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The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Sunday
So today was just one of those days.
I got frustrated doing work. I couldn’t find what I was looking for.
I’m sick (and I haven’t been sick in about a year).
And I’m just plain old grouchy.
BUT then Ryan and I decided to go grocery shopping.
Who gets cheered up by the idea of going grocery shopping!?!
I DO!
ESPECIALLY when it is a special trip to The Meat House.
We haven’t been to The Meat House since leaving Boston since we’ve mainly consumed a diet of fish (LOVE YOU CALI!).
But when Ryan got a gift card for a wonderful friend (THANK YOU JUDY!), we decided it was time to make a special trip.
And I was excited to see what The Meat House had to offer since I’ve loved everything about Cali since we got here. I thought my day was turning around!
But it didn’t….there is one thing about Cali now that I don’t like…THE MEAT HOUSE.
I LOVED our Meat House in Boston. And this one in Cali was nothing like it.
My no good, very bad day turned into a TERRIBLE, no good, very bad day.
The people behind the counter didn’t seem to know anything about the meat. We waited for like 10 minutes for the girl who helped us to find someone who could butcher the piece of meat we wanted.
Why was she behind the counter if she didn’t know how to butcher the meat!?!
AND the only grass-fed meat they had was from Uraguay! It sat in the counter in plastic wrap!!!!!
Nothing seemed to be local!!!!! Which was super disappointing since Ryan and I have been basically ONLY eating local foods (produce, fruit, fish, eggs, EVERYTHING!).
Plus they didn’t seem to have any in-home made sausages like our one in Boston.
AH!
SUPER DISAPPOINTING!
I used to not mind paying a little bit more to get meat from The Meat House instead of just getting the grass-fed, natural meat at Trader Joe’s. I liked supporting our local shop since they were knowledgable and had a great selection. They were welcoming and seemed to really have a passion for what they did!
The Meat House in Boston is AWESOME!
But The Meat House here…well they need to step up their game.
ONLY A COUPLE MORE HOURS!
If you haven’t already, you only have a few more hours to enter the Under Armour giveaway for a chance to win a free Under Armour Sweatshirt!
Lobster, Bacon tacos with a Kiwi-Jalapeno Relish
Ingredients:
2 Lobster tails
Diced bacon (about 2 slices)
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp Cumin
1 tbsp Paprika
1 tsp Cayenne
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grass-fed Cheddar cheese
Kiwi-Jalapeno relish
Homemade Corn tortillas (recipe to follow after tacos)
Cook bacon bits in a saute pan.
While bacon is cooking, de-shell lobster and dice. Season with cumin, paprika, cayenne and salt.
When bacon is brown, remove bacon bits and add butter and lobster tail to pan. Cook until lobster is fully cooked and add bacon back in.
Add bacon-lobster mix to corn tortillas. Top with a few thin slices of grass-fed cheddar and two tsp of kiwi-jalapeno relish.
Serve warm with a side of your choosing. (We made a nice romaine salad with tomatoes, blue cheese and an olive oil, balsamic and dijon mustard dressing.
Note: I linked out to the company that made the relish we got at the farmers market (All-natural ingredients! YAY!). I will be making my own though next time and will then post a recipe!
Corn tortillas:
2 Cups Masa Harina (make sure you get non-genetically modified corn)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups hot water
Put the masa harina into a bowl and add in salt.
Heat the water then slowly add it into the masa harina and salt. Mix as you go. I don’t usually use more than 1 1/2 cups. Add water until the dough is spongy, but not sticky.
Roll dough into a log and wrap in a damp paper towel. Let the dough sit for 1 hour.
Then roll out 2 inch balls after the dough has sat for 1 hour. Flatten the dough using a rolling-pin or a tortilla press. (I use a tortilla press and put cling wrap on both sides of the press so the dough won’t stick.
I then cook the tortillas in a hot cast iron about 1 minute on each side or until the tortilla is cooked to your liking.
Serve warm!
ADAPTION
I’ve been really down on the fitness industry recently.
Everyone is out to only prove that THEIR WAY is the RIGHT WAY.
There is no acceptance that a lot of different things work for a lot of different people.
I’ve heard too many people rail against certain forms of training and dieting recently instead of seeing the reasons why it might work for certain people.
This close-mindedness is simply annoying.
THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY!
If you want to be a truly successful individual, you need to constantly learn and evolve and work to fit methods to people.
One size doesn’t fit all.
You can’t just come up with a program or diet that is supposed to work and expect it to fit everyone perfectly.
No…you come up with a plan, then regress it or progress it as needed to fit the person.
You adapt!
Being able to adapt a program…Being able to think on your feet and come up with creative solutions to problems is what truly makes a good trainer.
There is no one right way to accomplish a goal and a GOOD TRAINER, a trainer who knows the “right way” is one that will use all of his or her knowledge to come up with a specific program ADAPTED to your specific needs.
So next time someone says they’ve discovered a plan that helps everyone reach their goals, ask them how this program will address your specific needs and concerns. Because if YOU weren’t factored into how they designed the program, it probably isn’t perfectly fit for you!
Friday Fun
Some random fun to celebrate Friday….just because!
Two things I found this week while shopping that I absolutely LOVE:
1. Macadamia nut butter
2. Coconut Chips from Trader Joes
They have a touch of sugar…which means next to nothing! YAY! A good little “dessert!” P.S. those are not my hands…manicures do not survive with me….
Also, I went rock climbing with the team last week and LOVED IT!
Rock climbing! YAY!
What better way to see all of your training pay off than to feel physically fit enough to take on any challenge!?!
AND Ryan got a trigger point “Grid” for his birthday…which I’ve stolen to use like every day!
And finally…wish me luck.
I’ve started a new training program which I’m pretty sure will end up upping my deadlift AND help me accomplish a few feats on the VersaClimber and battling ropes. The program was designed by one of the owners of Innovative Results and I’m interested to see the results!
Have I mentioned before that I love self-experimentation!?!
Right now, I’m just working my butt off…and I haven’t been so sore consistently in a while. Although I do feel better after my 7 mile run yesterday. (Uhm yep…I ran 7 miles…who would have thunk it…BLEH…haha)
Anyway, stay tuned for some unconventional tips to help you up your deadlift!!!
HAPPY FRIDAY! Get some delicious healthy snacks, go play and then foam roll for a little recovery! 🙂
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!
Today is Ryan’s birthday and the sixth one we are celebrating together! YAY!
They are usually plan for binge days. We eat really clean before and really clean after, but don’t hold back on his birthday.
BUT while this is all great, it isn’t what makes Ryan’s birthday so special. It is the fact that on this day, so many years ago, he was born! (I tease him all the time about how old he is…soon I won’t be able to because he will actually be old…just kidding!…but seriously…)
Ryan has spoiled me. He works out with me and has full confidence in my knowledge even though I’m female. He also doesn’t worry when I lift heavy weights that I will become bulky.
He is not threatened by the fact that I may every so often kick his butt in a workout or sport (hey it’s his birthday so I was nice and said, “every so often” :-))
But unfortunately the last two days I’ve realized that not all men are like this.
I know there are still men out there that don’t believe a woman should lift heavy or that a woman could know more about working out then they do, but I just hadn’t encountered any recently so I sort of forgot that they still existed.
But they really honestly do.
It’s sad.
I was subbing a class the other night for another trainer, a male trainer. During the class a male participant decided to argue with me about his plank form. I of course stayed firm because I knew I was right and in the end basically just had to say, “Just do it.”
He did and by the second round of our circuit he couldn’t hold the plank for the full amount of time.
Because guess what!?! By sagging his hips he had made it easier on himself and when he did the correct form, what I told him to do, it was too hard for him to fully maintain.
Hmmm…Looks like I, a female, did know something….
I also got told after that class by a man that my “yelling” was belittling him. I almost laughed because literally I had been yelling at him because I thought he couldn’t hear me since he never responded to my directions! So here I was raising my voice louder because he didn’t respond so I just figured he couldn’t hear me and he was saying I was “belittling” him.
I said exactly that to him and said that next time if he could just let me know he heard, I would be able to keep my voice down.
His response was, “Well my ears close down when a small little female is yelling at me.”
WHAT!?!
AHHHHH! That small little female was your trainer you dope! She was in a loud gym and trying to push and encourage the entire class to work hard! LISTEN NEXT TIME! Maybe you will learn something!!!!!
And to round out this crazy sequence of events, I encountered a potential client yesterday who wanted to “get bigger and stronger.”
I started discussing workouts and rep ranges and made a comment about my powerlifting training.
He then says to me, “So were you way bigger when you did it?”
HUH!?! (This is the look I gave him back)
And he then says, “Like were you super bulky?”
AHHHHHHH!
I stared at him and said, “NO.”
I almost couldn’t speak. When will this belief that women will get bulky if they lift heavy disappear!?!
When will women, especially highly CERTIFIED women, finally be respected in the gym!?!
Anyway, I will be spending today with one of the best men out there…RYAN! And I will be trying to forget again that there are men out there that are_______________. (Trust me you can fill in the blank.)
Top 10 Healthiest….
Oh who cares!
Every other day you see a new news article about the Top 10 Healthiest Fish/Cereals/Fruits/Vegetables…But seriously…WHO CARES!?!
Yesterday I made a comment to Ryan about how someone was eating swordfish instead of salmon and that salmon was much better.
He said, “Yay but still…it could be way worse.”
“It could be way worse.”…SO TRUE!
Why are all of these news articles so focused on telling us what the healthiest of already goods food are? Why not focus on making people more aware of how bad vegetable oils and processed foods are!?!
It is almost like what I was saying about supplementation the other day. We worry about micromanaging our diets when our macronutrient intake is awful – we focus on what is the best of an already healthy food instead of at least getting people to eat the worst of a healthy food!
I mean really…If someone doesn’t eat fruit or vegetables, isn’t it way better that they eat bananas and iceberg lettuce than no fruits and vegetables at all? I know we could argue that berries and spinach are way better for you, but isn’t eating fruits and vegetables the most important part.
At least they are eating something non-processed with nutrients!
As Ryan said, “It could be way worse!”
So next time you want to tell your friend that iceberg lettuce isn’t as good as spinach, think about how many WORSE choices they could have made!
Patience = Consistency over time
I’m not a patient person.
Generally, I work hard and want results fast.
But unfortunately that isn’t how things work.
They say “patience is a virtue” and it really freaking is.
Unfortunately you don’t reach your fitness goals overnight. True lasting progress is consistency over time.
Consistency over time….patience…bleh…
BUT…you need to be patient!
If you create a program, progress yourself forward and give yourself proper recovery, you will reach your goals if you stay the course. This can mean weeks or months or even years.
The key to keeping yourself on course, to helping yourself be patient and consistent over time, is to set mini goals. Break your yearly goals down into monthly, weekly and even daily goals.
Achieving these mini goals will keep you dedicated each and every day. And shoot, a daily goal may just be to exercise for 10 minutes every day! They shouldn’t be anything crazy. They should be realistic and achievable.
You want goals that will motivate you to keep moving forward not goals that will make you feel like you’ll never achieve your goals.
Remember, BE PATIENT and consistent over time and you will achieve your goals!
P.S. The only good part about all of this is that one slip up also doesn’t mean you’ve destroyed all of your progress. What matters is consistency over time!
The good, the bad and the simply stupid
I love the Olympics. I love confident athletes. But you don’t have to act like a jerk. I almost always cheer for the American athlete, but I have to admit that I was cheering against Lochte. Anyone else find his attitude annoying? (That and he is definitely not good at interviews!)
The Good
- I’m so excited that we have a sled at the gym I’m now working at! It is a great tool to increase your leg strength and speed!
- I see people spend hours working on just about every part of their body, but their feet and ankles. BUT your feet contain about 25% of the bones in your body…Shouldn’t you be working on strengthening and making them more flexible since if they are weak or immobile they can cause altered movement patterns, muscle imbalances, pain and injury in other parts of your body!?! (Ok this isn’t good, but the exercises in this IR Blog post are!)
- Why am I not surprised that fit children do better academically?
The Bad
- Why is there so much drama on the internet about female athletes and their bodies? Why can’t we talk about what they can DO instead of focusing on whether or not their weight makes them beautiful by society’s standards?!? And can I just say….I REALLY LIKE ZOE SMITH’S ATTITUDE!
The Simply Stupid
- Cameron Diaz is publishing a book about health and fitness!?! What does she know!?! AH!!!!! Does this scare anyone else
- I’m tempted to add a section called interesting because I don’t know how to react to the articles I’ve included below.
- Beetroot and Tart Cherry juice can improve performance….Ok….They are all-natural…now I wonder if they really work. AND if they do, would you drink them?
- I get why we want people to have nutritional certifications if they are providing nutritional advice. At the same time, we allow people to post all sorts of opinions and advice online that they aren’t necessarily certified to give…Do you think this regulation of bloggers providing nutritional advice is only occurring because mainstream society is afraid that if people realize that these Primal diets are better that the whole “low-fat lie” will crumble?
Home Sweet Home!?!
It still hasn’t fully sunk in that our trip to Cali isn’t merely a vacation – that Southern California is now my home.
I’m a bundle of emotions that I can’t even truly express. I’m excited and I’m nervous. I’m hopeful, but sad. One word to describe how I’m feeling…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?!
But change is good. We grow from change.
Anyway, regular Man Bicep programming will return tomorrow. While I’m now in Cali, there will still be plenty of Primal, lifting and wonderful rants to entertain!
P.S. This was the BEST going away present from two of my lifting ladies! This is the front of the shirt. The back says, “I LIKE IT!” (I repeat this phrase A LOT during my training sessions apparently! :-))
Meat + Lifting = Man Biceps!!!
Man Bicep 