Good Crackers and a Great Desert

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

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)

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

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: 

1. use a lighter weight for the walking lunges
2. 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
3. break up each 30 into smaller sets of 10 with a short rest in between
4. lower the height of the box jump or just jump in place
5. don't do double unders, just jump rope. if you do this, I'd recommend doing 60 jumps
6. 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: 

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