Opposites don't attract and make you fat!

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!

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

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

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

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?

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

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