Check this out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat up a touch of water, pour in some honey and just a touch of pure maple syrup.

While that s heating on a very low heat and while constantly stirring (yeah you need about 8 arms to do this one) puree two really really really (i.e. brown and spotted and wonderfully ripe) bananas until they are smooth and no chunks are left.

Stir the banana mix into the honey/syrup/water mix until smooth and of all one consistency.

Remove from heat and let cool completely.

In a stainless steel mixing bowl whip using a whisk two egg whites, a little sea salt, and a touch of something sweet if you like (I used just a touch of raw sugar (I know naughty and not strict paleo, but whatever, you could also use raw honey or syrup, I think). Whisk that bad boy - took me the better part of the evening and I think I burned off the calories I ingested after cooking of the soufle was complete. Seriously, whisking by hand, it will take a while. You want this mixture to be really quite stiff. You can test this by sticking your whisk, your kitchen whisk - damn you American Pie watching fools! - and you should get little peaks. If that happens you are all set.

If your banana/honey/syrup mixture is cooled completely then using a rubber spatula fold that into your whisked and whippy egg white mixture.

Combine until mostly the same color and consistency.

Pour into ramequins and place he ramequins on a cookie sheet.
Place the cookie sheet into the oven and turn don the heat in the oven to 350-375 degrees.

Bake about 10-20 minutes depending on the size of your ramequins. The way you know they are done is by sticking a sharp knife into the middle, all the way to the bottom. It should come out dry; i.e. if it is wet put it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Once you think it's done, serve immediately. Shortly after being removed from the oven they will, or might, start to sink. Serve with some fresh fruit, powdered sugar for your non-paleo friends, melted dark chocolate, etc.

Enjoy.

Today's Workout: 21 May 2009

2009-05-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

So today I adopted two WOD's from the CF page. I took yesterday off for rest b/c I was dead from the previous workout (B.A.D.). That was a freaking killer!

So today...

2 round of each of the following sequences back to back for time (my time: 35:45):

75 reps of 45 lb sumo deadlift high pull (SDHP)
20 hand stand pushups (I did them in sets of as many as I could, with as little rest in between as possible)
(do the above twice, then do the following twice)

20 reps of 115 pound thrusters
20 reps of L-pullups

I followed this up by doing as many round of the following in 20 minutes as I could (I completed about 8-9 rounds, I think. I honestly lost count because people started talking to me about what I was doing)

5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats
2 minutes of jump ropes, incorporating as many double unders as possible.

Bear Attack Defense (BAD)

2009-05-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

Another new workout I tried today. This is a direct modification of a few CF WOD's that I adapted for my wife and I. She did what I call the "Grizzly" Bear Attack Defense, while I think mine was simply a "Koala" Bear Attack Defense; she's quite amazing though.

At any rate you should be pretty sweaty and tired after this bad boy.

Bear Attack Defense (BAD): (prerequisite: you must listen to Michael Jackson's "I'm bad" at least once while doing this workout ;-)

Do the following sequence of exercises 7 times:

Power Clean + Front Squat + Push Press + Back Squat + Push Press

Then Spring for 1/10th a mile (should take you about 30-40 second of flat out running as fast as you can)

Repeat the exercise sequence and run 5 times. So that's like this: Step 1: sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run; sequence-run. Step 2: rest 2 minutes. Repeat Step 1. Done. For time. That means you should do this entire sequence as quickly as you can and note the time. Noting the time allows you to try and do it faster/quicker next time this one pops into you exercise regimen.

For the Clean/Squat/Press weight I used 95 pounds, which sounds like pansy ass weight and probably is, but I was tired & grunting (yes, I said grunting Eeck!) at round 7/8. Now my shoulders feel like they are going to cramp up, in a good way. This took me about 39 minutes, I think. My watch bugged out on me and I was helping my wife with form; actually we were helping each other out and then had to walk to a treadmill in Gold's Gym and each time the treadmill had it's panties in a bunch and would not get going... adding valuable time to our final metric... at any rate... that's the BAD. I past below a few pics of the exercises for edification purposes.

Power Clean

Front Squat

Push Press

Back Squat

(here after the push press lower the weight behind your head to get into the back squat position)

I said above that my wife, Austen did a "Grizzly" version of this because she added extra squats. So for every rep she added about 3-5 more squats. She claims it is because her legs are stronger than her arms, but I think she is just a Grizzly eating kind of gal. I did as prescribed above with 95 pounds on the bar and as quick as I could.

Pic refs:

http://away.com/images/outside/200405/power_clean_lift.gif

http://www.greatweightlifting.com/Legs/images/FrontSquat/FrontSquat2.jpg

Dirty Thirty

2009-05-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

So, I'e revamped my workout regimen to be more full body, CF-like. This was my first attempt to design a workout for my wife and I. I call it the Dirty Thirty after the adage of drinking 30 cans of shite beer, that often results in vomiting, not that I am hoping that his workout would make anyone vomit ;-).

Alright so to it then:

The Dirty Thirty - For time; that means do this as quickly as you can so that you can compare your time next time you do it. You should get faster each time!

30 - double unders (this is jumping rope where the rope goes under your feet 2 times for each jump
30 - forward walking lunges (that's 15 steps/leg) with a 30 pound dumbbell in each hand
30 - box jumps (24 inches is ideal, but use what you can or as high as you can!)
30 - situps
30 - back extensions
30 - burpee to pullups (this is a burpee and when you jump you catch a high bar and do a pull up; each rep your chest has to hit the floor on the burpee and your chin had to clear the bar for the pull, would be better if you could touch the bar with your chest!)
30 - back extensions
30 - situps
30 - box jumps
30 - backward walking lunges with a 30 lb dumbbell in each hand
30 - double unders

1 vomit... Just teasing.

My first time out my wife and I were doing this together so we were working out some of the kinks and helping each other, but I completed this in just about 6 minutes. Next time I will shoot for 5 or lower. I think I could have done 5 had I not forgotten the routine and had to keep referring to my cheat sheet.

Suggestions for making this easier:

use a lighter weight for the walking lunges
don't do backward lunges at the end; they demand a bit more core stability and can cause overcompensation on the knees if you've never done them before
break up each 30 into smaller sets of 10 with a short rest in between
lower the height of the box jump or just jump in place
don't do double unders, just jump rope. if you do this, I'd recommend doing 60 jumps
don't do burpee to pullups, but rather do 30 burpees and then 30 pullups (& you could use pullup assist)

Suggestions for making this harder:

increase weights on lunges
try doing 30 steps / leg on the lunges
add weight to the situps and / or back extensions
add weight to the pullups, or add weight to anything else

2009-05-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

My new breakfast (of champions, of course!)

So, I've changed my diet a touch. Not too drastically, because I hate drastic changes, but a little bit. I happened upon some good resources on Paleo diet eating. Mostly, I typically think of fad diets as, well just that - fad diets. Take for example the Atkins diet - I hated that shite! I am not Enui and therefore I should not eat just whale meat. Sorry, but it's not in my genes. The Paleo diet, on the other hand is, after a little reading, quite interesting to think about.

In short, and I am by no means an expert, the Paleo Diet assumes the principle of mismatch between what (us) evolutionary psychologist call the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (the EEA) and our modern, industrialized world. The mismatch principle suggests (and I might note is supported by loads of psychological, biological, and anthropological data) that we are currently living in a world that was designed by us, but NOT designed for us. In fact, in strict EEA terms, our bodies are designed (by EVOLUTION) to be more like hunter gatherer tribes people.

Here are some straight up facts: Evolution is slow. It can take thousands, 10's of thousands, 100's of thousands, even millions of years for evolution to craft a change in an organism. We call this natural selection. In our ancestry, in fact in every organisms ancestry environments (that is landscape, food availability, predator risk, etc) tend to change fairly slowly. There are of course exceptions, but often in the event of exception many many individuals die. Take as an example, say, an ice age in the Northern parts of the world. Only those individuals who had evolved a mechanism to store large quantities of fat (for warmth) under our skin survived. The rest froze to death for a modern day anthropologist to dig up and become famous for ;-) In stark contrast, Industrialization is fast. Once our ancestors invented a means to pass information from one member to another within generation - memetically - industry could grow exponentially. Once our ancestors invented a means for printing and mass distributing the information, thus preserving valuable neural resources from reinventing the same old "wheel" technology could, and quite literally has, grown at rates that approach light speed.

The figure above theoretically plots the difference between evolutionary and industrial change over n generations. The magnitude of change at any given generation can be thought of as the magnitude of mismatch.

Taking the above theoretically-derived data to the notion of eating. Imagine that we are the product of evolutionary change (a biological organism) existing in a world of industrial change. Thus, this very existence has wreaked havoc on our bodies, probably being one of the main drivers of food allergies, mental illness, among other things. When it comes to food, because we started this post with a discussion of food and the Paleo Diet, assume that our biology has evolved to digest properly, extract nutrients from, and process foods that we encountered n generations ago (think thousands to 100's of thousands of years ago). But now, we have evolved the brain power for agriculture: now we artificially grow animals, instead of hunting them. Now we harvest milk, while our ancestors would have most certainly not done so without getting kicked in the face by a bison, and most likely would not have sucked on the utter of a dead cow when they could be pigging out on bone marrow or organ meats. Now we grow grains and in order to utilize the grains they need to be artificially processed, mulled, hulled, and goodness knows what else. Our ancestors most likely harvested wild fruits, berries, nuts, tubors, roots, and root vegetables. Occasionally, a lucky ancestor may have happened upon a great protein resource - eggs. Eaten raw, gross by our standards, and mine included - I like Paleo, but would have a hard time thinking about going Raw Paleo. So in short, and by short I mean we've just scratched the surface, this is the heart of the Paleolithic diet. Eat like a caveman because that is what nature has in mind for you to eat.

Now back to my breakfast of champions. I used to eat one of either a very large bowl of cereal with cow milk (artificially harvested grains and dairy milk) or cereal and fruit topped with cottage cheese (same things here). So how does one make the swap to a Paleo breakfast but keep the breakfast-y foods they like to eat. It is so freaking simple. Here is my recipe for a dynamite tasting and healthy breakfast (and what's pictured at the start of this post).

Pecan waffles and Southwest Omelette

Here's how you make it - takes about 5-10 minutes prep (depending on how tired you are, last night my dog woke me up barking at 5 am, so it took a while this morning). Takes about 10-15 (MAX) to cook.

In an omelette pan start sautéing some vegetables - i use anything from broccoli, asparagus, spinach, okra, squash/zucchini, eggplant, onion, parsnips, carrots (you get the idea). Season to your liking. I use a cajun seasoning made of crushed red pepper, sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder (it's quite spicy and nice).

While the veggies are cooking prepare your 'waffle batter' and begin to heat up your waffle iron.
Waffle batter: Combine 1/4 cup pecan meal + 1 whole large egg + 1/4 cup coconut milk (I use reduced fat, lite cocount milk, cuts about 66% calories from regular coconut milk). Whip together using a kitchen whisk. I sometimes also add a 1/3 smashed banana (really good) or some type of berry (blue, black, straw, etc).

By now your veggies are probably about ready to get egged. So pour 2 servings of Egg whites (I buy the 100% egg whites from the market, but you could easily make your own with real eggs).

Pour waffle batter into waffle iron and spread evenly. I usually wait just about 1 minute before closing the lid so that the bottom of this unusual mixture begins to cook a little.

Flip the omelette when ready.
The waffle iron will let you know when the waffle has been cooked, but with my waffle iron I need to let it cook another 2-3 minute so that I can pluck it out without the waffle falling to pieces.

And while all that was cooking, I chopped up a piece of red onion, a quarter of a tomato, and cilantro to make a fresh pico de gallo for a topping. Top the waffle with pure maple syrup or raw honey. Both are excellent toppings, although you do get more bang for the caloric buck using honey.

Enjoy.

I have found two major things associated with my change in diet:

1) i have loads of energy. That plus I sleep deeper. So when I wake up, I am usually not groggy, unless Bruno (my dog) has woken me up for no good reason at 5am and I have energy all day.

2) my knee joints no longer hurt. i had read about dairy related arthritic like pains, but never believed it. I can now do deep squats, one-legged squats, cleans, etc without pain.

Progress report

2009-05-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

So in education we are often times required to submit "progress reports". These inform the student that, "Oh Shite" I am failing psychology 101. I had better study, work hard, put my nose to the grindstone; ah, F-it I will just ask the professor for extra credit. Progress, however you choose to achieve it, is something that pervades all of our existence. From lower organisms to humans, progress is something animals strive for. As humans, we attempt to get ahead, a better education, more money, nicer house, hotter wife... whatever. Animals strive for moving up dominance ladders, more mates, more food, being eaten "less often" or preferably, not at all. Evolution, of course does not work this way, does it? No. Evolution is not progress but change. And yet all of evolution's organisms somehow work toward progress - not at the species level, but at the individual level. At any rate, in fitness this also applies. So I thought I would provide a bit of an update on my fitness progress.

About 6-8 months ago I stopped using free weights for progressive overload resistance training in place of a program designed around gymnastics, martial arts, and mostly body weight maneuvers. About 8 months later I am leaner than I have ever been in my life, and I have maintained my strength. For shits and giggles, the other day I decided to drop into the weight room - to see, not surprisingly - that nothing has changed much in the average weight area of the gyms. Plopped my ass on the bench and did a few warm-up reps; about 50 reps with just the bar. NO this is not my max out weight HA! So I went for it - "Am I still as strong as I was when I doing weights, even though for the past 8 months I have not touched a weight, except maybe to use it to prop my L-seat or planche?" 225lbs - 4 sets 8-10 reps. Shit, at 34, going quickly onto 35 5 yrs old I am happy. That is as much, actually more than I was able to do when I was weight training.

This little self-experiment, which many of my friends know full and well is my life. Yes, I use myself as a research subject all the time asking rather boring questions like: Will someone you call a friend kick your ass if you decide one drunken night to bend his wife over your knee and lay into her with a good spanking? Apparently, not...phew! This experiment - that lacks all kinds of controls and is completely riddled with confounding variables - asked the question: does my new exercise regimen work? My experiment was not without ridicule and putting myself at risk of laughs, jeers, giggles and flat out questions about the program. Yes, on more than one occasion I got the "what in the hell are you doing dude/mate?" So I explained... whatever. Here's the data m-f-ers - it works. Yeah, easy enough for me to say. But check this whack ass shit out - P90X. Yeah so just about everything I do is apparently listed in this new program. What the F?! I could have made millions? Huh? At any rate, the shite works! Try it!

The Turd Posts again!

2008-12-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

So I've been a complete turd about posting to my blog. A lot has been happening in my life: I became Chief Editor of the scientific journal, adopted a dog, any various other things, which are not the subject of this post.

Actually, I've been working hard on my body weight workouts and as evidence that they do work, I thought I might share a few things that have happened to me in the gym. First, I am stronger than ever. I can do the handstand, the handstand pushup with wall - easily pumping out 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps. I've continued adopting, with the help of the trainer at the Gold's Gym, new moves with my suspension trainer. Second, I have become "known" around the gym. Not by name, but rather by what I do. One fella said to me he's never seen anything like my workout, but "it's apparently working." Another guy mentioned that he talks about "the guy in the gym who does no resistance training or work to hypertrophy, but is really cut up." Third, my wife' trainer who is a beast of a woman and I mean that in the most flattering way possible; she is trong as an oxe and ripped. She was a pro body builder and now is a cert personal trainer and is totally awesome. She regularly whips people into shape. Well she said in a conversation that I am the fittest guy in the gym and don't use half of the equipment; that compliment meant loads to me.

Now onto some new moves, progress updates, etc.

New move 1: Hanging L-seat to hanging planche. Hang your suspension trainer, ropes low to the ground for this one because if you fall, and you will the first time, it will hurt. Take my word for it on this one. So about a foot off the ground grab the handles and enter L-seat. This is hard as you try to maintain straight legs, tight core and no swinging. Then move legs thru into hanging planche. I have attained it once, it is absolutely killer. I got so excited it caused me to fall. Ouch!

New move 2: Split squats to dumbbell snatch. Place a pair of dumbbells out in front o you about 36 inches or so. Lunge toward the dumbbells and when you go down, pick the dumbbells up. Actually, just grab the handles. Instead of lunging back, or forward, jump as you would during a split squat (that is your lunge position changes from (e.g.) left foot forward to back foot forward) while simultaneously snatching the dumbbells over your head. While in the lunge position, slowly lower the dumbbells and then lunge back to standing. A variation on this, place a series of dumbbells that increase in weight along a court/floor. Then lunge forward and walk. I have not tried that one.

Anyhow, I guess I am back, re-motivated to write about working out for a while.

Your fat? It's all your mother's fault

2008-10-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

A recent article published in the journal Eating Behaviors has found evidence that the development of eating related disorders (e.g. anorexia and bulimia, especially in females) is related to family factors associated with, or surrounding food. The main finding is that family dysfunction leads to eating disorder, but that the connection between eating disorder and family function was completely mediated by negative family food-related experiences (e.g., parental modeling, parental expectations, and teasing about food, eating, or being overweight). Interestingly, a close look at the data show that maternal effects appear to have slightly larger impact (remember these are girl research participants) than paternal effects.

Especially with the major eating holidays just around the corner this made me think about my family food-related experiences. I asked myself what were they like? Typically and at key times when stress might be particularly high, or low, like Holidays? I asked myself about whether I thought these experiences led to my eating "issues" and fitness addiction?

My upbringing was not an unusual one for a boy born in Philadelphia and later raised in South Jersey. School every day; play (sports or video games) after school; make every attempt to convince mom and dad I had done my homework, when in fact I had not even bothered bringing it home; etc. Both of my parents worked full time jobs, and my dad worked overtime just about every chance he could get. It's probably, no in fact it IS the reason that we had an in ground pool and I was able to play on the local ice hockey club, which cost a fortune (+ travel around the country). Neither of my parents have college degrees, they came from working class families and were hell bent on their kids going to college. My mom was a medium sized, blonde bombshell, not that she flaunted it, but I've seen pics and my mom was hot! My dad was a beast. there are few other words I could ever use to describe this man - but a beast. He was an ex-marine turned railroad laborer. He swung a sledge hammer or operated heavy machinery for a lot of his life. He hand hands like King Kong. I remember one day we were laying down railroad ties to serve as an outline/barrier to our garden. He told me to grab one, which I did after about 15 minutes of struggling with how to hold the damn thing and walk with it. He grabbed one in his left and one in his right. Stood up and walked off as if he was carrying to grocery bags! He was also ripped, like Men's Health cover ripped and diesel. Strong as an oxe, obviouly I worshipped him when he was alive. He was also kind of a dick. He would scare the shit out of my friends on a regular basis. One of my very good childhood friends actually stopped coming to my home because every time he walked into my house my dad would grab him by the shirt (usually with about a fistful of chest skin too) and pick him up off the floor about 1-2 feet and say, "What the hell do you want?!" Then drop him and laugh... hahaha, some sense of humor eh?

They, my folks, grew up in an era where fitness was not fab, posh, or even existent outside of NFL'ers, ironman comps, and pro body building. Fitness was neither science nor fad for them; it was not even a thought (ok until Richard Simmons' explosion onto the scene). As kids without televisions, and nintendos, and such, they were forced outside to work and play. They lost weight the old fashioned way - outdoor sweat! (Unlike kids of today!) They were not taught to eat healthy. Rather they were taught to eat; if it was on the plate you ate it - else you went to bed hungry. Kind of makes sense to me, actually. Even health related disease was not a concern - my mothers OB/GYN told her that is was OK to drink while pregnant (that it would alleviate the tension and calm the child) and to smoke. Smoking was thought to, and now known to, reduce birth weight. Well I guess for mothers, reducing the size of objects tearing apart your vagina sounds like a pretty good idea....but nowadays we frown upon it, I think, although I have been to several Liverpudlian pubs... hmmm. Anyhow....

So, obviously they learned - things change. Except when it came to food. Based upon this upbringing they were crazy eaters. We had the money to buy food and put it on the table and even have leftovers and that did not stop my mom and dad from saying - EAT UP BOYS AND GIRLS! A typical meal at my house consisted of: a meat (e.g., chicken, pork chops, meatloaf, hamburgers, and most items were breaded and deep fried, cuz we could(!)), at least 2 usually 4 different vegetables, a starch or two (e.g., potatoes and rice), bread, salad, and dessert. Every meal we had something for dessert. What's that? what's that you ask? Was I a fatto as a kid? Yes. Of course I was. I was a walking, breathing tird! When we sat down for dinner, which we always did together seven nights a week as a family (a great thing) we ate what we took and more. My dad would literally force us to eat more. "Come on! You can put down at least 2 more (fried) pork chops and some more green beans, I know you can!" Then afterwards, because of course I did it to impress him with how much I could eat, he'd shout "Jesus christ! Steve you eat like a truck driver!" No offense to Drivers, I have actually never seen one eat, mainly out of fear ;-)

It was not until college actually that I changed my ways. I went on a long road trip to Daytona Beach, Florida with a friend of mine (that one who'd be picked up by his chest skin) and two females from one of our classes; I didnt know their names then, and still dont. Anyhow, on the way down - straight drive 24.75 hours - stopping only to urinate on the side of the road (much to the gals dismay), on this trip, I ate 3/4 of a 5lb bag of Mike & Ikes (you know, the world's greatest candy!) My friend so kindly said to me as we unshirted for the pool, dude - you're fat. Now this was probably a mate retention tactic on his part, as he was very close to mating the hotter of the two unknown females, but for some reason, at that very moment, those words struck a chord in me. I laughed, while angling my head down at myself - "I was fat!" How? When did this happen?

This started me on a road to eating "disorderhood" - restrained eating as it is scientifically called. Where I monitor, binge, become addicted to exercise, and then stop and then start in a vicious circle of self-hate and exercise love.

I now think back: What were the cues that made me eat the way I did, and think it OK to devour an entire Dennys Big Breakfast like it was a handful of peanuts? It probably was my family; there incessant desire for me to have what they did not. But I cannot blame them. They did not know. For me, it was me, my own doing. I ate, because eating fucking rules! I still love to eat and in a hot minute you might find me at the local Waffle House downing the pecan waffle supreme b-fast - that baby is about 6000 calories of no redeeming nutritional quality, but tastes like a gustatory orgasm! Brilliant, in other words.

I wonder what people think about parental effects on their current eating habits? I constantly annoy my mom and sister now with the way I eat. My mom eats ok these days - but she doesn't weigh more than 99 lbs. But in general I watch what I eat. Try to measure serving sizes. Try to avoid dessert and sweets, replacing them with trail mix and dates. Anyone else have experiences like this? I realize that this is a huge theme in female development of eating disorders, but similar effects can and in my case have occurred in males.

Anyhow, I gotta run. I have to make my pre-measured, low calorie, high protein and fiber, well-balanced afternoon snack before I go to martial arts :-)

Home made "nut butter"

2008-10-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

So just about everyday, after our workout, my wife and I down a protein shake and then in a few hours take down our mid-morning snack. Our midmorn snack lately has taken the form of a rice cake (or 2) spread with some peanut butter. High carb, low sugar, high protein snack. It's a great, absolutely wonderful post-workout snack. Well in my enthusiastic culinary skills (read no idea how to cook, but like playing with new toys like my Magic Bullet), I decided I would try to make my own Peanut Butter. The problem, I had not peanuts. Doh!

I did, however, have a can of mixed nuts. I bought them to add to my homemade trail mix, which will interestingly, never ever see a trail (only my office :-) The trail mix is really good, filling, and a low sugar, high fiber, high protein snack - something that our paleolithic ancestors probably dined on often. It contains: mixed nuts, sunflower seed, pitted dates, raisins, extra walnuts, and dried blueberries, cranberries, and cherries.

I digress. I was talking about making homemade nut butter. So here's what you do. Add about 1/2 cup (that's 8oz) to the magic bullet cup. Chop the nuts coarsely using the flat blade. It won't do much, but it will get them down from full size nuts to smaller more manageable chunks. You will have to shake the device and scrape the sides a few times. OK, when the nuts are a little smaller add 2 teaspoons olive oil and continue to blend using a pulse technique and shaking with the cross blade. As the butter gets thicker you will have to scrape the sides of the cup. Eventually, and actually quite rapidly it will smooth out. I blended mine a touch too long and it became liquidy, which I hope will wear off in the fridge. This is natural nut butter, so it's recommended that you refrigerate it.

At any rate, there you go. You get about half the butter you would in a small container of peanut butter you purchase at the grocery store. You get the fun of making your own. And you get a high protein, relatively low fat, high fiber, and no artificial additives spread for your mid morning snack.

Enjoy!

What of Overweight Personal Trainers

2008-10-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

So last night I was fortunate enough to score tickets to a local professional Ice Hockey team, and while I found it really difficult (as if I was murdering a family member) cheering for the home team and not the Philadelphia Flyers (who were not even playing), I did just that. However, in between periods and even during periods when play was slow (read as: no one was getting slammed against a hard wood board!) my wife and I began an conversation with a fella behind us. Primarily because this guy made it abundantly clear that this was his first hockey game, that he was taken here by someone he was training, and that his profession was a personal trainer. Obviously without halt my wife and I turned so quickly we probably caused permanent brain damage. An interesting thing about our turning so quickly. It's a psychological effect known as "Attentional attunement." You can do a few neat little studies to test this effect. For example, if you are a teacher or a tutor, then do this right before a big exam. Ask them to remember a list of words, say 50 or so. 30 of those words should be randomly selected words, the others should be related to tests, test anxiety, etc (e.g., words like: test, mark, grade, question, etc). Chances are if you students play along with this little experiment (and care about their grades) they will be much better at remembering these test-related words. The same is true with just about anything. Alcoholic 'hear' and remember more words that deal with, well ethanol injected liquids. Similar effects can be shown in people addicted to drugs and sex. It even occurs in relation to race perceptions, but that's for another post. When it comes to fitness (addicts) we are not immune. Put a group of people who care about losing weight into a lab and ask them to remember a set of words that include words such as fat, skinny, weight, calories, etc. Guess what words they remember best?

So in the few minutes it took for my wife and I to recover from our minor head turning concussion, our eyes began to re-focus and what we saw was 1) amazing, but 2) not uncommon. There, sitting behind us was one of the largest men (& I dont mean muscular) I've ever laid my eyes on. He must have easily been 350, maybe more, pounds. This couldn't be the guy pitching himself as the Personal Trainer, could it? Yes, it was. This is now the third time I've met a personal trainer that, well, is fat! This seems completely inane to me and makes me wonder how this guy could even get a client, let alone be allowed to graduates PT school. I mean, it's tantamount to being a Cracker Barrel regular who's profession is nutritionist - makes not fucking sense. I wonder about these people: why did they get into this profession? Where they once thin? Are they trying to battle their own issues with being overweight? Do they think they represent the epitome of fitness and thus people will be lining up around the corner to sign up for a PT session with them? Well I could never, in good conscious do such. I pay for my wife's PT sessions and we agree that we would not pay over $100/month to someone who did not "look the part" - you could be educated until you are blue in the face, but damn it, if you cannot practice what you preach then how I can I pay you? I couldn't. Not sure how anyone else feels... Could you pa your hard earned $$ to an overweight PT? Why? How?

Opposites don't attract and make you fat!

2008-10-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

I really believe this one when it comes to fitness, friends, and well in my case, marriage!

In my experience there are two types of women (people for that matter) in the world: 1) Those who appreciate the benefits of exercise and thus engage in it and 2) those that recognize the benefits of exercise, but who do not engage in it. Now, within the former group there are subtypes of people - those who really like to exercise; who like it when their body is in motion; who love to play sports and engage in rigorous exercise routines, and who probably would so even if the benefits were not there. Then there are the other subtypes, those that do it because "you are supposed to", because "its good for you", etc, and loathe every stinking minute of it. I find myself, quite happily in the former subtype. Of the latter main type - those that do not engage in fitness - well it is hard work and tiresome and takes time and effort and planning and distracts from your personal life so I understand, but this post isn't about those lazy bastards.

I am fortunate to also be in the category of having married a woman who is like me. We both exercise, a lot, and we both enjoy it. OK, not every workout is like a day in Mr Rogers neighborhood, but generally we like the feeling of working out and being fit. I truly believe that when it comes to selection of a long term romantic partner fitness is a huge factor. I was married once before. My ex-wife was, well, one my say, a lazy turd. Not only did she loathe exercise of just about any sort, but she ultimately developed an allergy to her own sweat! I am serious! So even a brisk walk was out of the question. This, as you might imagine, created quite a rift between us. I woke up every morning and hit the gym (I prefer morning workouts when Testosterone is high). By the time I got home from my workout she had left for work. So we spent a lot of time apart, which at the time was find by me. That was not the major issue that my fitness program created. Rather it was more social. For example, on a night out I would make plans to hit the gym with a workout partner the next morning. Now this is particularly easy for me because I don't experience the phenomenon related to ingesting large quantities of alcohol generally known as a "hang over." Never have had one, hope I never do because they appear to be a really big pain in the ass. So Saturday morning I'd be up, as normal, bright and early off to pump some iron. Grunt groan and schlep those weights! I would often receive comments from her about my fitness regime. I was "too serious about working out" (coming from someone who never did a shred of exercise nor played a sport). I was "wasting money on a gym membership." I was "getting to musclely." Then when some of our friends started noticing me lose weight and get fit and commenting on it, well things got even worse. Sublt things that it took me a while to come to - like baking batches of cookies (I am about the biggest sucker for a batch of cookies that you will find and cannot stop at 1 cookie, rather I eat about 2 dozen in a sitting, seriously!) Then on several occasions a girlfriend would comment, "steve, your arms are getting really big." It was not a flirt, but you know you get if someone makes that kind of comment about your partner. First time, it is ok and you interpret it as it was probably meant - nice that they notice, and that they are right. Then, as it happens more and more often there is a tendency to develop a paranoia about it. Hm, I wonder if s/he wants to get it on with my wo/man? Bitch! Dick! Asshole! etc. Obviously, we were completely different. I loved to workout and would always take the opportunity to do so - whether it be to jet off to a touch football game on saturday or to just hit the gym regularly. Well that situation did not work out.

My new wife, on the other hand, is the best thing that has ever happened to my fitness and I! She, Austen, loves to workout! She is an addict like myself and we compliment each others addiction perfectly right down to the low cal high protein post-workout snacks! we are truly birds of a feather and we workout together :-)

Austen and I sometimes even workout together. For example, we are doing another (5K) run in two weeks. We will sometimes spot each other or show each other new exercises that we (think we) created. Then we push each other - come on baby, one more rep, you can do it, dont quit on me now!!! In the gym we have very similar attitudes about fitness and about the consequences of not maintaining our fitness. I love that about her. However, this similarity is just the icing on the cake. The cake is loaded with characteristics that are wonderful. I have notice for a long time, that inside and outside the gym she is supportive of me, and I of her. In just about any situation we can turn to our best friend and ask advice, emote, or simply vent! It is not judged, it is not devalued, it is just information exchange that is taken for what it's worth. If advice is asked, because we are similar, the advice tends to be that you might expect of someone who has known you for your entire life (past and present, if there is a past life... LOL!) But all this support, love and compatibility became abundantly clear to me while we were working out. She put a premium on finding time to workout. One weekend in a New Jersey Winter we were snowed in. Worried about whether we'd get to dirty our workout clothes we started up the 4X4 truck and took a try at getting to the gym. I think the first day we didn't make it because the roads were a mess, but rest assured we made a little home circuit to compensate. The second day we were snowed in, we were able to get out and get to the gym, which to our surprise was open. Yeah they were open - it's like a drug dealer going on vacation - it doesn't happen! They had to be open to feed our, and others addictions. And feed they did. We had a great workout, if I recall correctly, and went home and snuggled in the snowed in house, which was not "really" snowed in.

Anyhow, in all this there is a message - opposites don't attract and they (might) make you fat. I think many of us have been subject to starting the new dating relationship and forgoing a number of things - working out is almost always one of them. Like when the economy goes bust (as if that would ever happen) extras go, and the gym for many people is extra! Finding someone who shares your enthusiasm and dedication to fitness and exercise is paramount for a healthy (figuratively and literally) relationship. Now go find yourself a gym rat girl! ;-)

Mixed martial arts - it's good for ya!

2008-10-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight, finally, after being in the Atlanta metro region for about 5 weeks, I was able to get myself out to a local dojo to take part in a mixed martial arts class. Actually it was a Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) class. I had taken about 4 Muay Thai classes when I lived in England and while the workout and techniques virtually killed me, the benefits to my fitness were profound. I noticed when I was did these couple of sessions prior to my Las Vegas wedding that I was tight! I lost about 8-10 lbs of body fat (was hanging around 12% body fat, which for me is outstanding!). Then I moved back and I stopped. I still train very very hard and work hard on functional muscle strength and circuits. Tonight reawakened me to the benefits associated with martial arts training. Let me explain:

To start we warmed up. This consisted of 3 sets of 5 exercises, each performed for 1 complete minute and moving to the next exercise without rest. After completion of each of the 5 exercises then you got 1 minute rest. So this is what constituted the 1st 18 minutes of the session.

Set 1 (each exercise performed continuously for 1 minute): Pushups - Squats - Burpies - Frog Leaps - Side twist pushups

1 minute rest

Set 2: pushups (either clap pushups, or a variant where you lift your entire body, legs and feet too, off the ground - toe grab squats - leg lifts - frog puhups - hindu pushups

1 minute rest

Set 3: kick with right leg out straight to hand - repeat with left leg - right kick to side with hip twist to hand - repeat with left leg - alternating knees to elbows

Die. No, seriously, stretch.

After this "warm up" we did some drills. We started with alternating 1 minute continuous Thai kicks to pads. Then we did push, or jab kicks to the pads.

OK that took about 25-35 minutes.

Now we did the "cool down" which consisted of 100 Thai push-ups, which entails doing a push up and then clap your partners hand at the top of the movement. We followed this with 100 Thai situps. Here your partner sits on your quadriceps, when you are in the down position of the sit-up a third person smacks your belly with a kick pad. Ugh!!!!

Absolutely grueling, but worth it.

Low fat, low calorie sausage and peppers over high fiber pasta

2008-10-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yes I said LOW FAT!

Pan fry 5 links of low fat italian seasoned sausage
While that is cooking, slice up 1 green, 1 red, and 1 yellow pepper. Place in a crockpot/slow cooker
Crush 3 cloves of garlic, toss them into the slow cooker as well.
Add about 1-1.5 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu tomato and basil)
and
Add 1.5 cups of water to the slow cooker
Chop about 1-2 handfuls of baby portabella mushrooms in quarters. Toss into the slow cooker
Add salt, pepper, dried chili peppers, garlic salt, dried oregano, dried italian seasoning and about 6 fresh basil leave (torn to peices) to the slow cooker mix.
Now that the sausage has had some time to cool off, cut it into about 2-4 oz size chunks. Using turkey sausage 4 oz serving should be about 200 calories (hence the low fat, low cal)
Toss those sausage chunks into the slow cooker
Cook on high for 2 hours.
At the 2 hour mark add 4 chopped Roma (plum) tomatoes to the slow cooker
Re-season to taste (I added a dash more salt, some pepper, some more dried hot chili peppers, and 4 more whole basil leaves.
Turn the slow cooker to low and allow to cook for about 4 more hours. The sausage should pretty much melt in your mouth.

Before serving boil some high fiber pasta to pour the sausage and peppers over. Sprinkle with a dash of parmesan cheese.

Enjoy a low fat, low calorie, high protein and high fiber dinner. Yummy!

Functional training: Moving weight

2008-10-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

These guys are athletes in the World's Strongest Man competition - they are truly beasts. Their burden - to move stuff! Quite literally, to move really fucking heavy stuff a long way. See here on the left pulling a train locomotive and to the right pulling a truck! I love watching these competition - mainly because of the gross display of testosterone that remind me of two bucks or ram butting heads in the wild... ah animal nature, but lately I have been thinking about this type of exercise - this functional training as it were. Functional because in everyday life we have to move stuff. Bench press does not help you move anything, except of course a long bar with plates on the end of your chest. So I guess if you find yourself pinned to the ground by a tree the benchpress might help, but chances are if you are in that predicament you are a goner anyhow!

Lately, I've been modifying my rope/suspension trainer to train like a "world's strongest man" - seriously. Although, I am not really that strong. Here's what I do. I wrap my rope around my car, just teasing, actually in the gym I wrap my rope around a few plates. Then I combine step lunges, or just walking, with chest press or back pull. Yeah you can step backwards and pull the weights to you. It's not exactly like pulling a truck or train, but if it doesn't get your heart rate up then something is wrong with you.

Good Circuit to Elevate Heart Rate

2008-10-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

OK, so today was supposed to be a "light day" at the gym. So I did 20 minutes of cardio and got really really bored of watching news about the economy and the debate tonight, and for some odd reason the music at the gym today completely sucked ass: Britney Spears, Maroon 5, I mean come on, how am I supposed to run, bike, etc to that.

I decided I would do a little circuit to get my heart rate up and work on some explosive power at the same time, here's how you do it. It's a super set of two exercises to be done consecutively with 1 minute of active rest (walking around room) between sets:

Grab a medicine ball (~8-12 lbs). Squeeze it tight to your chest like you are giving it a big hug. Now slowly squat down so that your upper leg is about parallel to the floor and jump as high as you can and bring your knees up in front as if you are trying to touch them to the medicine ball. Repeat for 10-12 reps.

Immediately move to exercise two, which is a lunge push with rope. Wrap a rope, or suspension trainer around 2 45lb (20Kg) plates. Grab a handle in each hand. Now lunge forward so that your arms are bent at the elbow and back near your lats. Push the ropes out as if you were doing a pushup or bench press. Try to push the weight in an explosive fashion as if you were trying to push the weights past you or punch something in front of you. Repeat lunging with other leg. Go to one end of a room/basketball half court (~4-8 steps per leg), turn around pull the weights to you and go back to the other end of the room. Try to get to the other end as quickly as you can without sacrificing form, without losing your balance, etc.

Take 45 - 60 seconds active rest. By active rest I mean walk around, dont just stand there. You could up the intensity by jumping rope or hopping, or you could just walk quickly around the gym.

It certainly got my heart rate pumping. It also gave me a pretty good leg and chest workout.

Fitness addiction is, what? Bad?

2008-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

The first step is admitting that you are an addict. That is what I hear is stated at AA, NA, etc type meetings when confronting yourself with an addiction. Such addictions as alcohol, drugs, sex, etc are all seen as relatively negative, but why? Well aside from the damage that can accrue to one's body, the resulting outcome is typically an inability to function outside of the addicted substance/context. For example, the alcoholic might not be able to get out of bed and go to work with out that shot of whiskey in his coffee. The pot head might not be able to get through lunch without that one toke of the bong. The sex addict may not.. well actually sexual addiction sounds just fine and dandy to me, but apparently it can lead to disruption of relationships. Like, for example, when the sex addict decides to cheat incessantly on her husband with other men, women and children.

What about our dear old friend - fitness? Well some recent (or not so recent, depending on how you read the literature) findings suggest that fitness has the qualities necessary to create an addiction: it demands attention, a specific context or specific set of tools, and it can produce feelings of pleasure, euphoria and excitement. But being addicted to fitness - that can't be bad, can it?

Well listed below are some of the common warning signs associated with fitness addiction. They are essentially the same as those listed for drug, sex, and alcohol addiction, but tailored to the fitness context.

Some warning signs include:

Turning down dates/social events/family events in order to work out
Avoiding social situations for fear of eating foods that may interfere with training progress (similar to orthorexia)
Social isolation
A feeling of general worthlessness if you have not completed your workout for the day
Only allowing yourself to eat after you have exercised
Feelings of depression/irritability when cannot exercise or when you don't have a "good" workout
Reduced drive to engage in activities formerly enjoyed
Exercising for extended periods on a daily basis or several times a day
Feeling anxious if a workout is missed
Scheduling your day’s events around your workout session
A fear of becoming injured and having to miss a workout
Exercising in spite of injury, weather, or other factors
Taking multiple exercise classes and then working out again at home
Overexercising and then getting feelings of euphoria after a workout; needing increasingly more working out to reach your high

OK, so there it is - yes I am addicted to fitness/exercise. These symptoms can escalate into a full-blown bout of depression either through feelings of worthlessness built up because you cannot reach that next goal or through withdraw from not being able to get enough of the euphoric sensation associated with exercise. There are some differences with fitness addicts and alcohol, drug and/or sex addicts. Fitness addicts typically want people to know that they are fitness addicts. It's cool and accepted to be addicted to fitness. "Hey I had a great run this morning and later I will be hitting the gym to pump some iron", says meathead. "Oh my god, you are like, so fit, and your arms are so big", says ditsy waitress who becomes sex partner to meathead. But what about it? I don't mind. I like being addicted to fitness, as most addicts like being addicted to what they are addicted to. The difference - mine helps me stay fit.

In all seriousness, it's a dangerous line to walk. The addiction can become so overwhelming that it affects families, lifestyle, even god forbid -YOUR SEX LIFE! And for fuck's sake isn't that why many people work out? OK, I am a perv, but in reality, I have read stories where fitness addiction has actually caused mothers to blow off activities with their children, husbands to forget anniversaries, etc. This addiction can really impact the way your life goes - positively and negatively.

How do we get ahold of this addiction? How do we wrangle it up and wrestle to the ground? Well, if you are like me, you probably won't. But if you are like me, then you are just mildly addicted. See I only check off a few of the above warning signs:

1.Turning down dates/social events/family events in order to work out. This seems perfectly logical to me because most of my social events involve drinking heavily. Thus, it is a win-win situation - I dont drink and I get a good workout in. I typically wont (cant) turn away from family events to workout, but will make plans for alternative ways to workout when away at family houses or gatherings. Most of my friends and family now just know I am going to be up and out running early, before most of them even wake up.

2. Feelings of depression/irritability when cannot exercise or when you don't have a "good" workout. Probably more irritability than depression, but shite, this is how I respond to everything when I dont feel I have done "good." When I write a paper for a journal and it's rejected I get irritated. When I design and experiment that does not work - I get irritated. You get the point. Another issue, I think is just plain personality.

3.Feeling anxious if a workout is missed. OK, this is a little neurotic, I admit that. Mainly I just get anxious when I don't know when my next workout will occur. So when traveling, if I have a plan for getting back to the gym upon arrival home, I am usually fine. However, when I get home and my toilet is flooded, my house has burned down, or my gym has closed down, taken my money and gone away - then I get pretty anxious.

4.Scheduling your day’s events around your workout session. Well, not really. But damnit, ever tried working out after 9-5 work hour day - you can barely get in the gym let alone on a piece of equipment! So yeah, I try to schedule some things around my workout, mainly for convenience. Boy I am really making excuses here, eh?

Well that about sums it up, the extent of my addiction. It's not yet debilitating, but well on its way, I am sure. I don't know that I am going to lose sleep over this, just yet. I like to workout. I married a gal who likes to workout. We are active and like it. I mean yes it does impede our social life once in a while - mainly because we don't want to diminish the results of our workouts. We like looking fit for each other, for ourselves. It's cool. If you are going to be addicted to something, why not make it be fitness right? Well to some extent this is correct or 'right' for us. However, I sometimes have to remind myself (& my wife): we are not professional athletes. We do not collect a paycheck for working out, as bad as that sucks, it's the truth. In fact, we give a large sum of our paychecks to be able to workout! Most of us will never be in the position of having a job where working out is part of your everyday duties. I don't make my living hitting home runs, throwing touchdown passes, scoring slapshots, or punching other blokes in the face. I am ok with that. And that is why I don't exercise more. At the end of the day its about balance. Everything in moderation.

Anyone out there feel they might have fitness/exercise addiction? Anyone have any thoughts on whether they think it is an actual issue/disorder/debilitation? How does your addiction impede your life?

Now, if it's time, go feed your addiction and do a few extra reps just to say "up yours" addiction!

One-arm negative dyno combo pushup

2008-09-28T18:30:00.001-07:00

OK, this is a new move that I sort of created while away at a wedding. After running a bit, I decided i was going to do some standard dyno pushups, you know the kind where you pushup and your hands leave the ground. OK, easy enough right. I figured, I would be eating a ton of shit and drinking like a fish so I had better up the ante and make this an actual workout, so I did. Here's how you do it (again I would post pics, but my f-ing phone is on the shit again! - advice - do not under any circumstances ever waste money on the new palm 800 - it blows! work gives it to me for free, otherwise i'd have an iPhone already). Ok the move:

Get in standard pushup position (medium grip) with legs fairly wide apart (at least should width, if not more). Now, slowly lower yourself. Pause for 1-3 seconds at the bottom and explode out of the move so that your hands are lifted off of the ground. Now while in the air move one hand to the center (to land on) and the other either behind your back or tight into your abdomen. Now land on one hand and slowly (as slowly as you can) lower yourself to the bottom pushup position. While in the bottom position, place your other hand on the floor and explode up. Repeat the process, but alternate which hand you land on. I could not do many, but am working to do about 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Photo credit: 1

Don't forget to train your cortex!

2008-09-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

Many, well let's face it all of the posts I have recently been writing deal with physical fitness training. However, I thought I would digress from that excursion to discuss Cortical training; i.e. brain training. This has actually become very popular lately with the advent of Nintendo's Brain Training DS game. But is this worth anything? Yes, actually, it could get you laid. (Yes we are back to the good old posts about how fitness gets you laid!)

A recent paper outlines how this works and I summarize here. OK, here goes. The English language (as just one example) has about 20,000 plus/minus words. The average human, however, only uses about 6,000-7,000 on average. In fact, only about 6,000-7,000 words are actually necessary in order to communicate with another human. So why so many words? And, how does your vocab get you laid?

Well we know that use of infrequent words and extended vocabulary is a good indicator of intellectual function (i.e. your general IQ). We also know that intellectual function is attractive to females; i.e. females prefer males with indicators of higher intelligence (e.g. educational status, lots of money, etc). Why, you might ask? Well, mating with a guy who has greater intelligence increases the probability that your offspring will inherit that greater intelligence. This serves two functions: 1) individuals with greater intelligence do better in life - they are better equipped to deal with the world, adapt, be flexible and generally attain greater social and economic statuses and 2) Individuals with greater intelligence are chosen as mates more often then individuals with lesser intelligence. It might be that, by choosing to mate with smart males, females may actually be manipulating future generations attractiveness and mate-ability (note the intellectual ability to combine and make new words... ;-) This recent study, which was published in Evolutionary Psychology , shows that males actually employ use of lower frequency words (i.e. odd words that are not used in normal everyday language, or the words that make you sound smart!) when asked to imagine they were in a romantic situation with a picture of a young female. That is they spoke "smarter" when imaging that they were going to get lucky with the young chick. The same effect was not seen when the same males were asked to repeat the task imaging that they were in a romantic situation with an older female. Additionally, females actually decreased their use of low frequency (i.e. "smart" vocab) when asked to imagine a romantic situation with a younger male, but not with an older male.

These findings, I think, support the idea of sex differences in behavior associated with parental certainty and the costs associated with reproduction. See, for males there are few costs. Essentially, the expenditure of sperm (say 15 minutes of fame!) For females the costs= bearing the result of impregnation. That is 10 months of gestation, child birth, rearing the offspring, oh and yes stretch marks (thanks Charlotte). So females put a premium on high quality males (i.e. intelligent males, males who use "smart" words) because they have a lot to lose. Mating with a loser, aside from the fact that you just banged a loser, may actually have longer term, potentially devastating effects - you might give birth to a loser! Then what you have is a new loser to enter teh reproductive workforce and in good conscious, could you really do that? :-)

Some food for thought? While running on the treadmill, tossing your kettle ball, or holding that handstand, don't forget to train your brain. You can do this easily by subscribing to a word-a-day feature in your email. Then while running make up as many sentences as you can using that new word. Use it in all its differing forms - noun, verb, adjective, and get creative. Try to describe your workout buddy using that term. Or trry to describe events happening at the gym using the word. It could be amusing. For example, my most recent word:

isthmus (noun): 1. A narrow strip of land with water on each side, joining two larger land masses, for example, the Isthmus of Panama. 2. A narrow strip of tissue joining two large organs or cavities.

OK this one is kind of hard to use, however, not impossible. For example, in my new gym there is an isthmus (granted no bodies of water) connecting the ab/stretch region to the water fountain, that allows people to literally sturt their stuff in front of everyone using the cardio machines. Another example: Last tuesday at the gym, during TaiChi class, I notice that one of the older ladies had an isthmus of clothing covering her privates, ew!

You can also keep your brain alert by counting backwards by 7, 11, 13, 3, 4, 5 etc from 100 or up the ante and start at 1000. Make it really hard and start at some god awful number like 13, 486! Changing the number and the pattern each time will help keep your brain working hard. You can also sign-up for one of the several websites that aim to reproduce the Nintendo DS brain training rage. Anyhow you do it, don't forget to use it, else you might lose it. And I don't mean lose your brain - chances are without neurosurgery you will always have a brain, rather I mean lose the mating race, the attractiveness game, and your potential reproductive prowess! Eeeeeeeck! (My poor wife!)

Photo credit(s): 1,

Travel Workouts: Take trainers, Clothes, and, food?

2008-09-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

So this week/weekend I am traveling for a wedding up north and to complete my move to the Atlanta Georgia USA region. My wife and I are desperate not to allow these types of excursions to derail our exercise programs. So, every time we travel - be it for pleasure, work, or family affairs - we are certain to take our trainers and workout clothes. Seeing my workout shorts and favorite tank top in the suitcase invokes a sort of exercise guilt (probably unhealthy mentally, but...) and I grab them and will do something. Sometimes we just go for run - like yesterday. We ran about 3 miles, she then did some pushups and situps. She rules! I moved boxes... LOL!

However, in our recent excursion we added something else to our traveling gym attire - food. Yes food. We brought (and or bough when we arrived) the foods we have been eating at home. Now, don't get me wrong, we are not in the orthorexic stage of things where we have to eat everything raw, or know every detail of what goes into my food or even eat all organic - shit we can't afford that! But we are actively trying not to derail our diets and exercise progress while on holiday. To this end, we brought things like high fibre muffins, purchased cottage cheese (low fat, of course), and the like. This allows us to bypass what many family member keep on stock that is high in sugar, fat, etc. It allows us to maintain some semblance of control over what goes in our bodies.

I have obviously become accustomed to odd looks. I still garner a few when I pull out my rope suspension trainer (which I (in)conveniently forgot this trip). Now I get strange looks, when I open my suitcase shortly after arriving to put food items in the refrigerator. The looks are probably in distates - people feeling like "what my/our food is not good enough?" that is not the case. Rather, it's just we watch closely what we eat. It helps us to allow ourselves to drink beer and wine at the wedding without that guilty orthorexic feeling.

At any rate, my advice if you are trying hard to keep on track - when travelling, bring food. See if you buy food at the airport, like we used too, well you are in for a caloric treat (read nightmare!) the food items at the airport are loaded with calories, sugar, sodium, all that stuff you have been trying to avoid. The problem is not so much that these things are all that bad for you in moderation. No, in fact you need all of these things for survival. The bad thing is that sugar and sodium actually have addictive qualities. Thus, by allowing yourself to eat that plate of salty chips washed down by the milkshake - because you are on holiday - is like falling off the wagon and in some cases (my own included) this can spur a downward spiral of poor eating. I can remember getting to the airport and eating like this, then on the plane scarfing the nuts/pretzels or whatever they give you and the meal, then landing and well you get the picture. I would just keep eating. I was feeding my addiction, and it can get out of control while on holiday because even if you are going to the house of a family member, you are often times encouraged to overeat. Be careful. This can be the downfall. The start of something bad. Now, I am not saying you should watch what you eat at thanksgiving, christmas, etc - damn you should eat - just watch what you eat. And if you are travelling take some snacks - trail mix, fruit, cottage cheese, etc. That the things that you keep in your kitchen and ask if you can place them somewhere that you can easily get to them. Seeing those items you eat regularly at home will cue your brain - hey, I should be eating that cottage cheese - yes I do see the plate of donuts, but the cottage chees is already here, i would not want to waste my money, etc. So I, personally am more inclined to grab what I brought.

So, i gotta run to finish packing boxes before the rehearsal dinner where I will pigout royally, but wanted to impart this little tidbit of advice that is working for Aussy and I - when travelling, bring food!

What's up with your fat?

2008-09-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have been writing on this blog now for over 1 month and not only am I having a blast (even though no one reads the damn thing), but also learning loads. Most interestingly, as I learn and investigate more and more about fitness and health I find my research interests veering in this direction (really I am a evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist, 1, 2). This stuff is becoming really interesting both at a personal and academic level. In fact, I am very close to co-authoring my first peer-reviewed paper on the topic of obesity. Thus, I thought it might be appropriate for me to discuss fat, or adipose, here.

So, what's up with your fat? I think most people think fat is bad. That fat causes a plethora of metabolic disease, the most prominent being diabetes. I agree, I think fat is bad, but I also know that fat has gotten a bum wrap. Our culture has inundated us with 'fat free' this and 'low-fat' that, that many of us fall victim to the idea that eating any fat is horrible for us. Some people I know delude themselves (probably using self-deception) into thinking that the fat goes directly to their thighs within minutes after eating something fattening (e.g., and ice cream sundae... mm, that sounds really really good right now, but instead I will go make a bag of SmartPop = 100 calories and very filling, and NOT fat free).

Fat is really not all that bad for you. In fact, if you are not supplied with fat in utero and during development your nervous system is severely negatively affected. Primarily the casing that protects the axon of neurons (the part that allows neurons, or brain cells, to talk to one another) does not develop properly and children born to "fat free" fanatical moms can experience a number of psychological, neurological, and neuropsychiatric disorders. In fact, the extent of that relationship is well under investigated and I would hypothesize it is partly involved in the sudden appearance of many "new" disorders (think AD/HD, for example).

Fat also helps us old farts (I say at the ripe old age of 34, ouch!). Fat can actually help you lose weight. Fattening foods are more full-filling then low fat substitutes, which generally work to try and dupe your nervous system into thinking you are full, only to be back munching in an hour or so. If you are like me then fattening foods also make you "feeeeeel" good, too. Like, how do you feel after you down that cod and chips, ice cream sundae (there I go again), or hot wings.... mmmMMM. I feel psychologically wonderful after eating these foods. That is, until the guilt about eating all that fattening food set in and I realize how much fucking exercise I need to do to burn off all the calories (yes I have mental illness related to eating and working out too).

But, there is hope. You can be fat and healthy. Seriously. A recent study (3) suggests that it is not how fat you are that matters in terms of developing obesity related illnesses, but how you utilize that fat. Take or example, the Sumo wrestler pictured above. Fat bastard, right? Wrong! Well wrong in our colloquial use of the term fat bastard. Yes he is fatter than the average middle American. He is one big mother fucker. However, He utilizes his fat in a fundamentally different manner. Sumo wrestlers through rigorous eating regimes and exercise regimes (yes they exercise, about 8 hours per day! They eat the rest of the day), they actually assist their body to store fat subcutaneously (under the skin). This keeps the fat away from the vital organs - heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, etc - which are involved in obesity-related disorders. Neat eh?

Now chances are you won't have this luck as Sumo's start their training very young and thus their body actually develops like this. This recent study suggests that for each of us, we have a fat "set point". Yes this is a new take on an old idea. The old idea, that everyone has a set point weight and if you go too far above (or below ) this individual set point you can get sick. The new idea relates the weight directly to the storage of adipose (fat) tissue. It states, succinctly, that each individual has a fat set point, or what might be called a "metabolic" set point. This is the point at which you effectively utilize fat stored in our body. Too little and you can develop diseases. Too much and you can develop diseases. The latter, the authors suggest, is related to a storage issue. Think if it this way: you have a determined amount of fat your body can store with little effect on your health. If you exceed this limit then the fat stores (of which you might be continuing to ingest) need to go somewhere. The hypothesis suggests that this extra fat, since it has no place to go in the individuals normal storage places, starts to find and store itself on major organ systems. Think of it like pouring yourself a drink. You set out a glass. The volume of the glass is your fat store limit. Now your pour a little liquid in, let's say beer for shits and giggles (and because it's about my favorite liquid beverage on the planet). If you pour that brewski down the center chancing are you will get a large head on your beer. If you keep pouring into that glass eventually that head needs to go somewhere. First it slowly moves upward toward the top of the glass (i.e. the top of your fat limit). Keep pouring and what happens? The head and maybe some beer spill over the top of the glass and onto the countertop, into your hand, etc. That is how I think of the fat spilling out over your fat store limit and the countertop or your hand is the rest of your body, the major organ systems.

Now when this happens and people get sick (i.e. the beer is all over the countertop) we get all worked up and decide that this person needs to lose all the weight. This is where the idea of a metabolic set point comes into play. See, if we adopt the position that there are normal limits of fat store (under the skin) that vary individually then we can begin to design weight loss programs to target the set point instead of the ideal. That is, we can wipe the counter enough so that there's no beer visible (it might still be sticky, but shit we've got beer to drink and who has time to clean up that mess?) So rather than forcing people into weight loss programs that hold for them the ideal portrait of healthiness and fitness (e.g., a supermodel, or men's health magazine cover model) we hold for them an ideal that is personally tailored to their individual set point. This is the point at which, while still over weight in appearance, is actually a healthy point at which the major organ systems are not impacted by the fat. At this point the weight loss program may be further tailored to a longer term (as opposed to an acute - lose weight now or die) program. The authors suggest that this could increase the efficacy of such weight loss programs because psychologically you are giving patients 1) realistic goals to reach and 2) using individually tailored data.

So, can you determine what your fat/metabolic set point is? Well, not exactly. This is where more science is needed. See to determine your metabolic set point scientists need to understand the genetic mechanisms involved (currently underway in mice) as well as the individualistic, developmental experiences of that individual. So in the end, more science is needed and the likelihood of a "take this pill" to get think approach is not going to be as effective for long-term health.

Thoughts welcome....

Photo credits (1)

Iron cross progression

2008-09-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Today I worked again toward the suspended iron cross using my suspension rope. Here's how I did it:

I first tightened the ropes up so that they were above shoulder height. I then kneeled on a swiss ball. Grabbing the ropes now and balancing on the Swiss ball, my arms are out at my side slightly higher than my shoulders. Then I push down into the cross - only the tips of my knees touching the Swiss ball. I held that for about 20 - 20 seconds, then I finished off with a press down of my arms so that I raised myself up. I was now suspended with the ropes and my arms at my body's side. I then let myself down slowly. I repeated this sequence for about 3 sets of between 6 -12 reps.

It's a very unusual feeling to be suspended with arms out straight. It is also really hard. Even with the Swiss ball, you find yourself not concentrating and losing focus. I found that in order to maintain focus and strength I had to maintain a very strong core. I think I am getting close... Slowly but surely. I will try to post some pictures or a video to demonstrate the progression.

Fitness fads or new trends in exercise?

2008-09-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Like everything else in life, fitness is subject to faddish developments in the hopes of making money. In fact, because millions of people are looking for the get fit quick fix device, fitness may be more susceptible to such fads than many other disciplines. So how is one supposed to separate the good from the bad; what works from what does not; what you might SQUANDER your hard earned money on and what you SHOULD spend your hard earned money on? Well I don't know if I have the answers, but I will try to think it out, out loud, so to speak here.

First up: Diet.There are about a hundred different diet regimes on the market these days from the "juice only diet" to nutri system to weight watchers to the Atkins and Zone diets. Shit, there is even a diet called the South Beach diet! Do any of these work? Do any of them make physiological sense? Well, when I ask such question, almost invariably the answer leads me to what our physiology has been selected to do by evolution. That is, what our ancestors ate is probably what we should be eating. See, our ancestors did not have McDonalds, Burger King, Steak & Shake, etc. They also did not have sweets - candy bars, chocolate, and refined sugar. Guess what? Our ancestors weren't fat either! If they were than they would not be able to do a number of important things for their survival: evade predators, catch prey, maintain respiratory health to effectively collect tubors, roots, etc, and most importantly they would be unable to attract a mate. So what did our ancestors eat? Well that is an archeological and anthropological mystery that will never really be solved without that good old invention - the time machine. But science has uncovered a few clues about what our ancestors most likely ate by excavating archaic site of residence. It appears that our ancestors were a combination of hunters and gathers. We, our ancestors that is, most likely ate ground roots, leaves, and other 'wild' crops. We also probably hunted, at least small mammals, the occasional bird and most interestingly we also appear to have been meat scavengers. See, without nasty claws, teeth and the means to fend off other predators, our ancestors may have been left to ravage what was left by those big predators (think tigers, lions and bears (OH MY!)) Some evidence suggests that our ancestors learned (i.e. big brains are useful for something) to crack bones open using rocks to dig out the protein rich bone marrow.

So, the point of this little archeological excursion - our ancetor ate a variety of foods - not just protein, not just fruit and veg, but a healthy (albeit availability might have also played a role) mix. I think that's what makes a healthy modern diet. A good mix of fat, protein and yes carbohydrates! Carbs are good! They fuel you. The key is to not eat bad carbs - you know sugar and such. Instead replace with high-grain, multi grain and high fibre low sugar carbs. My wife and I recently found Thomas' English muffins that are actually fortified with extra fibre - they are fantastic in taste and the fibre is great for us. In fact, fibre is one of those things that is hard for your body to digest so you actually burn calories while digesting it. So high fibre and high protein is what I would recommend.

OK so all that sounds pretty good, but there is a down side: food that is good for you usually costs much much much more! Bite the bullet and buy it; it is worth it!

Second: Cardiovascular training.

The list of cardio machines that are in existence and that have been marketed for quick fix fitness is innumerable and far too great to list hear. Instead of listing all those crazy machines I will just impart a few recommendations that have worked for me:

1) Get your heart rate up to where it feels like your heart is going to explode and/or pop out of your body, then slightly decrease the intensity until you can catch your breath. Once you have caught your breath increase that intensity again to the heart exploding feeling. Yeah that's it. The whole 50-80% max heart rate - throw that lousy advice out with your Turbo Track and get that heart pumping (advice: if you have heart probs, then don't follow my advice). The key is really to get your hear moving. It increases your cardiovascular endurance and strength and your respiratory ability; i.e. your ability to utilize oxygen effectively. Here I turn to my martial arts training (which can hardly be called training at all, actually). In martial arts you have to withstand 3-5 minutes of pounding and being pounded. So not only are you jumping around and increasing your heart rate, but you are being beaten on and delivering it back (hopefully!) The thing is when you are fit like a proper martial artist you are fit as a fiddle! One of my students back in Liverpool is an amateur mixed martial artist who had been training for about 12 years. One day, literally, one morning he decided he was going to run a half marathon. I think it was to impress a gal, but that might also be rumor. At any rate, he showed up, paid the late regist

ration fee and ran the entire thing. The reason I know this. He showed up after the race to train; i.e. to train martial arts as if he had taken a drive for 13 some fucking miles. If that does not convince you of the interval training, high tempo, kill your heart rate training, then go fuck yourself and be fat! It sold me, mind you I am not going to rush out and run for 13 miles ANYWHERE!

Third: resistance training.

Need I really say more. Again, from my rather academic evolutionary perspective the thing you want out of a resistance training program, I would hope, is the ability to actually use your muscles. Pretty mirror muscles have no purposes, they have no place in today's day and age. So yeah there are loads of faddish machines from bow flex (which seems to be pretty good actually) to the Total gym, another one I kind of liked. However, at the end of the day, I think you want to use what works for you. Our ancestors did not have weights. Sure they carried around a club to beat you with, and they probably did scoop up women like in the cartoon. They might also have carried stones and animal carcasses. Note any similarity in all of these activities? They all seem to incorporate some very large muscles and a lot of total body strength (think dead lift, squat, etc).

Now stop reading and go eat and train like a caveman!

Photo credit: 1)http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/images/homo_habilis_img5.jpg

2) http://www.red-spirit-energy-healing.com/images/caveman-diet.gif

3) http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/jlv/lowres/jlvn337l.jpg

Mirror muscles, from the wast up, that is....

2008-09-21T14:23:00.001-07:00

This afternoon at the gym I saw a dude working out. OK, I was riding the bike and could only see his top half. And he was admirable in size - one huge mother fucker. He was solid, ripped, just a giant. Then he walked out from behind a machine and started to calf raises. Well it must have been his first day doing calf raises, but no, it looked like today was "legs day." Must have been that one day this year. My wife said he looked like a caricature of a man, a cartoon picture - Jonny Bravo style. All big up top, little bird legs below.

Why does this happen? Well the number 1 reason this probably happens is because training legs is hard and not done by these guys for fear of not being able to train those damn biceps, pecs, or triceps. The other reason I think this happens is because females, chick, girls, don't did legs on a man. Women, correct me if I am wrong. But I can count, on one mangled hand the number of times I have heard a girl look at a guy and say, damn, he has nice legs. On the others hand, I don't know if I can count high enough to indicate how many times I have heard: he has such great arms, huge chest, v-shape, etc. Quite frankly, it's an insult to the term "fitness training." I don't see these guys as being fit at all. Granted, they do look good. But that is not what fitness is supposed to be about. Maybe it demands another term - I know body building is the term, but that does not quite capture it, does it? I mean, my definition of fitness (outside of my evolutionary one, which means to reproduce) is to be physically fit. That means being able to do some athletic stuff. Maybe we should call it: Flirtness. I mean that is kind of what their training is for - to flirt.

So a little rant, but it irritates me because these guys walk around like they own the gym. It irritates me that other people look to them for fitness advice. They actually ask these dudes questions like: How'd you get so big? What's your training program? Etc. I mean, don't get me wrong I don't want anyone asking me about my training regime although I'd be glad to let them know. It just seems plain wrong.

So what about not training legs. I cannot even imagine not training legs. Here's a good link about leg training, which I summarize here. Legs are the very essence of your existence, assuming you walk on two legs and are not wheelchair bound. They stabilize everything from your movement to your bench press. Your legs are your roots. Imagine a tree with no roots. Now imagine trying to kick or push that tree over. It'd be pretty easy right. Now imagine your typical tree, with roots. Go try and push over a tree. If you succeed, I bow down to you, however, chances are you were unsuccessful. Tree roots are powerful. They are the essence of the existence of trees. Like your legs. I am not saying that I could have walked over and pushed over Flirtness Trainer mirror muscle max, but I bet I could have come pretty darn close if not for the sheer fact that he was top heavy.

Trees are hard!

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JJAR1vjgJAU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JJAR1vjgJAU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Exercising in the "Digital Age"

2008-09-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Is everything today electronic? Even our fitness? When I worked out at EFC in England I was turned onto a system called FitLinxx. It is actually pretty cool - not only does it serve as your personal exercise and training log book, but it helps you through exercise range of motion (when calibrated correctly). Additionally, before it broke at EFC they would give prizes for reaching new 'levels.' So, I won a water bottle, a free PT session, and a massage. It was fucking brilliant (see image).

However, today I somehow stumbled upon a link for a digital jump rope - are you freaking kidding me? This whole thing got me thinking: what ever happened to good old fashioned hard nosed fitness training. The days when you would run up and down stairs, and may actually do it outside, for cardio training. When you would pump iron or do calisthetics or punch a bag for resistance training? And to add, you might record your progress in a written fitness journal, or god forbid, actually remember how damn strong and / or fast you were!

Rather in today's "digital age" we are force fed digital media in our exercise routines. Rather than going to the local stadium and running stairs, we use the stairmaster, stepper, or elliptical. Rather than actually running on solid ground, we run on treadmills (and the former, real ground is way harder, I dont care who you talk too, there is no comparison). And rather then do 3 sets of 50 pushups and squat thrusts, we deconstruct our workouts into muscle group defined isolated machine work - so for example, I used to do Chest on the same day I did my Triceps. And I had a set of luxurious machines - and I mean nautilus style and free weight devices, thinks smith machine, cables, etc - to meet that end.

This apparently really frustrates me, especially now because I feel like I am seeing real results with my new total body, body weight training regime: my so-called functional workouts, which actually serve no function accept to give me the opportunity that something I do in a day is "functional." It really started to irk me lately, combined with the odd ganders I attract at the good ol' gym, I have been talking to several colleagues about the state of individuals in our society, particularly young folks - the 9-22 year old group. Many of these kids are currently prescribed medicines for AD/HD or other "behavioral developmental disorders." No I use quotes, half jokingly, not to mock those with real physical disease, but rather to poke fun and mock the medical industry for creating drugs to calm down little boys. I mean for fuck's sake - being rambunctious and annoying and aggressive is what being a little boy is all about. I wish I could still be like that!!!! At any rate, these kids are raised on electronic devices - the Wii (not fit version), PS2, PSP, Nintendo, Game Cube, Television, etc. When I was a kid my mom forced me to go outside - no I mean literally threw me out and gave me the "I will call you for dinner, and I should not see you until then. Now go have fun, Steve." I had no abandonment issues. I felt no shame, or dislike for her. In fact, I was pleased as pie I was thrown out of the house to go "play" otherwise I had to watch one of the 4 Tele channels available when I was a kid. OK, 5, we did have PRISM, but come on!

This and we ask ourselves why our society is fat? Not me. I think I;ve got the answer, and it's not original - by any stretch - we made our selves fat. The issue for me is that making ourselves fat, we have actually created a number of new medical disorders (e.g. Type II diabetes).

Right, so this is supposed to be a blog about fitness, not a political blog, sorry. So, do this for me, a little experiment if you will. Next time you are in the gym observe the members. Take note of how many are using the digital machines and how many are using the non-digital, what I will call here "old school approach", which may include, but is not limited to: gymnastics moves, body weight exercises, kettle balls, non-digital jump rope, etc. Is there a difference in the fitness level perceived by you between these two groups. I did this today and noticed two things: 1) I was one of 3 people at the gym doing "old school" moves (although at 7am I can't be picky about numbers) and 2) that the people doing the "old school" moves seemed to have more muscular definition, more mobility and flexibility, a generally happier demeanor and pleasantness about them, and in males a better V-shaped torso.

I would like to hear others opinions...

No turn off your electronic device and go move! LOL ;-)

V-sit progression

2008-09-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

Well today was a grande day at the old gym. First of all, that fella who made me feel all self-conscious yesterday actually started chatting with me again. Turns out, he was not trying to be the biggest douche bag in the world, but rather he was actually interested in how I maintain muscle mass by doing primarily body weight exercise routines. That was kind of nice. We then had a neat conversation about psychological/neuroscience research... this is my life... sorry.

Second, I made an astonishing (well, to me only) discovery. Over the past two days, I have actually, unconsciously made progress toward the V-sit position (see pic, but I am not even close to that!).

Yesterday, while doing my L-seat to planche progression, I worked hard on getting the legs higher and reached about 80, maybe 75 degrees inclination of the legs (up from 90 degrees). Then today my wife was training her hanging L-sit variation. I was starting to show her the move and realized I could easily get up into a full hanging V. It must be the work I have been doing on the front level, but i almost felt easy, and this was at the end of my workout.

I was very pleased, to say the least. Not to mention props to Aussy - she has been training with Cassandra, probably one of the best personal trainers we've ever seen, for about 4 weeks (1 day / week). Today she got remeasured and lost 2.5% body fat. 2.5% body fat in about 1 month! That's fucking awesome! She is my idol!

Body weight training makes you small?

2008-09-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Which Approach to Training (Above) Do you Take?

Today a fella approached me in the gym as I was "dismounting" non-gracefully from my rope trainer and asked when I do weights? I responded, "Weights, I haven't really touched an actual weight in several weeks, at least since I had hurt my back, and even before that had gone almost completely body-weight". He was amazed and shocked and immediately questioned me: "Well, so, you CANNOT maintain 'real' muscle mass with only body weight training, right? Because with body weight there is no way to bring progressive overload to your muscles helping them to grow, it just can't happen." OK, so before I continue with the text of my conversation I generally smirk and distrust anyone in a gym who uses terms like "Progressive overload" b

ecause it means one of two things: 1) you are a physical fitness trainer (or some other sports/fitness professional, and I don't mean athlete), in which case you should introduce yourself to me as such so that I DO believe what comes out of your mouth or 2) you read too many muscle mags (FLEX, Muscle & Fitness, and the like). So, I say, quite humbly I might add, "Right, what exactly is, or do you mean by, progressive overload?" Fucking huge mistake! The fella goes on for about 5 minutes (my time is precious!) explaining to me that progressive overload is tantamount to increasing weight or reps so that you work your muscles to complete failure. You break down the tissue and that helps them, actually he said "causes" them to grow. So I responded with my dumb founded, un educated response that seems to usually shut people up long enough that I can abscond back to my workout, "Have you ever seen a fat gymnast?" This guy in a complete lack of awareness of what I was trying to do there, responded! Yes, actually responded: "No gymnasts are not fat, but you also never see a large, muscular, fast twitch built gymnast either." Oh, ok, so we are obviously going to argue here and use technic

al jargon, in the fucking gym. (Fast twitch fibers, for those of you who might not know are the ones involved in anerobic exercise; i.e. weight training and muscle building, slow twitch are more involved in endurance (e.g. marathon muscles). ) Ar you fucking kidding me dude? I hate ever so much to toss around my education (PhD in evolutionary BIOLOGY and Cognitiv

e neuroscience, with education in all forms of hard science), but on occasion I need to draw this weapon. However, this was not the case in this situation. Rather, my funny, teasing side (something I picked up in England, who am I kidding, I was born with it!) took over and so I said, "Whoa dude. You really seem to know a lot about body building and lifting. I could probably learn a lot from you." In between hair flicks and obvious expressive feelings of grandeur I threw in this comment: "Before I take down my rope, you wanna try some rope dips, or a suspended L-sit. I mean, I don't know if they work slow or fast twitch muscle fibers, but maybe you could tell me by trying it..." His response: "i am already into my workout, maybe next time if I catch you in here I will try, or you could workout with me". Um, no thanks.

Generally, while I can recant this little incident in a slightly humorous manner, this interaction did upset me. It got me thinking, and asking my wife - are my muscles getting SMALLER? For fuck's sake, I realize I am an old bastard, but the last thing I want to be doing is training to be smaller and less muscular. Any thoughts on whether body weight training can decrease the growth of muscle would be greatly appreciated. Here are a few examples that keep me on my path...

Breathing, Goals, and Mind over Muscle

2008-09-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today during my Kung Fu lesson my master exposed me to what might have been torture (think Pai Mei from Kill Bill V. 2) and exposed me to a 5 minute horse stance. So this is like a wall sit squat without the wall. You just sit, in the air, in the middle of the room. You cannot move. You can not stand-up. You cannot complain. Try it, is your legs don't start to burn and shake then you are more of a man than I. You are forced to center yourself to equally distribute your body weight. This also helps you attain an awareness of your body in space and how to use small muscles that you probably did not know you needed to use, like muscles in your feet. One thing that is really important is your breathing. Deep diaphragmatic breathing to increase the level of oxygen that reaches your muscles. While doing this you might feel high, or light headed, but that's ok, for some reason you do not, or at least I did not, lose my focus and balance. In fact, I noticed that my focus tended to drift into an almost meditative state. The burn was there, the shaking was there, but I was persevering and overcoming my physical pain by some mental fashion. Well this I found really rewarding (we'll see if I still feel that way tomorrow LOL).

At any rate, this whole experience got me thinking about pain, mental states, and training - and the whole idea of no pain no gain. See, while I was in my horse stance, I could have at any point dropped to my knees, or just said, no I am not doing this anymore (I of course would not be allowed to train anymore, but if I wanted to, i could drop out). I was in pain, but the mental state that, that I want to learn Kung Fu over rode the pain. I wonder if I translate this mentality to my other exercises, if I will experience similar kinds of gains and feeling of personal reward.

For example, I am training to hold a front lever & iron cross. Maybe persisting thru the pain will help me. Maybe not.

At any rate, i was wondering if anyone else has ever experience this sensation of personal triumph with respect to one's own body. It has really invigorated me and I hope to enthuse this type of energy into anyone that trains with me.

Knowing yourself

2008-09-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I ran a 5 mile race at beautiful Stone Mountain in Georgia with my wife. As we walked up to the registration desk, and I looked around at the body morphometrics (shape) of the other contestants, I realized (again!) that I was not designed to run long distances. These people are amazingly ripped, but also amazingly small. Sure, a few, a handful are tall - that is the marathoner build - tall and long legs - but most males probably dont weight more than 150lbs. That is something i will never attain, NOR would I ever want to. I saw one other male that with anything that resembled "real" muscle and he was pretty fucking huge. He finished around me - 5 miles in 50 minutes or so (& it was really hilly, NO EXCUSE!)

At any rate, I learned I am not a competitive runner when my friend completed the race in 30 minutes - yeah that's under 7 minute miles for 5 miles - insane!

I prefer to be a beast then a marathoner and thank goodness I do not strive to be such.

At any rate, I think training goes hand-in-hand with knowing yourself. For example, I KNOW I am never going to: 1) fight in the UFC, but will keep training martial arts; 2) run a marathon, but will keep running 3-7 mile races; 3) climb everest or rainier, but will keep hitting the wall and bouldering wall; 4) make the olympic gymnast team, but will still continue using my ropes to try and learn the Iron Cross. Point is: work what you can and work it hard. Be the best at what you are, what you are able to do. I think this also helps in other aspects of life, like mood and self-esteem. For example, I know I can't run the marathon, so I dont get depressed when I can't do it. On the other hand, I know that I can do suspended dips, so when I struggle to get a few out on a rough day, then I do get upset. My mood/affect is highly related to my success (or lack thereof in the gym) and I think it's because I am honest with my abilities. It is important to self-assess yourself, your abilities, and your goals. You can't set unattainable goals. It WILL be counterproductive to your training and may lead to injuries or dropping out of fitness all together. Setting honest, attainable goals (in fitness and life) is good for your development. A favorite line from What about Bob? --> "Baby steps!"

Martial arts, Tai Chi

2008-09-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

When I was in England there was a point, right before my wedding when I was in probably the best shape of my F-ing life! During those times I was actively involved in martial arts - Muay Thai and Kickboxing at the EFC Club. The thing about martial arts training, even if you never fight, and I am way too fucking old to be fighting (outside of bars that is), the workouts are intense. They work conditions and muscularity. Like gymnasts - you never see a fat martial artist, or rarely, I should say. So there's obviously something to it.

First conditioning - quite frankly the first time I did a muay thai class, I thought i was going to die if not from dehydration because I had sweat so much from sheer torture! Class after class, however, my conditioning increased and I was loving the effects it had on my body.

Second - the impact based training. You are basically doing body weight exercise with impact resistance. Let me explain. Throw a punch while shadow boxing and you are doing a body weight exercise that works your triceps and shoulders. Throw that punch into a bag or pad being held by someone and the impact it generates is equal (roughly) the amount of force with which you can throw a punch, kick, elbow, knee, etc! I notice that this type of conditioning makes things 'tighter" especially my love handles. Not sure why, or how, but this was something I noticed.

Third, and lastly - balance and coordination. Try throwing a kick to a bag while blocking a punch - you are on one leg (balance) and need to coordinate several large muscle groups (coordination). This can only be beneficial for the gymnastics style training I am working on.

I have started a Tai Chi class and am going to start King-fu next week. We will see if it helps my progression....

From Odd look to compliments...

2008-09-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

So for the past month or so I have overcome my embarrassment and have been using my suspension rope trainer constantly; in fact, just about every workout I use it in some way.

When I started, many the gym-goer shot me an odd look - reading their minds might reveal a "what in the fuck is he doing with that rope?" However, recently, within the past week or so, I have actually received a few interested inquiries and compliments. The first came from an older lady who asked quite frankly, what in the world are you doing? I explained the rationale and she said, well it looks really hard, and its obviously working (she flirtatiously followed this with a cute little squeeze of my bicep, that whore! ;-) The second compliment came when I heard a Personal training client ask my trainer what I was doing? The trainer, William, indicated that he had introduced me to the TRX and that I had made my own with some rope from Home Depot. The client commented, "Looks insanely hard!" He is right - it is INSANELY hard, but feeling good. The third and last and perhaps the greatest compliment I have received came from a rather large, body building looking middle aged guy at the gym. I was returning the dumbbells I use to practice my planche to the rack. He was doing some kind of overhead triceps extension, or something, I was really tired and not paying attention, except that I noticed him hurry up to complete his set to talk to me. He turned and said to me "Hey man, so are you a gymnast or something?" God damn! He actually asked me if I was a gymnast. For me, at this time, beastskill training, there is really no higher compliment! I of course said, "Yes, didnt you see me in beijing? Not! I said no, and went into what has now become a sales pitch for the rope trainer. He actually asked if he could jump in and try suspended dips and L-sits next time we are in the gym at the same time.

Its a really nice feeling to know that people are noticing your workout for the difficulty that it represents and not just judging you because you are doing something unconventional.

Now, I am not so embarrassed to use my rope trainer. Its a good feeling.

(Limp) Cross Progression

2008-09-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

Using my suspension trainer, I have been trying to work up the strength to hold an Iron Cross.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UcSrLSYhl90&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UcSrLSYhl90&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I cannot yet achieve that move. I have begun to lower myself, however, and can get to about 45 degrees of arm separation. It is quite stressful on the shoulders and joints. I can hold it at about 45 degrees for about 5-7 seconds and then pull myself up and down again. It looks something like this:

.. I am getting there, slowly, but surely, I am getting there...

Peanutbutter and Jam Smoothie

2008-09-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

So in my opinion nothing accompanies a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich better than a tall glass of milk. So I decided to try and make a smoothie, with milk, that emulated this wonderful flavor.

Here goes.

Into your magic bullet/blender toss the following items and blend until smooth:

2 Tablespoons (or more, depending on your taste) Peanutbutter (can be smooth or crunchy, but generally I try to use low or reduced fat varieties)

Generous helping (about a handful) of raisins (for this item you could substitute the fruit of your favorite jam, preserve, or jelly (e.g., raspberry would work well))

Big handful of ice

1/2 cup milk (low fat if possible)

cup of dry cereal (I use post shredded wheat and bran, but you could use anything from lucky charms to Cheerios, I would think)

You could also add a banana, protein mix, weight gainer, or whatever your pleasure is.

Then, Drink.

Training progression and circuits

2008-09-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

I read an article about Jason Statham's (British actor beast) workout routine and I decided I needed to actually organize my workouts. So I made a list of just about all the exercises I could think of and tried to come up with an easy way to lump them together. I created warm up routines, of which I do two before moving on to gymnastics style moves and suspension training. Here is what I did today:

Warm up 1: 10 minutes of interval sprints - run on the treadmill varying the speed between 6mph and 8.5 (that's as fast as I can go, but go faster if you please)

Warm up 2: star jump (jumping jack) + squat thrust combos. Do 1 star jump followed immediately by a squat thrust, then do 2 star jumps followed immediately by 2 squat thrusts and so forth until you get to somewhere between 5-10 reps of each exercise. Then work your way back down to 1 rep each and you are done and should be warm, sweaty and breathing a bit heavily. Now on to the real workout.

Gymnastics moves: same idea as above for warm up #2, start each circuit with 1 rep of each exercise and work your way up to about 5-10 and then work your way back down to 1 rep. However, here give yourself at least 30 seconds rest between circuit sets.

Combo 1: suspended rope dips + chin-ups + box jumps

Combo 2: L-sit (on dumbbells) move into Planche + pushup (any variation you like). Hold the L-sit and planche for as long as you can. Work up to about 5-10 reps of pushups and then work back down.

Suspension/Rope training:

High back pulls (4 sets of 10-15 reps) (pull the rope straight back keeping your elbows high so that you are pulling the rope to about your chin)

Biceps Curl. Keep your arms still and curl using only your biceps. Superset this with a timed rope hang, which entails simply grabbing the suspension rope and hanging for as long as you can, trying each time to increase how long you can hang.

Rope pulls: attach a weight (today I used a 45lb/20Kg plate) to the end of the rope using a slip-knot (since there are already holes for your hands this is pretty easy to do. Place the weight plate the rope's length away from you. Grab the other end of the rope and pull the weight along the floor to your feet as quickly as you can. Mix it up a bit - pull the weight while standing on one leg, then alternate legs. Pull the weight toward you and then (holding the rope) sprint to where the weight was before you pulled it to you, turn and pull the weight, repeat until death ;-)

Suspended planks. These are good fun. Place your feet in the hand holes of the suspension rope. Then get up in the plank position - you can mix it up using either your elbows (traditional), your hands with elbows straight (advanced) or the swiss ball (fucking really hard!) Rest 20 seconds. Turn your body to one side and do a side plank (same varieties as above) and while suspended draw your knees into your chest. Make sure that you do not swing back and forth and that you maintain a proper side plank position. Rest 20 seconds and repeat on opposite side.

Cool down by stretching.
Also, I find it is important to use what Statham refers to as "active rest". Active rest is not just standing there, but rather a low intensity activity like walking around. Don't just stand there, stretch, walk, move while "resting" unless you really cannot.

Exercise and Neural Efficiency

2008-09-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Outside of the fitness world, I am known as an evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist (1, 2) that studies the relationship between activity in the brain and perception of faces (e.g., children v. adult faces, self-face v. friend face, and attractive faces v. unattractive faces). However, recently I have developed an interest in the relationship between brain activity and athleticism. One active program of research in this area deals with the so-called "neural efficiency hypothesis".

The "neural efficiency hypothesis" (NEH) posits that experts solve problems or conquer tasks and use less neural (brain) activity to accomplish it; hence, their brains approach the problem more efficiently! This idea has been taken to the experimental test in extreme, or expert, athletes. A research group in Italy, Dr. Claudio Del Percio and his colleagues, recently (3) compared brain activity and behavioral responses between non-athletes, expert fencers, and expert karate masters. The research participants sat in a lab and viewed images of fencing and/or karate attacks and had to make a determination if the attack was an attack from/to the right or the left by pressing a key as quickly as they could. While this was happening the researchers were measuring continuous brain electric activity using EEG (4).

Dr. Del Percio and his colleagues discovered that the expert athletes were no better and no faster at responding to the attack movements when compared to non-athletes, although there were trends for the non-athletes and karate athletes to make more corrects responses for right and left athletes, and for the karate athletes to respond a little fast than the other two groups. The brain activity analysis revealed (I summarize here) that non-athletes showed increased activity to right attacks, relative to both athlete groups, but there was no difference in activity between groups for the let attack condition. Interestingly, this confirms the NEH for the right attack by showing that expert athletes show reduced neural activity when responding to images that represent their sport when compared to non-athletes. The study also highlights issues with the NEH: namely that for left attack the NEH was not supported. Additionally, for some conditions the researchers found that the karate athletes actually showed increased neural activity, which confirms my suggestion that martial arts is just simply damn good for you!

At the end of the day, what does it all mean? In my interpretation, I think this means that the NEH is not perfect and needs more research. Essentially, the way in which neural efficiency "is activated in the brain" may depend on the side of the event (I should have noted that all the participants were right handed), the hemisphere of the brain that processes the information, and the type of athletic training/expertise involved.

Why do I care about the "neural efficiency hypothesis"? For two reasons: 1) because as an active researcher myself, with a healthy interest in fitness and the brain. 2) because as I make may way forward in training to execute various gymnastics style moves, I realize that like many other behaviors (e.g., music, dance, etc) that are both physical and coordination based thinking about things messes you up. It takes you out of the "zone". The gymnastics style exercise(s)/routines I am trying to learn also fall into this "zone" psychology realm, I think. For example, when I first started to train for the L-seat I had to put a lot of thought into what my hands had to do, what my hip flexors has to do, my core strength, etc. Now that I have been doing the mover for a few months, I can just, sort of, pop up into the move. In fact, now when I think too much about it, especially during the exercise, the move get ugly. Thinking about it prior to executing it seems to help - as a mental preparation or practice almost. Interestingly, because the nature of 'being in the zone' maybe that it taps into neural efficiency, it should free up the brain to do other things. For example a recent post at wst-training talked about evaluating getting into a move and the do's and don'ts. Because the move had become familiar, Dan is able to evaluate other aspects of the move and provide advice and instruction to the rest of us. This effect appears to be related to a number of psychological constructs such as intelligence (5) and memory (6). Future investigations in my lab may take the form of investigating neural efficiency toward faces. In fact, I guess we have already shown in several studies that same-race faces are processed quite differently than other race faces (7, 8). We will also being to actively research this in the athletic/fitness realm as well.

So, I guess if there is going to be a moral to this story, it's try to work toward neural efficiency if only so that you can provide me with advice (like Dan has) to be a better athlete!

A Sure Core

2008-09-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

A strong, stable core is integral to being fit. Today I inadvertently worked my core 'til is was sore! My trainer-friend at Gold's, William, suggested the exercise to me. I was using my suspension rope trainer to do chest press. My hands were in the ropes and I was hanging horizontally with my feet propped up on a box (one that's used for box jumps, see below).

I certainly was not using boxes this high. The one I used was just about 12-16 inches high.

On my 3rd set, William suggested I tap my core "harder" and use a swiss ball under my feet.

So, I was suspended horizontally with my hands in the holes of my rope suspension trainer and

and my feet suspended and balancing on a Swill ball. Then I did 10 pushups. Talk about hard.

Not only are you doing a slightly inverted pushup, but your hands are trying to move in all

directions. Your feet and legs are rolling side to side. So you have to stabilize your core so

that you don't twist off the ball and fall to the ground. Looked something like this (http://www.expertvillage.com/video/119513_suspension-trainer-chest-presses.htm) with my feet on a swiss ball instead of being stood up.

It's a good one. Give it a try if you dare... Ha ha ha!

Exercise to excite your genes

2008-09-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today's modernized society is drastically different from the environment that our ancestors evolved in. Modern Homo sapiens, as we are scientifically referred to, have been about for 10,000 +/- years with modern physiology probably laid down in place as late as 40,000 years ago. Evolution rarely, if ever, happens in 1-2 generations = about 75-100 years life span of the modern Human. So what's happened? Why have modern, industrialized humans gotten fat? The answer is more complex than you might initially think. For example, the common answer to that question is: Our diets have changed to more fatty and sugary diets. True, but our ancestors likely scarfed down all the fat on the animals they killed and reaped rewards by harvesting high sugar, sweet fruits and things like honey. Others will say: It's the artificial substances added to our diets. Probably also true, but as noted above, 1-2 generations would be unlikely a time period for evolution of fatties to occur. What some scientists predict has happened is that combined with our high calorie (although likely no higher than our ancestors' and maybe lower) and a newly founded sedentary lifestyle (television, playstation, board games, etc) we have developed, not evolved to be fatties. Our ancestors (think cave man) were not all that sedentary. Hard to be still and lazy when you've got to feed your whole family, maybe part of a larger tribe, all of whom are counting on you for sustenance and their own survival. Hard to do when avoiding predators is a daily task. Being eaten makes evolution really hard!

The hypothesis, and one I like, suggests that our bodies have a set of yet unidentified genes associated with, or 'activated' by, exercise. These researchers suggest that exercise, especially when started at a young age, turn on genes that help the body efficiently store and use energy (i.e. food). In fact, they even suggest that one way to explain super athletes, of which I am not, is that they posses so-called "thrifty" genes; genes, or more likely a suite of genes, that are better than average at utilizing energy for oxygen consumption and expenditure of ATP. This would explain why, train all you like, you are unlikely to ever jump as far as Carl Lewis or swim as fast as Michael Phelps. Just ain't gonna happen! Critics, probably fat critics, would argue that this is another attempt on the part of the scientific/evolutionary community to put forth the idea of genetic determinism: that you are your genes and nothing more. Nothing could be further from the truth. Think about it medically. Some people posses a suite of genes that make them more likely to develop heart disease or lung disease. If they smoke and eat McDonalds daily then those genes actually get turned on overdrive and, low and behold, the person develops the disease(s). Take mental illnesses for another example. Some people posses genetic predisposition to being anxious. They develop fears easier than the rest of us. They worry about almost everything and it can sometimes become debilitating to their daily existence. This is the premise of gene X environment interactions.

So why can't their exist genes that are designed to interact with our environment in a way that makes our musculo-skeletal physiology develop in certain ways? Plain and simple: There are! So, moral of the story: eat your Wheaties, but exercise too! Move your body in any way you can. Turn on those genes so that you can be fitter! Even a little movement can count towards activating your genes for fitness. Try standing up to turn the tele on / off. You will burn way more calories by lifting and moving your body weight than you will by sitting there pushing remote control buttons. I have another idea - drop the playstation controller and get out and do it! Don't play Madden '09, FIFA, or Hockey - get outside and join an intramural team. Get your sweat on, just don't get hurt.

This post comes by way of hearing a few people complain that they are overweight because they "just couldn't find the time" to exercise, join a team, make the game, etc. excuses! This drives me crazy! Fitness is a lifestyle for my wife and I, but from an evolutionary perspective fitness is a lifestyle for our species! We were not designed to sit around the water cooler discussing who did what on Lost or Heroes. Our ancestors (that's about 4 million years of evolutionary history) were forced to be active to survive. This is probably the reason that so many o us that engage in an active lifestyle actually find it rewarding and somewhat addictive; our bodies miss being active when we don't move. This, and I hypothesize here, may be our evolutionary history saying - what the fuck are you doing? Don't you fucking know that if you sit on your ass a predator is going to eat you? Don't you fucking know that the fat dudes don't get laid? Your body, and I am saying: Get the fuck up and MOVE!!!!

Suspended Pike Press

2008-09-06T03:25:00.000-07:00

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/024-swiss-ball-pike-press/1575611245/?icid=VIDURVHTS01

The swiss ball pike press shown here is a very difficult move. It demands a ton of core strength, as well as upper body strength, and ultimately helps one train for the unassisted pike press hand stand pushup. It can be made even harder by incorporating a pump in and out of the press in between each push rep.

I have begun to incorporate a similar move into my workout using the suspension trainer. Similar to this move but with the shoulder/chest press in between pumps of the pike move. It is a killer on your abs and your chest.

Salmon with Peach Jalapeno Salsa

2008-09-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner I made a delightful little low-fat, high protein, high carb meal: Salmon with Peach Jalapeno Salsa and a side of rice pilaf and pan steam fried squash. The best thing is that the whole meal took under 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

Preheat your oven to about 350 degrees Farenheit.
First, start with an Uncle Ben's 10 minute rice pilaf. Easy enough.
Then start chopping the squash. When you have enough chopped, chuck it into a small frying pan that has about 1.5-2 Tablespoons of olive oil in it. Make sure the pan is pretty hot when the veggies hot. Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes. The cover will help the veggies to get steamed. Stir or toss occasionally.
Rub the salmon fillets (skin on) with a touch of olive oil and sprinkle with a dash of salt, a good turn of black pepper, and a little garlic salt. Place the fillets in a hot frying pan, skin down, for about 4-6 minutes. You will start to see the pan side of the salmon start to turn cooked color. Now place the whole pan, uncovered, into the hot over for between 10-15 minutes.

While everything is cooking, toss a few slices of jalapeno (more if you like it hot!), a chopped peach (or two, depending on how sweet you like things), a tablespoon (or so) of honey into the magic bullet. Blend until a smooth chunky consistency. Spoon over hot salmon and serve extra in a bowl alongside the main dish in case people want to put on extra salsa.

Easy, low-fat, high protein, high omegas, etc dinner in 30 minutes or less!

friday by the pool

2008-09-05T12:03:00.001-07:00

ah it is sunny & I am drinking beers by the pool...good life!
couldn't do this in Liverpool, but I dont want to rub it in... LOL

Front Lever Progression 2

2008-09-04T11:32:00.002-07:00

So yesterday I tried a front lever on a lat pull down bar placed conveniently across the pull-up station at my gym. I paste below a vid I took today - I am so tired from doing these two days in a row. I also must mention that if you thought normal work out routines, exercises, or the other shit I do captured attention and strange looks, well they pale in comparison to the looks you get when trying a front level in the gym. Especially if you are as bad at it as I am.

What you should see here is me moving my rope out of the way, followed by some concentrated hanging with intense breathing to get ready for the move. Then I do two back to back. The first one is held for about 2 seconds. You will see that I got too much swing in the second rep and lose my handle and control resulting in me dropping the move. Again bad vid quality, but gets across what I am trying. It is absolutely killer on your rear deltoids!

Suspended Dips & L-seat combo Progression

2008-09-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got a new phone and was able to vid myself doing a few moves today. I must apologize for the quality of the movies. My wife was not around to take them, so I had to prop my phone up against the cable cross-over machine, which resulted in the camera being faced toward the lights. This is undesirable, but should give a flavor for what I am doing with my suspension training rope. Here I show a combination of suspended rope dips followed by suspended rope L-seat. I must admit the L-seat look terrible and I can attribute that to my triceps being blasted after the dips (i.e. I am weak!) It is a pretty horrible combination; quite hard in deed. Things to note here: 1) the shaking of my arms. That comes with rope territory in the early days. 2) the ugliness of the L-seat. I tend to concentrate more on holding myself up here (notice me nearly falling to the ground at the end of the vid) as opposed to concentrating on good form. When I practice the solo suspended L-seat it looks prettier because I concentrate on form - legs together tight, pointing toes, etc, all of which actually helps me to hold the move. 3) my suspension rope is hung from the center of a cable cross-over machine using a pruisik knot. Then I wrap the extra rope around the various pull/chin-up bars to adjust the height for dips. Here the ropes are at about the height of my hands while standing so I need to bend my legs while dipping. That's ok though, same effect.

You thought the floor L-seat was hard?

2008-09-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

The floor L-seat is a hard move that many people struggle with.

When I started this whole new training regime, I struggled with it. Thank goodness for some great yoga instruction because I think it helped the move come a little easier to me. At any rate, I can now hold a fairly nice floor L-seat (10 seconds or so) with movement to angled planche, crane, etc and back. It's by no means, I reiterate NO MEANS, perfect, but I am there and have started training my hip flexor strength for floor V-seat and eventually Manna.

Now with my suspension trainer I am trying to execute the elevated/rope/ring L-seat (rope in my case, because I have not purchased rings).

So what I do is suspend my rope handles at about a dipping height (so I don't fall to far ;-). I grab the ropes and hang for about 2-5 seconds, with my feet off the ground and directly below my abdomen, making sure that I am breathing the whole time and fairly stable. Then I raise my legs out into the L-seat. I should clarify: I try to raise my legs out to the L-seat position. Actually, I did get it the other day for about 2 seconds (again at the end of my workout so I was really tired). As with other posts about suspension training the ropes add a totally new dimension to the workout and move. So now, rather than simply (I say "simply" HA!), elevate yourself off the floor or onto a set of hand rods or dumbbells - all of which are pretty much stationery, you are forced to stabilize other muscle groups. Your arms are no longer anchored to the floor (or bar) in one plane of movement. They want to move in every direction/plane necessary to bring your body back to the floor; that's pretty much how gravity works! ;-) So one's task is to, in addition to hold a nice looking, toe pointing L-seat, stabilize your arms, keep from twisting around like a fish dangling from a hook out of water, and continue to hold the move and breathe. Not so easy. Another challenge for me. Eventually I hope to take this in the same direction as my floor. That is, elevated L-seat to elevated planche and back. I will also try moving through the front lever to L-seat, or some sequence like that. I will probably be 90 years old before I could make any moves like those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGb0-Z7VVA

Front Lever Progression

2008-09-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

Off and on for the last few weeks I have been incorporating a sort of front lever into my pull/chin-up routine. I would on the last few reps, or the first few, lower or raise myself in as close a front lever as I could get into.

Today, I concentrated on the move as a solo move, without the combo pull/chin-up. I was able to perform 3 sets of 2-5 seconds front lever holds! I am so PSYCHED! It was hard as hell, but damn it felt good to see some progress!

Again pics and / or vids to come, once my phone is fixed...

Suspending my way to the Iron Cross...?

2008-09-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

OK, about a month or two ago, I read an article about olympic training. The journalist actually suggested some exercises to get "olympic fit". Well many of these I was already doing, including the pull-up to dip progression. Today, however, I upped the ante. I combined pull-ups with suspended rope dips. If you have never done rope / ring dips before you would be surprised just how hard it is. The rope dips (using the suspension trainer, which now gains a fair amount of staring, points, even giggles from the other gym users, but not my trainer - he loves the idea) not only demand that you push yourself up and down, but they also force you to stabilize your arms and core. So, for example, letting your body down is pretty easy and steady, but then at the bottom you have to push yourself up. If you do this at the end of an already intense workout, your arms should be pretty tired. If you are like me, then your arms will try to go backward, forward, sideways, outward, and in all combinations of those directions while you push your self to the up position of the dip. Hard! I can push out about 6-12 after a set of 6-12 pull/chin-ups. I follow that with a set of 12-25 prisoner or sumo squats. It's actually quite nice, because I hang the suspension trainer over the gym's pull-up station and then I don't have to do a lot of running around to different parts of the gym.

At the end of today's workout (probably a mistake) I thought I would take a stab at the beginnings of the cross. So I hung for about 3 seconds, then slowly started to let my arms move outward in a controlled strong fashion. I got about 45 degrees and held it for about 6-8 seconds. Not nearly a cross, but the feeling was so intense that I feared hurting myself if I went further. Rome wasn't built in a day! At any rate, I am getting there and thrilled.

Pics/vids to come - my phone is busted - the battery wont hold a charge for longer than a few hours so they are going to replace it, but I don't have the new one yet. I will ask Aussy to vid me while doing the rope dips.

Strong Handshake

2008-09-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ever shake someone's hand (especially a male's) and feel it was a little wimpy. If you are like me then you immediately think twice about the person. Why do they have such a light touched handshake? Are they afraid of getting in there and giving it a good squeeze? You might make up mental excuses (especially if you respect that individual). For example, you might assume they have broken their hand and hence, cannot squeeze that hard. You might fear they have OCD and they are worried about the amount of germ transfer in a good shake. Well, chances are you'd be wrong. The handshake, and grip strength in particular, is an evolutionary fitness cue to other important characteristics associated with being male. Hand grip strength is associated with circulating testosterone levels and how chicks rate you on physical attractiveness. It's also been associated with the number of sexual partners you have had (that is stronger grip, for tail!)

What's the link? Well, turns out that evolution is crafty. Evolution favors traits that help individuals reproduce and then in some cases provides the opposite sex with a bunch of cues to detect differences among individuals: say he looks more masculine he probably is stronger. And that is absolutely correct, most of the time (statistics!) So what can you do about it? Well your genetics is your genetics and that being said, sorry if you got a bum wrap! You could feign your grip strength by purposefully delivering stronger, hand crunching hand shakes. This would be the equivalent of, say, breast implants on females, but a lot less painful. That is unless your shakee has a grip to crush all grips and brakes your hand (and it would probably still be less painful).

So train up your grip best you can.

Training on the road

2008-09-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

So if you are like me, then you like to travel. As noted in my Mountain View Moves post, I like to get to the great outdoors. However, when traveling training, in the proper sense can be troublesome: from finding a gym that will allow one-three day access for an affordable price to feeling like you actually got a decent workout. Because, also if you are like me, going 3 days with out going to the gym is really not an option (injured back or not). So here's my solution and it partially bears on another post of mine dealing with moral support - that is, have a partner who appreciates wanting to workout and plan trips accordingly. This weekend, Aussy and I took a long weekend to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. We have discovered/developed several ways to get excellent workouts while at this little weekend retreat. One way is to run up the .5 mile 50 degree incline hill to the cottage. This comes at the end of a 3-4 mile hilly run and it is a quad killer, to say the least! Another way, go hiking. The Appalachian Trail is very hilly, and very rough terrain. It demands not only decent cardiovascular fitness (the altitude does not help as I was huffing and puffing the whole time), but it also demands a sense of core strength and stability. When stepping up a few feet onto a slippery rock or log you need to balance yourself to lift up - it's where all those 1-legged exercises really came in handy. Then there is my trusty traveling suspension trainer, which attaches nicely to any of the trees littering the yard, allowing me to get a full back, chest and shoulder workout.

This strategy may not work if not in the woods, but at a city retreat. For example, we got hitched in Vegas - not much in the downtown vegas area for hiking (there are about 30 minutes drive outside of vegas in the Spring Mountains), but we did run the Vegas trip and went in and out of about a dozen hotels. We were not the only ones doing this. It was awesome. So where there's a will there's a way. Get out and get fit!

Mountain View Moves

2008-08-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today Aussy and I went hiking up part of the Appalachian Trail to two hikes called Pickin's Nose and Albert Mountain. At the top of Albert Mtn, there is a huge 360 degree overlook of the Smokey and the Blue Ridge Mtns in North Carolina and a Fire Watch Tower. So, while up at the top of the mountain (about 5400 feet above sea level), I thought why not pull a move (nothing fancy, see above). I wish I could train there all the time. The views were breathtaking and inspiring.

Floor training for Iron Cross

2008-08-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have constructed a suspension trainer out of some rope from Home Depot. I hope to eventually, in the not so near future because it's fucking hard, work up to being able to complete and hold an Iron Cross (see above, made to look easy) using my suspension trainer. In order to work toward this goal I have started some floor training with cables that is helping me, I think, strengthen and coordinate the muscles needed to pull such a move off. See one of the things about this move is that you have outward and downward force needed and generated by both arms. Oh, and you are supporting yourself in the air. So the possibility of one arm pushing harder, faster, further out, less straight, etc etc is very high. What I have been doing is to stand on the floor and take two (independent cables from an overhead pull down machine) in either hand. I then push my arms to iron cross position and do downward presses. At the bottom of the move, I do what looks like a standing pulley dip. Then out again. OK, easy enough, right? Now try it on 1 leg. I like to hold 1-leg out in the L position to strengthen and tighten my core. I sometimes even work that into the move, doing forward leg raises in between reps. Being on 1 leg forces you as I mention in my other post to stabilize muscles that you are not used to using. In fact, you might find, if you use heavy enough weight that you are actively trying to stabilize the downward and outward force generated by each arm independently to keep you from placing that other leg back on the ground. I like it, even if people look at me strangely while doing it.

And, if you wanted to bump it up a notch, try doing it while kneeling on a swiss ball, standing on a core trainer, or a bosu ball, etc. Core stability - look out!

Suspension Training

2008-08-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've talked about endlessly, but heretofore have been too embarrassed to pull out my home made suspension trainer. Yes. I am cheap and chose to make my own as opposed to purchase the $150 TRX model. The one for purchase is way way cooler, but still, I'm an academic and don't get paid enough to purchase such frivolous items for training.

At any rate, this morning my back was feeling loose and generally pain-free so I decided what the hell. I jogged over to the Locker room and grabbed my rope. It could not have been more than a fraction of a second before half the dudes on the weight floor were looking at me like "what in the F is that guy doing?" Then I started tying it up to the pull-up bar (actually the cross bar for the cable cross-over machine, and i got looks that I could only interpret as fears I was going to hang myself, and let's be honest that thought has crossed my mind from time to time at the gym). At any rate, I go ahead and string the damn thing up. The trainer, William, who 1st introduced me to the device came over and gave me a look and said, "you were serious! you built your own? Of course I did. That's what I do.

The images above are of my device and it works like a charm. To make it I purchased 25 feet of 1/2-3/4 inch thick polypropylene rope from my local hardware store, Home Depot. It cost about $12. Then at each end of the rope I tied a slip knot and a safety know (thank goodness for the climbing training). That's it.

How to use it: tie a prusik knot on a high surface (e.g., the pull up bar, the top of your Smith machine, the cable cross-over machine, etc). To adjust the height simply add more rope to the prusik knot. It is quite important that the handles hang about even - they don't need to be exactly even, but they should be close. Easy enough.

Here's how I used it today: This was all after my normal workout and my embarrassment waned... ugh I am tired. First, I did suspended chest press. Second I did push-up with knee tucks. Third, lastly, and most excitingly I did dips! Dips were a killer because unlike the dip bar, the ropes moves back and forth and you are forced to engage so many muscles (core mostly) to stabilize yourself.

At the end of the day, I can overlook the odd views I get from the mirror muscle gang, and my own embarrassment and I will use this bad boy a few days a week. The other good thing about it is that it can be used by all levels. Adjusting the suspension is literally just moving your legs in or out. Easy enough. I am taking it with me to the mountains this weekend and Aussie and I might try and attach it to a tree to get a little mountain air workout in.

Body weight circuit with suspension training

2008-08-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wUNZ5nr0EI&feature=related

Bird legged does not equal bird brained

2008-08-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

A fitness trainer at EFC, Liverpool, Lee, turned me on to a new trend in training - working out on 1-leg. I thought it was a moronic idea and was extremely hesitant to even try it. I did, however, try it and as one might reckon, gathered some rather odd looks from the mirror muscle guys, as well as the ladies. What came of it was a noticeable, rather remarkable increase in core strength. See standing on 1-leg forces your body to deal with gravity in a whole new way: one in which it is not used to doing. You no longer can rely on your other lower limb to throw you through moves to completion, but rather you fight constantly with the seriously possible idea that you are going to fall over. See, unlike birds who use 1-legged standing for a completely different purpose humans are not used to standing on 1-leg, except for those brief instances between steps. Try it. I am sure you won't be disappointed. You can do almost any exercise on 1-leg if the exercise typically starts from a standing position. For example, biceps curl, overhead triceps raises, should press with dumbbells, and lateral, front and or rear deltoid raises.

If you can already balance 1-legged while doing exercises, try taking it up a notch and add a core stability device (bosu ball, swiss ball, or core trainer). I find this type of thing really helps my sense of balance and helps me to not have to think about it when doing the gymnastics type exercises.

V-seat training

2008-08-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

I can now hold the L-seat for a decent period of time (i.e. several seconds) from the ground or while doing pull/chin-ups. I have been trying to help my wife get the L-seat. It is fun watching her train up to it because it reminds me of the steps I had to take to get it myself. It's a long and hard journey, actually... but she has just about got it!

Anyhow, I have decided to progress a bit in the seated positions. In addition to my normal practice, which has been halted by my back injury. At any rate, I hope to train toward the V-seat and ultimately the manna (see images).

Also here's another cool link about training.

Get Inverted

2008-08-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

The benefits of being inverted (e.g., in yoga postures) is hotly debated with the yoga community suggesting that it could be beneficial for everything from the nervous system to treating depression. The scientific community has provided less than stellar support for these hypotheses, however they have not been systematically tested with tight controls, nor have there been many attempts to replicate such findings.

What's my take? I like being inverted and do feel the benefits. Let me summarize below.

Being inverted demands a core strength and stability that being on two legs does not. You need to balance your entire body in an entirely new fashion. This is most uncomfortable for a lot of us, but it's that discomfort which leads to progress in training muscles that you otherwise would never use. Now to be honest you might not give a shit, because drinking beer does not demand use of those muscle, right. On the contrary my friend. Imagine being able to do a keg stand without being held up; talk about getting laid! Oops, there I go again, I meant drunk. :-)

Seriously, though, being inverted trains a new set of muscle groups that most of are not used to training. I have personally noticed the benefits in my other training: stability, strength, etc. In addition to the training benefits, I find it quite relaxing to be upside down. You can feel the rush of blood to your head. You can feel the blood rushing from your legs. My yoga teacher, Debbie, used to tell me that it sent good energy to your heart and brain. You know I don't know if I believe her from a strictly scientific perspective, but something about the way she said it, she sold it and I felt it. My wife too. At any rate, if you only try to get inverted once a month, once a week, it ought to be fun and I'd be interested in hearing if it benefits your workout. Here is a nice image to show some, but not all the inverted positions possible.

Inspiration

2008-08-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Once my back heals (it kills!), hopefully next week, I am going to start on some suspension training and the two pics below represent inspiration for me in my suspended mayhem training. I might even try to purchase a pair of rings, but if not, screw it, I made rings by tying the rope in a circle slip knot. These guys are my idol! They exemplify the meaning of "BEASTS!"

Moral Support During Training

2008-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

The other night I was watching the women's olympic pole vault (mainly because gymnastics was not on). At any rate the coach, Rick Shur was extremely unsupportive. After winning the silver medal with only 4 years of pole vaulting experience under her belt the 'coach' says:

It’s the same old same old, you’re losing takeoff at the big heights. (shrug) Whaddaya gonna do? (shrug, looks away) Gotta learn to keep takeoff. You got caught at that meat grinder. I did not - and I told 10 people - I didn’t wanna be caught in a meat grinder between 65 and 80. You had to, though. You weren’t on, your warmup didn’t go well. You were at 55. You got caught up in that meat grinder. Whaddaya gonna do? (shrugs, looks away) Whaddaya gonna do? (shrugs, looks away) Didn’t have the legs. Her legs are fresh. Hey, it’s a silver medal. Not bad for someone that’s been pole vaulting for four years. (looks down at his blackberry)

The poor gal was at a loss. I was really upset for her. Here she is having just one an olympic silver medal (not a feat to be reckoned with) and this d. baggerston is treating her like she had lost, dropped out, or did not even qualify! It got me thinking about the importance of a support system when you are training. A support system for athletes and super-athletes typically comes from their coaches, but for the rest of us (Giles we know you are a super-athlete ;-) we need to rely on others. It's not always easy to find a supportive, understanding (because real training takes time), and caring individual. In another life, I had a wife that was allergic to exercise (no seriously, she was allergic to her own sweat!) So imaging trying to get this person to understand your dedication to training and the importance that fitness training holds to you. Well, to say the least, it falls on deaf ears. So who can/should you be able to turn to. Your family. First off, your kids (if you have any) whom should also be encouraged to start training at a young age; they are never too young to impart the guidance for a lifelong journey and the benefits associated with fitness training. Second, your parents, if they care (or for example, if you live with or visit them). Sometimes when you visit family (not mine, or my in-laws) they can monopolize a lot of your time. You might want to, and plan to, wake up early and take a run, hit the monkey bars at the local town park, or do some calisthetics. They have other plans for you: like all those odd jobs that needed doing, but were able to wait until your visit. It is important to impart to your family the importance of a good training session to you and make them understand that it is like eating, breathing, sleeping - you must do it to function, even if that is a little stretch of the truth.

But the single most important person you likely need support from is your romantic partner - wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc. You most likely spend the most time with this person and any time spent training means time away from them. I am lucky enough to have a train-a-holic wife that I adore and who can out-train just about any dude I know. We actually train together every weekend. It is awesome. If you are not lucky enough to have a training partner then it is important to not let them take you down in any bad habits - bingeing, eating poorly, or skipping workouts. One way to convince them is to inform them that out of shape people don't get laid, then kindly joke about how little you have been trying to hump her, him, them! ;-) Best of luck finding the training support/partner you can. And note, that having support is a two-way street. You need to give back and help them realize their fitness goals/dreams as well. As my other post suggests, I truly believe that the couple that "plays together stays together" and what is more fun the training?

Training in Planes of Body Movement

2008-08-20T21:43:00.001-07:00

The body can move essentially in 3 planes - sagittal, coronal, and transverse (see image). There are exercises that can be executed in each of the 3 planes to target different major muscle groups. For example, an exercise that targets the sagittal plane might be the squat, snatch, lunge, or shoulder press (i.e. exercises that move up and down and/or front to back). Exercises that hit the coronal plane might be dumbbell lateral raises or side lunges, or alternatively plyometric side lunges. And, exercises that might hit the transverse plane would typically involve twisting motions such dumbbell axes, rotational shoulder exercises, ball twists, or wall balls.

I am trying to incorporate this type of science into my body weight training by incorporating multiple move exercises that not only cross planes, but also tap the isometric holds associated with gymnastics style training. I am going to try to execute 3 sets of 2-4 supersets that will hit each of the 3 planes in a different manner. For example hitting the sagittal plane by executing handstand pushups or snatch and jumps. You could superset that with wall balls and side lunge plyometrics. You might also superset pull / chin ups (sagittal) with hanging twist leg raises (end of video) and star jumps. By combining exercises like this I hope to increase strength, agility, endurance and general fitness.

You could also incorporate suspension training into this metric for training. For example, do suspended chest press or row. Super set with rotational raise and hanging side plank. Killer.

One typical workout

2008-08-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

I usually start with hard exercises that hit large muscle groups and try to get my heart rate sky high. So, I typically start with some gymnastics inspired exercises such as handstand pushups and L-seats. I will also include some combo moves that hit either chest (twisting pushup) and core, or back (dyno pullups) and core. The latter can be accomplished by hanging in the pull/chin up position in an L-seat like position. This way, when you pull/chin you are actually holding the L-seat. On a normal day I would do 1 rep with L-seat and alternate with a standard pull/chin dyno move (see post below). For these types of body weight exercises I do as many reps and sets as I can and skip rope for at least 30 seconds (typically a minute or more) between sets. If you are not sweating and panting after this then you are not pushing yourself hard enough. (You could also substitute box jumps, which I was recently introduced to, in place of skipping rope. It should have the same effect).

After the gymnastics inspired training I move to some more typical weight-lifting exercises to build overall strength and stability. For example, I will deadlift (typically 3-6 sets of heavy weight) and interleave another large muscle group / core muscle group exercise (e.g. wide to narrow grip clap pushup). On any given day you could replace the deadlift with a number of other great exercises such as bench press. (For the bench press do flat or inclined, personally I have never seen any benefit from the decline bench press and as a personal opinion it seems the people who do decline bench only do it because they cannot push 'real' weight on flat or incline press. This is my opinion and many will disagree.) I also substitute power cleans, clean and jerk, overhead squats, or clean and snatches.

When all that fun is over I typically run or do some sort of interval training. I think my wife and I are going to start doing wind sprints.

At the end of the day, I realize I am never going to appear on the cover of a magazine (e.g., Men's Health) and just try to have fun at the gym. My general M.O. in life is love what you do: I love my work, I love my workouts, etc. When I stop loving my workouts then I will switch workouts, but given my general competitive nature, I probably won't get bored of these gymnastics until I can conquer some of the moves or until I die trying.

Another (similar) smoothie recipe

2008-08-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

OK, get your Magic Bullet out again, here goes another recipe for a post workout/bedtime smoothie:

Into the Magic Bullet toss the following items:

1 medium ripe banana (potassium)

1/4-1/3 cup seedless raising (fiber)

1-2 scoops vanilla protein powder (I use off the shelf GNC brand, but any brand will do)

15-30 grams of unsweetened shredded wheat (I also like shredded wheat and bran) (fiber)

1 cup (or so) of skim milk (Vitamin D, protein, calcium)

Handful or so of Ice (H2O = hydration)

0.5-1 Tablespoon of natural (local preferred) honey

Blend thoroughly and enjoy! Note: about half the raisins will not be chopped up and sink to the bottom, so you might want to use a spoon to get some full raisins into your mouth without choking)

Don't hurt your back, It sucks!

2008-08-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight while dead lifting I pulled my back, which has been hurting off and on since I moved back to the States. It sucks really bad. It was debilitating. A lesson to be learned here: rest! I overtrain, as a rule! But hurting yourself and not being able to train, well that just sucks! I think I will take one day off and see how I feel Thurs.

UGH!

Current Workout

2008-08-18T16:14:00.001-07:00

Here is a summary of my current workout, etc. It's important to note that from my workout I am trying to achieve just a few simple things: agility, strength, flexibility and the ability to eat and drink as much as I like, come the weekend, without turning into a fat bastard (so that Austen still wants to get it on!) No, seriously, I eat loads. Here goes:

Breakfast: 2-5 cups of regular coffee; bowl of low sugar cereal (bran flakes, raising bran, unsweetened shredded wheat, etc) sprinkled with 1 scoop of protein powder and some sort of berry or fruit (e.g., blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, figs, banana, etc).

Mid-morning snack: 1 hard-boiled egg or low sugar granola bar or handful of nuts (usually almonds or peanuts)

Lunch: typically a sandwich on whole grain or wheat bread. Typically something like turkey breast, cheese, tomato and mustard. Fruit or vegetable. Crisps or pretzels.

Afternoon snack: coffee; one of the following: piece of fruit, handful of nuts, half of a smoothie, cottage cheese, etc.

Dinner: typically consists of a piece of lean meat (e.g., chicken, lean beef, or fish), a lot of vegetables (including salad), and a low calorie/low sodium rice-type carb, sometimes we use corn as our starch.

Evening snack: home-made protein smoothie (see recipe at http://smp-training.blogspot.com)

Post-workout: Protein shake with water

Drink plenty of water throughout the day

Workout:

Mornings - I would like to workout in the am, but I usually abstain until the afternoon when I can go to the gym with my wife. Plus I do have a job to get to...

Cardiovascular training: I really like to get my heart rate up and sweat. I will typically not do a standard cardio exercise, but rather I will incorporate my cardio workout into my strength training by doing supersets or doing a type of cardio between weight/strength training sets. Almost every workout I start by skipping rope for about 2-5 minutes using both leg, swapping leg, and one leg jumps. I then continue to skip rope between sets of my first strength training exercise for about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on how tired I am and how heavy I am breathing. Speaking of heavy breathing, that is another metric I use for analyzing my workouts efficacy. How many times do you see guys in the gym sitting around, talking on the mobile phones, chatting up their mates or the ladies. It seems like they take 4-8 minutes rest between sets. Not me. I try not to rest more than 2 minutes between exercises and only rest 2 minutes if I cannot get on a machine or find a piece of equipment that I need. Typically, I will rest between 30 seconds to 1 minute. If I have completely caught my breath before I start my next set, then that is a signal to me that I need to change things up; make things harder or more intense.

Other various cardio that I do...

Running: I will run (if my wife forces me) for about 15-30 minutes - somewhere between 1 - 5 miles (actually I do like it)

Wind sprints 3-6 sets

Shadow boxing

Bag work/pad work w/ partner

Interval running (sprint for .20 mile, then walk for .05 mile, repeat 4-8 times or until you die!)

Stationery bike

Elliptical

To start I will do some stretching (whole body stretching) such as front bends, chest stretch, back stretch, etc. I will also incorporate some activation exercises (shoulder rotations in all directions, hip rotations, shoulder swings, etc.) as well as a few short jumps to warm up my knees (I have terrible knees from playing ice hockey my whole life).

Pick one exercise from A and combine with one exercise from B to make a superset. Do 2-3 superset of 3-5 sets of as many reps as you can do / individual exercise (does that make sense?) For example, L-seat to planche handstand to dumbbell twisting pushup.

A - Skills (2-3 per workout)

Freestanding handstand
Pike Press / Ball Pike Press Practice

Wall handstand hold for as long as I can
Pushup-muscle up to planche to crab (while staying off the ground repeat planche hole for 3-5 seconds to crab hold for 3-5 seconds; work to increase time in each and number of rotations between positions.
Crab to Handstand. (unable to do)
Head-Stand to Hand-Stand - and reverse
L-Seat to Planche Hand-stand

Hand-Stand Pushup (on wall rep 1 catch air, then 5 or more reps against wall)

Handstand puship (freestanding - as many as I can without falling)
Straddle to Planche Hand-stand (I have just started to do this one and it's ugly)

Handstand wall walk

B - Body weight strength/power

Pushup (almost any variation of pushup will do, but I am keen on the dumbbell twist pushup lately)

Dumbbell (light) Thrust and Snatch

Box Jumps

Vertical jumps

Mountain Climbers

Star jumps/Jumping jacks

C - Suspension Training

In all honesty, I have not started this yet, but I have created a suspension trainer from rope I purchased at Home Depot. This weekend I will ask Austen to film me so I can show what my system is like and how I am using it. More to come on whether I like this or not in future posts.

My plans: suspension chest flies/presses combined with swing over rows or reverse lateral raises

Suspended dips

Suspended chin/pull ups

Iron Cross!

I don't work body parts anymore. I try, as wrong as it probably is, to hit a little of everything on just about every workout. So choose the ones you like here, but always choose one that you have a hard time at. If you only do exercises you are good at, strong at, etc you will never progress. I like to challenge myself to do new exercises in order to shock my body. (Note: some exercises are cross listed because the exercise likely hits more than one body part).

1 -Legs
-Deadlift

-Straight legged deadlift
-Calf Raises (usually on the side of a machine)

-Dyno calf raises = calf raises were you generate so much power under your legs that you actually launch yourself into the air a couple of inches

-Overhead Barbell squats

-Clean and Jerk

-Clean and Snatch

-1-legged (no weight) squats on core training stability device

-Pistols

2 -Abdominals and Core strength
-L-seat

-Hanging L-seat with pull-ups or chin-ups

-V-ups

-Plank

-Swiss ball plank (arms on ball)

-Swiss ball plank (legs on ball)

-Swiss ball plank (arms and legs on ball)

-Pike ups (lay stomach down, legs hanging in suspension trainer, arms on core stability device - pike up so your body is an upside down V, hold for 2 seconds, release slowly (breathe), no fewer than 12)
-Leg Raises (6 inches drill)

-Side bends (weighted or partially inverted)

-Wall Balls (grab a medicine ball and a wall. Stand about 2-4 feet from the wall with your shoulder facing the wall. hold the medicine ball out in front of you and twist away from the wall. return the twist back toward the wall resulting in the propelling of the ball into the wall. catch the ball when it bounces off the wall and repeat, then switch sides)

-Hanging L Pull/chin ups (hang, raise your legs and hold, not do as many pull/chin ups you can do without dropping your legs)Other various core exercises - back raises, standard crunches, twisting sit ups, etc

3 -Back
-Chin Ups (weighted 20-30k, aiming for 1/2 my body weight)
-Wide Grip Pullups (weighted 10-20k, aiming for 1/2 my body weight)
-Towel Pullups (unweighted)

-One-hand chin ups (holding other forearm for stability/grip)

-One-hand pull ups (holding other forearm for stability/grip)
-Dyno chin/pull ups (see this link)

-Hanging L Pull/chin ups (hang, raise your legs and hold, not do as many pull/chin ups you can do without dropping your legs)

-Occasionally I will do bent over rows (alternating over and under hand grip)

4 -Chest
-Pushup Dynos (either the standard clap push up, wide to close grip, or simply dyno pushup with elevated legs; moving toward dyno push up with legs suspended in suspension rope trainer)
-Planche Shoulder Pushups
-Wide Ball Pushups

-One-arm pushups (be careful not to hurt shoulder)

-Standard bench press (at least 3 sets of 6 reps at 100k, or more)

5 -Shoulders
-Barbell Upright Row
-Hand-Stand Push-ups (first rep=catch air, then as many reps as I can do; also working on wall walk handstand push up)
-Hand-Stand Push-ups (one handed, aided with the other hand on a medicine ball)
-Shoulder Rotations
-Cable Shoulder Rotations
-Lat Raises (front, back, or side)

-Clean and Jerk

-Clean and Snatch

-Overhead squats

-Dips (weighted 30-50k)

6 - Arms

If your arms are not blown away by the stuff above then I would recommend the following which should not only target your bis and tris but also aid your stability and balance

-1-legged biceps curl

-1-legged bent over biceps curl or triceps extension

-1-legged overhead triceps extension

-Swiss ball dumbbell skull crushers

-One arm regular and reverse grip triceps pushdowns (superset the two grips, killer)

-Standing biceps curl while holding one leg straight out in front of you

OK, now get ready to hear some chuckles and snickers. Your average body builder, gym going mate does not do half of these exercise and does not see the worth. Just tonight I was doing the crab to planche and a few guys playing basketball looked at me like I had 4 heads. I later saw them trying (and failing) to do the same move. The exercises listed here do not require much - a room with walls (wall balls, wall handstands, etc), a jump rope, two arms and two legs (and that's debatable), determination and a sense of humility. That being said, I have overcome my embarrassment and shyness about this training regime and feel better than ever. At the end of the day this is a really fun way to train; you have goals - to hit a new move (see A) and most of them are really tough. I like the challenge and I like the feeling of being able to do things with my body that were previously insurmountable. I also notice that by training in this way my traditional lifting strength has not waned, and in fact appears to have increased a bit.

Train on or get out the way of the Revolution!