Category Archives: Conventional Wisdom – How I hate you
The good, the bad and the simply stupid
I’m not sure where this really goes, but I found it on Facebook and thought it was awesome.
The Good
- Ryan saw this video and I thought it fit well with my post from yesterday. Most of the functional training we SHOULD be doing isn’t NEW…it’s actually some of the oldest forms of training!
- AWESOME! While I’m still working on holding a one-handed handstand, I’m also going to start working on this! A kip-up!
- The Crossfit games were this past weekend. Can I just say, “AWESOME!” To me there is no better test of true fitness than having to do activities and exercises that you haven’t necessarily prepared for! Annie Thorisdottir, you are amazing!
- Awesome! 86 years old!
The Bad
- Hmmm…The OMG Diet….Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends…Uhmm…
- Wow. This is disturbing!!! Is there a conspiracy!?!
The Simply Stupid
- Seriously!?! The Paleo Diet is Uncivilized!?! I love how this woman can claim her information is CORRECT because she is an RD. She is still biased! She is a vegetarian!!!
- This pictures isn’t stupid. The fact that people actually think this way is the stupid part!
Fitness Magazines
So I used to read a ton of fitness magazines, but probably now haven’t bought one in over a year.
They do, however, come in useful when you need some packing material!
Why haven’t I bought one in over a year?
BECAUSE EACH AND EVERY ONE BASICALLY STATES THE SAME THING!
And in general I don’t agree with the diet and exercise programs prescribed in them.
They all try to seem like they have some “secret” to effortless weight loss and a toned, fit body.
But they don’t.
Maybe this will be a secret in next month’s issue! “Clean the lint out and drop 3 lbs in 5 minutes!”
They don’t have any secrets because THERE ARE NONE!
If an article’s title has one of the following words or phrases (effortless, quick, 15lbs in 1 week, blast belly fat), drop the magazine and run.
There are no secrets, people!
Let’s face it…If you want real results, you are going to have to work really hard.
There is no secret to TRUE quick weight loss, especially healthy, maintainable weight loss.
So how about you stop buying fitness magazines and go eat some whole natural foods instead of all the processed crap the magazines advertise!
Exercise Morals
So I’ve now been witness to my first pyramid scheme.
I’ve been applying to jobs in Cali and I applied to a “Wellness Coach” position.
It sounded legitimate so I submitted my resume.
A day later I get an email about attending an informational meeting about the position. I emailed the woman right back saying that I couldn’t attend then because I wasn’t yet in Cali, but could I possibly attend one at a future date.
She then told me that I could watch the streaming video of the session.
I started watching the video and about two slides in realized what I had gotten myself into. About four slides in I saw visual evidence that what I had applied to was indeed a pyramid scheme.
At least I didn’t fall for it like Michael! I love The Office!
What got me thinking wasn’t so much the fact that I accidentally applied to a pyramid scheme, but that people actually roped people into SELLING junk like this.
When the woman who set me up with the video called after it was finished, she asked me if I had the three qualities to be successful.
I told her I did have those qualities. I then promptly told her thank you for the opportunity, but no thank you. I told her that my nutritional views are VERY different from what she is promoting.
Pyramid scheme or not, there was no way I could sell a product that I didn’t BELIEVE in!
For me health and fitness isn’t merely a job. It isn’t merely a way to make money.
It is a passion.
I want to EDUCATE. I want to EMPOWER. I want to help people GROW.
I don’t want to trick them into buying some junk just so I can make a few bucks!
Schemes like that are what dilute the health and fitness market and serve to confuse people about what is healthy.
Don’t fall for them. Don’t help promote them.
Don’t fall for the gimmicks.
Eat whole natural foods. Lift heavy weights. Sprint often.
Have you encountered gimmicks like that in your line of work? Would you sacrifice your beliefs to make money?
The good, the bad and the simply stupid
The Good
- I love the Olympics. I love the Olympic trials. They make me want to go and workout and be really really good at something!
- Ross the boss has been providing me with all sort of great inspirational photos recently. (Ross the boss is also known as Monkey Knuckles haha). She more than anyone should be proud of where she is today! Right before we went paddleboarding her father told her, “Remember you aren’t a jock like those other people.” Uhm sorry Ross the boss’ pops…BUT SHE IS! She’s a heavy lifting, paddleboarding, sprinting, rowing, rock climbing!?! JOCK! AND best of all…She’s lovin’ it!
- I LIKE IT! Active at 85!
- Great deadlift workout with some of my favorite lifting ladies! Both ladies set new lifting PRs! AMAZING!
Oh yea sweat and biceps! Beautiful! 🙂
- Also, I think I’ve mentioned this at least once before…I LOVE SUMMER! Fresh, local, delicious fruit!
The Bad
- I think is potentially my diet nightmare – “The Starch Solution.” I love how low-carb diets are called “fad diets” while this diet by Dr. McDougall’s isn’t considered a fad diet because it has helped thousands of people. Well, low carb diets have helped thousands of people too. And if you do the research, low-carb diets have been around for a lot longer AND helping people for a lot longer. So how are we defining fad diet here? Also this kind of sounds like a “fad diet” claim : “The Starch Solution is a groundbreaking program that will help you shed pounds, improve your health, save money, and change your life.” I am curious though what research studies this book is based on….I looked at the site but I didn’t find many studies. I found news articles, which seemed more promotional than informative. I also did find an article called “Posthumous Interview with Tim Russert.” Uhmmm….this is not PROOF that your diet is right!!!
The Simply Stupid
- OH MY GOSH! Did I really just see this!?! Diet tips from the Jersey Shore girls!?!
This isn’t really a good, bad or simply stupid thing. It is just an interesting article and the doctor cited in it was a member of the gym I work(ed) at. I especially like it because it isn’t against fat and it bashes the low-fat diet. Of course it isn’t flattering about low-carb diets either but I don’t think a Primal diet full of fruits, veggies and some non-gluten carbs would fall under what they define as a low-carb diet. Actually I wonder what their definition of “low-fat” and “low-carb” truly is…
Another random thought, do you ever see an infomercial for something and think, “That is super cool” and then right after think, “That can’t be healthy?” I saw a commercial for Slushy Magic and thought about just how amazing a slushy drink would taste during the warm summer months (or year around in sunny California!). I then thought, “But how can something that turns any liquid into slush in one minute be good for you?” I seriously wonder what is in those cubes that can turn any drink (or even yogurt) into slush in under a minute.
The Bosu – Overused, Overrated
So I think the bosu is a good piece of equipment for a handful of exercises, but I don’t think it should be used near as much as I see trainers all over using it. I don’t think every trainer under the sun should be using it with all of the clients especially their beginning exercisers.
The theory behind using the bosu is that it creates an unstable environment so that all of a person’s stabilizer muscles must activate while doing the exercise. It is supposed to engage and work your core more.
BLEH!
The bosu bothers me even more than seeing someone doing 1,000 crunches on the floor to get great abs…ok so maybe both bother me equally….
But still! There are so many better things you can do to work your core and stabilizer muscles than doing a bicep curl on a bosu!
Need an example? How about pull ups or chin ups…assisted or unassisted.
Pull ups and chin ups work your biceps and they work your core. PLUS they work your lats!
AND they are WAY MORE FUNCTIONAL than a dang bicep curl on a bosu.
Can I also just ask…how is a bicep curl on a bosu supposed to be more functional and better for a beginning exerciser than an assisted pull up?
Maybe it’s just me but doing most exercises on a bosu just seems more dangerous.
I mean why do a bodyweight squat on a bosu when you can work your legs harder and engage all your core stabilizer muscles by doing a front squat?
Why not do a one leg straight leg deadlift if you really want to work your balance?
Why use the bosu to create more instability?
How is that really better for a beginner exerciser? How is that really more functional?
Why do we always try to make diet and exercise more complicated than they have to be? Why can’t we just go back to basics?
Why can’t we just jump and squat and climb and lift heavy things? Why can’t we sprint and push things and play?
Stop over-complicating things! You want to gain functional strength and work your core, do movements that mimic stuff you do in everyday life.
Don’t waste your time balancing on a bosu!
Sometimes I hate the grocery store
So Ryan and I pretty much only go to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or The Meat House. We will soon be going to more farmer’s market, but that is tomorrow’s post.
There is, however, a Stop and Shop right by our house. We usually only go there when we want junk food for a cheat day or when we need more toilet paper, paper towels or some other non-food necessity.
But today we decided to stop there since we didn’t have any nitrite free bacon to cook our weekend potatoes in.
For one, the store only had one nitrite free bacon. AND it was WAY more expensive than the other bacon packages.
No wonder people think eating “healthy” is so expensive.
We then walked down a couple of other aisles.
Down one aisle were these “Honest Teas” which are supposed to have less sugar than the usual tea drinks out there. If 20g of sugar is “less” sugar per serving, I don’t want to know what the other tea drinks have!
Also, right next to these “healthy” tea drinks were 20 oz Red Bulls.
Let me just say, “OUR SOCIETY IS OVER CAFFEINATED!!!!”
A 20 oz Red Bull!?!
You shouldn’t even drink 1 oz of that crap!!!
Anyway, we then walked down the next aisle, which of course was overloaded with cereal advertising how healthy it is.
HA!
We of course then were more than ready to leave and didn’t even feel like looking around to see if there was anything else we needed.
On our way out, we ran into Smart Balance butter and marshmallows.
Conventional wisdom has you believing that these two foods are pretty good to consume. I mean marshmallows are fat-free and Smart Balance butter isn’t real butter and is infused with Omega-3s! Both are good things right!?!
AH! I looked at both of those products and just thought about how I couldn’t believe that I used to buy both on a regular basis!!!! I used to think they were both healthy enough!
AH!
With stores like Stop and Shop, where crap is everywhere and the good stuff is WAY more pricey than the bad stuff, no wonder people think eating well is expensive.
With aisles full of cereals that say they are healthy, no wonder people are so confused about what is good for them!
I mean shoot! People see fruit roll-ups in a commercial that tells them that fruit roll-ups are a fat-free food with vitamins and minerals. They then see that same claim on 100 billion products lining the shelves around them so of course believe it must be true!
No wonder people eat crap with stores like that!
Me after my Stop and Shop experience. Look my hair even went blonde it made me so crazy!
Breakfast is overrated
So in my opinion breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day, especially as we know it.
How about you just skip the porridge?
The worst thing you could do is force down breakfast if you aren’t hungry. The worst thing you could do is start your morning with simple sugars, a ton of carbs and gluten.
Am I saying you should skip breakfast? Yea if you want.
I’m just saying breakfast isn’t the be all and end all of meals especially as we are advised to eat by conventional wisdom.
So should you skip breakfast? And if you do eat it, what should you eat?
So I skip breakfast except on the weekends. I mostly skip it because I’m not usually hungry until about lunch time. I also skip it because it feels super unnatural to force down food at 4:30 a.m. Also, I feel too lazy most of the time to prepare breakfast food for the next day.
AND I’ve also never been a big fan of breakfast food. I love the occasional pancake binge, but other than that I’ve never LOVED breakfast.
So I only eat it on the weekends. And then I make omelets or scrambles or even some almond butter protein pancakes. I eat breakfast when I can actually sit down and enjoy it.
BUT if you are a breakfast fan or just feel like you don’t function as well if you don’t eat something in the morning, you do have options (even if none of them are cereal!).
You can make hard-boiled eggs, omelets, scrambles, hashes, protein (no gluten) pancakes. You can make steak and eggs, bacon and eggs, veggies and eggs. You can have nuts, and smoothies (delicious with frozen berries, protein and kefir!).
There is so much out there you can eat so STOP FOCUSING ON THE FOODS YOU CAN’T EAT! Shoot you can even have steak and bacon and some potatoes (if you eat them) for breakfast! Breakfast doesn’t have to be traditional breakfast food! It can be anything you love!
So once I’ve told clients they don’t HAVE to eat breakfast. And once I’ve told them all the good things they can eat that AREN’T carb-laden, they usually come back with, “But nothing is as easy to grab and go as cereal!”
Yes cereal is easy to grab and go, BUT if you make hard-boiled eggs (aka stick eggs in a pot of water for about 10ish minutes) on Sunday, you have breakfast for a few days! You can also make individual egg scrambles in the oven using a muffin tin (they can have veggies and bacon or anything else you want!). Or you can make the protein pancakes and store them in the refrigerator for breakfast or snack all week! Shoot you can even grab some macadamia nuts, fruits and some leftover meat that you made for another meal if you want! That is definitely an easy grab and go meal!
Yes most of these things do take some prep time, but they are easy to take with you once they are made and you can make enough for the entire week. PLUS THEY ARE GOOD FOR YOU!
Do you eat breakfast? And if so, what is your favorite dish!?!
The good, the bad and the simply stupid
First off, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a tenacious young woman, Fern! Happy Birthday!
Now onto the good, the bad and the simply stupid!
The Good
I LIKE IT!
- I like this quote from Michelle Obama,”You wouldn’t think of watering a plant with soda.” No you definitely wouldn’t.
- Interesting research about dietary fat and cholesterol absorption.
- I’ve discovered that I love designing workouts that ask you to do as many rounds as possible in under a certain time limit (usually 20 or 30 minutes). If you push hard for 20-30, you will probably get more out of the workout than steady-state cardio for an hour. Actually I GUARANTEE you’ll get more out of it!
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
5 Dips
10 Inverted Rows
15 Burpees
20 Front squats with weight
Your quads definitely burn a bit between the burpees and using a challenging weight on front squats!
The Bad
- Ryan and I watched a Restaurant Impossible, in which Robert helps upgrade a community center. While they do create a garden and make the place super nice, the thing that bothered me the most was the prepackaged food the kids were being served. IT WAS ALL CARBS AND IT WAS BEING PASSED OFF AS HEALTHY! When seriously will the low-fat diet fad pass!?!
- If only they ate Primally, they wouldn’t have to suffer. They could bulk up or slim down easily and healthily! Celebrities and stupid diets…BLEH! Of course I do understand that some roles demand extremes but still…I mean especially Anne Hathaway! You want a catwoman body!?! Eat Primally!
The Simply Stupid
- Silk Pure Almond milk – According to their commercial people preferred the taste over regular milk. Of course the flavor they show in the commercial isn’t the Original, which has very little sugar – they instead show chocolate and vanilla! Of course people prefer them! They have more sugar and more CRAP in them!
- Yesterday while at the gym, there was a guy who walks in and starts doing bicep curls. He definitely looked like one of those guys who follow the Muscle and Fitness Bodybuilder workouts. He was definitely one of those guys that thought he was “big” because he had lots of muscle. He was definitely one of those guys that annoys me. BUT the best part of this story is what Ryan told me when we left, “So you know that guy who was doing all the bicep curls? I thought he was reading a Muscle and Fitness since it seemed like that is where he was drawing his workout from, but no…he wasn’t. He was reading a People magazine.”..For some reason this made me laugh…
Letting Go – Making a Change
I think the hardest thing to do is CHANGE.
Change is hard, but this quote is spot on!
It’s part of why it is hard for most women to start weight training. It is why it is hard for most people to ditch conventional wisdom and start eating Paleo/Primal.
It is why a lot of big life decisions are hard in general! To make big changes, to get big results, you can’t be afraid to let go of what you know, think or believe. You’ve got to be ready to take risks and suffer some consequences.
Below are the 10 most important “changes” you need to make to become a stronger, fitter, more empowered you. Of course this is my opinion…but then again, I’m always right, right!?! 😛
- Ditch the disbelievers. This one is first because I think this is probably the hardest thing for me. I hold onto people even when they are holding me back. If you want success though, sometimes you have to go it alone. Don’t give in and cheat on your diet just because your friends are trying to get you to eat badly. Don’t be afraid to lift those heavy weights even though your friends tell you that you will bulk up. Don’t be afraid to ditch the disbelievers and go it on your own! You can do it! You are strong enough!
- Try something outside your comfort zone. If you really want to find out what you are made of, try something new. I know it’s scary, but the only way to find out what you are truly capable of is to try something you either haven’t done or aren’t comfortable with doing!
- Keep an open mind about EVERYTHING. Be willing to try new things! Experiment! There is always new information coming out about everything. Research everything. Read different points of view or  find out works by trying it on yourself! If you weren’t somewhat open-minded already, you probably wouldn’t be reading this site! 🙂
- Have confidence in yourself and try something just beyond what you KNOW you can do. While it’s nice to stick with what we know we can do, you will never find out just how truly strong you are if you don’t push beyond what you’ve already proven you can do! This doesn’t mean just lifting a heavier weight in the gym. It also means tackling an activity that you’ve maybe never done before or are unsure if you can do!
- Admit to yourself that you don’t, and can’t, ever know anything for certain. Deep huh? This one actually kind of sucks, but it’s true. I like to believe I know everything, but deep down I know I don’t. Nothing is ever set in stone. Everything can change. We are constantly learning or at least we should be. If you think you know everything, you are wrong. Be willing to change and adapt your beliefs as you learn and you will grow as a person.
- Accept that you will be wrong and enjoy your failures. This one is hard. No one ever enjoys failing. I most definitely hate it. I don’t like failing or being wrong. BUT I know that I will be at times. I know that I will fail, BUT I know that each time I get back up and try again, I become stronger. As cheesy as it sounds, look at each failure not so much as a failure, but as a learning experience. If you want to accomplish something persistence is key!
- Learn. Learn every moment of every day. Learn by doing research, experimenting, failing and achieving success. And the thing is, by doing all this learning, you will learn more about yourself. Through all of my “learning” I’ve developed a stronger identity. It may always be a slightly shifting and growing identity, but the more I learn, the clearer it becomes!
- Forget, but never forget. Learn to let go of the negative emotions surrounding a failure. Forget the emotions so that they don’t hold you back. You can’t change what happened. You can only move forward. But even though you need to release the emotions, NEVER forget how hard you worked. Never forget what the goal meant to you. KEEP PUSHING ONWARD! Change your game-plan but never give up!
- Accept your fears. This is another one that can be hard. This is a random story BUT…I’m afraid of snakes. I hate them. I have no idea why, but I really really really (I could go on with the reallys) hate them. I almost didn’t go on a hike in Red Rock Canyon because it was prime snake season. But I did go despite the fact that I was sure I was going to be bitten and die in Las Vegas. Most people fear dying in Vegas for a ton of other reasons…but not me…I was sure a snake would get me. And if I hadn’t gone on that hike…I would have missed out on one of the best memories I have during my life!
- Build a network. These 10 changes come full circle. As you develop the “new” stronger, fitter, more empowered you, you have to build a new network of people who support and push you to grow further. The “push” part of that equation is very important. You always want people around you that challenge you and motivate you to achieve your goals not just stand still! An example of a network that has helped me grow is my lifting classes. Those ladies, and my two Man Bicep Males!, have helped me grow so much. I also pride myself on believing that I’ve helped them also grow into stronger, fitter and more confident individuals!
So what changes have you made toward becoming a stronger, fitter, more empowered individual?
The good, the bad and the simply stupid
So I’m not trying to brag, but I feel better after 16 hours of spin than I do after one of my own tough 30 minute lifts.
My taking-on-16-hours-of-spin face!
Honestly, no muscles are sore or even really tight. The ONLY pain I have besides a slightly bruised crouch is one knee that doesn’t like going up and down stairs too much.
Be it the ice bath, my diet with no gluten or my workouts (or all three combined), I feel perfectly normal today…just like I do after any other week of working out.
Anyway, all I can say is you definitely don’t need to carb load with crap gels and gluten to survive endurance cardio!
The Good
- Ice baths are amazing! They really do aid in muscle recovery. AND Tim Ferriss has done the research, and found the science to prove that ice baths may also help you lose fat!
- Get a healthy dose of Vitamin D! This just shows how important going out in the sun is! We all fear skin cancer, but some sun is good! And of course if you can’t get sun, you can always take a supplement! BUT anyone else seem to feel WAY BETTER when they’ve gotten some sun? I definitely do!
- Cool?!? Good news for me I guess! What do you think?
- I’m glad the FDA didn’t let them call high fructose corn syrup “corn sugar!”
- Thank you Therese for taking up the challenge of trying something new! Great job with the monkey bars!
-
These are not easy and Therese is killing it!
- Our Jump Rope Slide is done!
The Bad
- Caffeine is not an alternative to sleep people! I’ve seen too many people over the last couple of days guzzle down espresso shots and Red Bull rather than sleeping enough. I know it is hard to get enough sleep sometimes, but seriously nothing is more important! Your body recovers and rebuilds when you sleep!!! So stop drinking your Starbucks bazillion shot coffees and Red Bulls and instead go to bed!
The Simply Stupid
- Is this really an article on WebMD?
- There is this girl on Fiverr.com saying she can give you flat abs in 3 days. How are people this stupid!?!
- This honestly sounds like something a client has said to me at some point…
And lastly, Happy Father’s Day people! All you Dad’s out there who are reading this…you better be supporting your women and making sure they lift heavy!!!
Man Bicep 