Work On Your Push Ups By Doing More Push Ups
Sometimes push ups are their own best supplemental exercise.
Want to strengthen your basic standard push up?
Then you need to strengthen your weak points AND you need to do more push ups.
Why not strengthen your weak points and do more push ups simply by using a couple different push up variations instead of a ton of different supplemental exercises?
So how do you use push ups to make your push ups better?
Pick variations that target your weaker areas!
Tacos, Tacos, Tacos – I love tacos!
Tacos are one of my favorite healthy carb meals.
The key is to just use ingredients that are minimally processed and as local and fresh as possible.
Here are a few of my favorite Healthy Taco Recipes:
- Wild Salmon Tacos with Peach and Pineapple Sauce
- Seared Tuna Tacos with Peach Salsa and Avocado Cilantro Cream
- Trader Joe’s Black Garlic Beef Tacos
- Bacon Ribeye Tacos with Avocado Salsa
- Lobster, Bacon Tacos with Kiwi-Jalapeno Relish
- BBQ Tacos
AND if you want to make your own corn tortillas, here is a great and simple tortilla recipe!
Home-made Corn Tortillas Recipe:
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!
Do you love tacos? What is your favorite taco recipe?
5 Simple SMALL Diet Changes That You’ll ENJOY
Often people think they have to make drastic changes all at once to get results.
But SMALL CHANGES ARE KEY!
Especially when it comes to diet.
I’ve had a lot of people say to me recently that they don’t like being hungry – and losing weight requires you to be hungry like all the time.
I care to disagree.
Drastic calorie cuts will cause you to feel hungry. But losing weight and getting healthy isn’t just about calories in vs. calories out.
Honestly, you can feel hungry eating 1,000 too many calories if you aren’t eating the RIGHT types of calories.
And truly you shouldn’t feel miserable while eating well. Eating well CAN and SHOULD be enjoyable.
Here are 5 changes you need to make that don’t involve cutting calories:
1. Cut out processed crap, but don’t cut out the meals you love. Slowly rid your kitchen of processed and pre-made foods. That doesn’t mean you can’t still occasionally indulge in mac and cheese…It just means you will be better off having homemade mac and cheese then something pre-made with a ton of preservatives. Make adjustments to those recipes you enjoy! Love mexican pizza? Try it on a cauliflower crust. Create huge results by just home making those meals you love!
2. Focus on meats and veggies, but they can TASTE GOOD. Eating healthy doesn’t mean cutting out flavor. While you want to focus your diet on meat and veggies that doesn’t have to mean plain chicken breast and steamed broccoli. Use some full fat cheese. Make sauces and dressing. There are tons of healthy ways to make your meals flavorful. I love adding guacamole and salsa to salads as dressings. I use tamari and sesame oil to make stir fries. I pack meals with flavor without adding any crap! Just avoid any pre-made seasonings and sauces that add in preservatives, vegetable oil or other crap.
3. Satisfy cravings. Cravings come in lots of different forms. And if you don’t satisfy them, you are going to end up giving up on your diet and binging because you feel to restricted. Satisfying your cravings also doesn’t have to mean eating badly. Craving something sweet? Eat a piece of fruit or some dark chocolate. Here is one of my favorite sweet, salty and fatty healthy treats – Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nut Bark. Craving something savory? What about some veggies in a homemade dip? Or some salted nuts (heck even coat them in some other seasonings). Or some kale chips. There are tons of ways to satisfy your cravings without eating badly. And sometimes maybe you do have a specific burrito craving and need the real thing. Then get it and get right back on track. Not feeling restricted is key to sticking with your diet in the long run! It isn’t being perfect one day, it is about the big picture.
4. Plan and choose recipes that you enjoy. Often I think we just slap together healthy things without worrying about how they taste. And, at first, that works because we are motivated. But after a while, we stop wanting to eat the boring, bland meals. We start to miss comfort foods. That is why it is important to make meals that you enjoy! Choose recipes that mimic or remind you of those foods you love. No they won’t be exactly the same, but they will taste good and keep you going even when your initial motivation wears off. Plus, it can be fun to find new creative ways to use healthy ingredients. I love the challenge of trying to use the same few ingredients in different ways!
5. Eat the things you love in moderation. Don’t be afraid to cheat. Often when we do cheat we make ourselves feel so guilty about it that we don’t even enjoy it (and sometimes we even make ourselves feel so bad that we start binging instead of getting back on track). Take time to enjoy those foods you love. Just exercise moderation and/or make healthier swaps whenever possible. But don’t completely restrict yourself!
Notice one thing with all five tips…All of these changes focus on continuing to enjoy your food. Dieting shouldn’t make you feel like you are suffering or missing out. You should be able to enjoy eating well!
For more tips to help you eat well, check out these Healthy Eating Guidelines.
What should truly be our goal?
While many people come in with weight loss goals or even performance goal, the true goal of a workout program is to make you FEEL better.
Your workouts should help you prevent injury. They should help you feel stronger, more coordinated and ready to take on daily life.
They should help your body stay young so that at 80 you still feel free to move around and chase after grandkids.
Last week I discussed the importance of agility and balance training to improve our mind-body connection and help us move WELL.
Today I want I just want to harp on the importance of ACTIVATION exercises.
Any good program needs to start with mobility work. But many people are now starting to recognize this.
However, all too often exercise routines are still devoid of activation exercises.
Activation exercises are important because they get the CORRECT muscle groups working.
Muscles that aren’t always active because we sit at a desk 9 hours a day hunched over a computer.
Our poor hunched-over-a-desk-all-day posture causes us to sometimes overuse smaller muscle that shouldn’t be doing the brunt of the work…And this leads to injury.
So to truly feel good, prevent injury and get the most out of your workouts, you’ve got to get those big muscle groups active and working.
And since many people have also said they want to be able to do a pull up this year…..
Here is an ESSENTIAL activation move we all need to be doing – THE SCAPULAR WALL HOLD!
This move will help alleviate neck and shoulder pain. It will get your lats and your mid and lower traps activated and working.
It will help you have better posture AND do more pull ups!
For a breakdown of the Scapular Wall Hold and a few other scapular hold variations, click here!
Perception is everything
January is a time for many of starting over. Of New Years Resolutions, dreams and goals.
But it is also a month filled with unfinished goals. Unfinished goals because people’s motivation dwindles and their positive mindset falters.
Even when we’ve done the best planning possible, life can still get in the way.
And when life gets in the way the only thing that can keep us on track is our mindset.
Because let’s face it, there are going to be bumps in the road.
There are going to be setbacks.
But we can keep moving forward if we have the right attitude and can pick ourselves back up after a fall and get right back on track.
It truly is all about attitude.
And trust me…I know it’s hard.
January is one of the most stressful months for me. Right now I’m to the point of being completely and utterly overwhelmed.
Part of me wants to throw up my hands and watch chick flicks all day on the couch cuddled by Coconut eating ice cream and Reeses Pieces.
But the other part of me, the larger part of me, LOVES EVERY SECOND OF IT.
Because it is all in how I perceive things.
I can see things as overwhelming and stressful.
Or I can see it as a chance to help more people and make a huge difference.
No, 100% of the time I won’t see things in a positive light. But 70, 80, even 90% of the time I will.
And that is what it is all about – having a positive mindset. It’s about setting your mind to a goal and not letting life interfere or things get out of your control so that you don’t get frustrated and veer off course….At least not for long.
We decide how we perceive things.
Yup…It is your choice to be happy or sad regardless of the situation.
So when you are planning to achieve your goal, you’ve got to include MINDSET into your plan.
You’ve got to decide to be excited by the challenges and opportunities your new diet and exercise program have in store for you.
You’ve got to decide to not dwell on the failures and setbacks.
You’ve got to decide to give yourself a quick break when you get down and then get right back on track if slip ups do occur.
You have control over your attitude.
Stay positive and keep moving forward toward your goals!
Fruit – Should You Eat It?
I get lots of questions about fruit. Should you eat it? How much should you eat? When should you eat it?
The Food Pyramid tells us that fruit is essential…more essential even then meat and beans.
While fruits do have vitamins and minerals and many have antioxidants that are good for you, fruits are all carbs….
So essential to your diet?…Honestly, not really.
Vegetables can really give you the exact same nutrients you will find in fruits.
For instance, we always turn to oranges or orange juice for Vitamin C. But bell peppers actually have MORE Vitamin C than oranges do.
HOWEVER, fruit is delicious and nutritious so can be included in moderation.
Fresh local fruit, in season.
Here are my guidelines for including fruit in your diet.
- Eat seasonally and locally. Eat fruits that are in season and local. When fruits are in season, they are going to be at their peak…aka pack in the most nutrients. And when they are local, you are also get them the freshest.
- Eat organic if thin-skinned. If your fruits have a thin skin that you don’t peel off or can be easily penetrated by pesticides, buy them organic. Or from a farmer’s market since most of the stands there carry local produce even if they can’t afford to pay for the label.
- Treat it as a treat and snack. Fruit is sweet and higher in carbs. Use it as a sweet treat to curb cravings. It can also be a decent snack especially when paired with a fat to help hold you over so that you don’t just get hungry a few minutes later. Try an apple and almond butter…Or a banana and almond butter…YUM!
- Don’t make fruit the basis of the meal or treat it as an “unlimited” food. I personally try to avoid smoothies for breakfast unless mixed with fats and protein. Alone fruit won’t keep you feeling full for very long, which can cause people to consume more calories than they actually need. And again…It has lots of carbs and those add up quickly, which makes it a food you can’t just eat as much as you want of….unlike vegetables…and even protein. It is hard to eat “too much” protein or vegetables. It isn’t hard to eat too much fruit.
- Make lower carb fruit the fruit you consume most often. Just like proteins, vegetables and carbs in general are not created equal, neither are fruits. There are some fruits that should be included more often than others. Tropical fruits, for instance, should be included only every so often. While berries can be eaten more often. They are lower in carbs and are super nutrient-dense with lots of antioxidants. Choose your fruits wisely. As with all foods you consume, you want to get the most bang for your buck possible!
- Eat fruit on carb days. Fruits are great for carb days. They are healthy and nutrient-dense. Cycle your fruit consumption just like you cycle your carbs.
- Fruits and fruit juices are not the same thing. Consume fruit in its natural state. Juices with anything added, even if they say all-natural, contain way more sugar and crap. And it is way easier to consume way too much fruit when it is in liquid form. Avoid juices as much as possible.
The fruits I indulge in most often are berries and apples. They are my favorite…especially apples and almond butter.
What fruits do you include in your diet?
The Turkish Get Up
The Turkish Get Up is one great full body move to work on stability AND strength. It is also a great move because it forces the body to stabilize in more than one plane of motion.
It is also one of the moves I see most often messed up.
People like to skip steps and turn it into a sit up/roll up instead of the step by step move it is.
And honestly, the whole point of the Turkish Get Up is all of the steps and DOING them all in the correct order. That is how you truly reap the benefits of the Turkish Get Up.
Below is a breakdown on the Turkish Get Up. It can be done without weight by just balancing something on your hand or with a kettlebell press up toward the ceiling. It can also be done with a sandbag held on the shoulder.
Each has benefits and are great to strengthen your entire core and improve your coordination.
Breaking Down The Turkish Get Up:
- Start by lying on your back on the ground with your legs out straight.
- Then drive your right arm up straight and have your fist pointing up toward the ceiling. Bend your right knee and place your foot flat on the ground. Straighten your left arm out to the side (not straight out at shoulder height, but not right by your body). Keep your right arm straight up and pointed toward the ceiling at all times (it can even help to balance something on your knuckles to remind you of this while you are learning).
- Then roll up on to your left forearm. Prop yourself up nice and tall on your left forearm. Press through your right foot on the ground. Do not let your right knee cave in and keep your left leg out straight on the ground.
- Once up on your forearm, press up onto your left hand with your left arm going straight. Sit up nice and tall. Do not shrug your shoulders. And remember, your right arm is always straight and pointing straight toward the ceiling.
- Then from the seated position you are going to bridge up, lifting your hips up as high as you can. You will press down through your left hand as well as your left heel and right foot. Keep your right foot flat on the ground and your left leg out straight. Do not let your right heel come up.
- From the bridge position, slide your left leg back and under you so that you are in a kneeling position with your hand on the ground. Make sure you swing your leg back enough so you are in a strong supported kneeling position that will allow you to lift your left hand off the ground.
- Staying nice and tall, lift your left hand and come to a kneeling position. Do not lean forward of slouch forward as you lift your hand up off the ground.
- With your right arm still pointing up at the ceiling, stomp your right foot into the ground and come up to standing, bringing your left foot forward to be even with your right foot.
- Once standing, you will reverse the steps until you are again lying on your back.
- You will first go back to kneeling, stepping your left foot back.
- You will then place your left hand down on the ground out to the side and just a little back from your left knee.
- You will then bridge up and swing your left leg through so it is out straight in front of you. As you bridge, keep your right heel firmly planted on the ground.
- From there, you will return to a seated position supported by your left hand.
- Then you will relax down to your forearm and finally roll on to your back. Do not slouch as you move back down.
- Keep a nice tall posture throughout the entire move.
- You can also do this move with either a sandbag over your shoulder or a kettlbell or dumbbell in the raised hand. Beginners may just want to start by balancing something on their knuckles.
Here is a great workout that breaks down and works on each part of the get up.
Here are also some great workouts using the Turkish Get Up.
It All Starts With The Mind-Body Connection
Want to run faster? Be more agile? Have better coordination? Be stronger?
Then you need to simplify things and work on your mind-body connection.
Balance work, agility ladder and drills, core sequencing exercises, activation exercises…These all need to be done so that you have control over your body and can activate the correct muscles when needed.
Speed, agility, quickness, coordination and frankly even strength don’t just simply come from lifting more or moving faster.
They come from your mind and body being able to communicate more quickly, which comes from everything being in balance.
Hmmm….maybe all those isometric workouts and moves I’ve been posting have even more benefit than simply recovery.
Many of those isometric moves work on your balance. And they correct imbalances as well.
Don’t think this requires a lot of balance and a great mind-body connection? HA!
If you have an injury, the communication between that area of your body and your mind has probably been interrupted. And depending on how good your recovery is, the injury may cause or have caused pain and problems higher up or lower down on your, meaning you may have many areas that aren’t connecting as well with your brain as you should.
Isometric moves work on repairing and correcting those imbalances. They work on mobility. They build stability in the muscles. They make sure the correct muscles are activated.
Isometric moves improve your mind-body connection. They make you focus and THINK about the muscles that should be activated.
Here is a great Isometric Workout to reduce pain and start working on your mind-body connection. It is a basic full body workout to correct many of those imbalances we have from sitting all day.
But isometric moves won’t do it alone. You must also do agility drills.
Many people think agility drills are just for athletes, but they are just as important for the average person especially as we age.
The agility ladder is a great tool, especially for us all to work on our coordination. HOWEVER, often people try to go as fast as possible without focusing on form.
If you want to get the most out of the agility ladder, you need to focus first on getting the move down and THEN on going as fast as possible. And you also need to mix it up. You need to go forward and backward. You need to go sideways and work each side.
Pay attention to which side feels more coordinated and don’t let your dominate side always lead!
Here are a few agility ladder drills to get you started. (I’ll be posting a video soon with my favorites.)
But the agility ladder isn’t the only agility drill you can do. You can set up cones or even use a few basic playing cards and set up points you shuffle, sprint, back pedal and carioca to (or any other locomotion move you want). Move quickly and make the distances super short so it is more about being quick and changing directions than getting up to speed.
Reaction drills are also great to improve the speed at which your mind and body communicate. Instead of using cones, have a friend tell you to shuffle to the left. Then whenever they want they can tell you to sprint forward then shuffle to the right. They can mix it up so you never know what is coming.
They can also do the drill with you and make you “shadow” them. LOVE shadow drills. They make you really focus and have to react.
You can also improve your coordination to get stronger, faster and fitter by doing core sequencing moves. These are moves that get the muscles of your core to work together as they should.
The Turkish Get Up, or its modified variation the Baby Get Up, is a great exercise to get your core to work together.
Here is a great workout to teach you the Turkish Get Up and help you strengthen each part of the lift.
What are you doing to improve your coordination and your mind-body connection? Simply lifting heavier weights and/or running faster aren’t going to be enough!
Alcohol and Health
Alcohol comes up often in discussions of health and healthy eating.
Is drinking ok? What should you drink? Is there a certain amount you should drink? If you want to be healthy and lose weight should you drink?
While I believe that alcohol can be a part of a healthy diet, moderation must be exercised.
Here are the guidelines I follow when considering if, when, and how much alcohol to include in a healthy diet.
- Alcohol, in general, is empty calories, which isn’t exactly helpful when trying to lose weight. Yes, wine does have antioxidants, but it is not a necessary, nutrient-dense food. So if your goal is weight loss, you want to keep the alcohol consumption to a minimum. However, if you really enjoy a glass, don’t deprive yourself for so long that you end up binging. Just do not binge on alcohol.
- Do not let alcohol interrupt your schedule. Binge drinking and the hangover the next day really throw your body off and generally interrupts your diet and exercise routine. If you want to stay on track, binge drinking is not recommended. Enjoy a drink or two but be moderate. The pain and horrible feeling the next day really aren’t worth it. And they really do nothing to further your goals, let alone make you feel good.
- If you can, make healthier switches. While a strawberry daiquiri or frozen blended margarita may be delicious, it probably isn’t the healthiest choice. A great indulgence but not a healthy every day drink. Make simple switches and choose healthier options. Wine and even certain hard alcohol drinks (with out the sugary syrups) can be good in moderation.
- A healthy diet should make you feel GOOD. If your alcohol consumption isn’t making you feel good, it is way too much. If it is hindering you from reaching your goals, it is too much. There is no set number, no exact right amount of drinks. Just really consider whether or not it is helping or hurting you.
- Do not drink alcohol before food right after a workout or competition. The alcohol will prevent the absorption of nutrients your body needs and reduce your ability to recover.
Alcohol CAN be a part of a healthy diet but only in moderation. It can be enjoyed but should never leave you feeling anything but refreshed the next morning.
You want to eat and DRINK to support your goals.
The SECRET To Success – CONSISTENCY and TRACKING
Everyone thinks there is some secret to being healthy. And there is…being able to be honest with yourself.
Being honest with yourself about how consistent you truly are at sticking to your diet and exercise program.
I know I harp on CONSISTENCY and TRACKING as being the keys to success ALL THE TIME but they truly are.
There are a bazillion different diets and exercise routines that can work for people.
And honestly the problem isn’t generally the diet…It is the person.
Often when people fail it isn’t because the diet was bad, it is that they don’t truly stick to it – they aren’t CONSISTENT in eating clean.
We all know that one cheat meal isn’t going to make a huge difference yet we expect one clean meal to create huge changes.
But one meal isn’t going to change things. Habits change things. Doing the right thing day in and day out changes things.
That doesn’t mean you have to be perfect every day. It just means that you consistently actually have to STICK to your healthy habits.
All you have to do is be good 80% of the time.
Often people confuse CONSISTENCY with PERFECTION, but they are nowhere near one in the same.
Stop making excuses as to why your diet isn’t working and take a look at whether or not you are actually sticking with the program.
I can’t stress enough the importance of tracking your progress and your diet and exercise program. When we track, we have to be HONEST with ourselves about what we are actually doing.
We can’t ignore that “cheat,” that skipped workout. We can’t just say, “Oh I was pretty darn good yesterday” and forget about the fact that we weren’t at all consistent over the last week.
Tracking shows us the cold hard facts. It let’s us know if we are actually doing what we are supposed to be doing.
So even though keeping a food log is a pain in the ass…yup that’s right…I said ASS…It may just be what you need to help you get on track to accomplish your goals.
It will show you that it may not be the diet that is failing…It may be your CONSISTENCY!
Try it this next week. Log your food in an app like Spark People or My Fitness Pal. See if you are as consistent as you believed you are.
Man Bicep 