Happy St. Patty’s Day!
While I’ll pass on the green beer, I will indulge in some not-so-Irish Coffee, Organic Cider and delicious Man Bicep dishes!
After surviving the Filthy 50 this morning, Ryan and I came back and made some breakfast – Corned Beef Hash and a not so Irish Coffee.
Corned Beef Hash
Ingredients:
1/2 lbs Corned Beef (cooked in the slow cooker the day before)
1 potato
1 onion
2 tbsp The Meat House Duck Fat
Garlic to taste
3 eggs
Heat duck fat in a pan with garlic and add in the diced potatoes and chopped onion. Once the potatoes start to brown, add in chopped up corned beef. Once potatoes are a golden brown and the corned beef is hot, divide onto plates. Cook eggs in butter till over easy. Top the hash with eggs and serve!
Man Bicep not-so-Irish Coffee
Ingredients:
Freshly brewed fair-trade organic coffee
1 tbsp Godiva liqueur
1 spoonful homemade whipped cream (Recipe here. I left out the chocolate this week)
Poor a cup of freshly brewed coffee and add in Godiva liqueur. Top with a spoonful of the whipped cream.
With breakfast we also had a “food experiment.” I made protein pancakes, which actually were delicious especially when topped with a spoonful of the whipped cream!
Protein Pancakes
Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tbsp unsalted Almond butter
1/2 scoop of Optimum Double Rich Chocolate Whey Protein
1 tbsp of Coconut oil (courtesy of Trader Joes)
Beat eggs, almond butter and whey protein together until completely combined. Heat coconut oil in skillet. When coconut oil is hot, scoop batter onto heat (With the measurements above, you can make two decent sized pancakes.) Flip when bottom starts to become golden.
If heat is hot, it takes only about a minute or two on each side. Be careful – It is easy to over-cook these. When both sides are just lightly golden, remove from heat and serve.
We topped with a bit of whipped cream but a berry compote would also be delicious on top.
These “pancakes” were easy to make and could be refrigerated and eaten throughout the week as a quick breakfast option!
Ok…more recipes to come as we enjoy a relaxing St. Patty’s day watching some March Madness! Anyone else an addict?
Getting Antsy
While I’ve done some light cardio, rehab/prehab, a very short pull up/push up pyramid and taught spin this week, I’m antsy to start back with the intense workouts. A week off and I’m raring to go!!
This first week back I’m going to be doing fast-paced circuits that use higher reps and lighter weight. The week after that….back to some heavy lifting!!!
And my first workout back will be the Filthy 50. YAY!
“Filthy 50”:
For time:
50 Box jumps (24 inch box)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings (1 pood or about 35-36lbs)
Walking Lunge 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press (45 pounds)
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots (20 pound ball) (If you don’t have a wall you can chuck a ball at, sub in squats with OH Presses using a kb)
50 Burpees
50 Double unders
Try it and record your time. In a few weeks after doing some other workouts of the week, go back and try it again and see if you can improve your time! (By the way, these are technically the weights for men. Suggested adjustments for women are 20 inch box, 20lbs kb, still 45lbs push press and 12lbs wall ball.)
And to make sure you are motivated to try this workout, here is a mom and daughter duo showing off their Man Muscles!
Jasmine (mom) showing off her Man TRICEP!
Tati (daughter) showing off one of the guns!
Also, a pretty cool picture of a t-shirt that Mary Kate sent me.
LOVE!
Sparking Enthusiasm
The other day a client asked me about my workout routine and I got super excited to explain the new phase of my program.
My enthusiasm made her say, “You’re kind of a fitness nerd…aren’t you?”
Uhm…
Yea…I am!
You know those really annoying people who could talk about something every second of every day?
That’s me!
And I like to think that my enthusiasm is infectious. Actually, I know it is because enthusiasm in general is infectious.
Today, I was working with a new client who wanted to start lifting heavy. (YAY!) My excitement to work with her and her excitement to lift just made the entire meeting fly by.
But the most important part is that my love of lifting was passed on to her. She enjoyed the session so much that I know, that not only will she continue to lift heavy, but that she will also tell her friends that they should too!
Enthusiasm for women lifting heavy is infectious. I’m just doing everything I can to spread the love.
On that note, if you like the Man Bicep Facebook page AND like the comment/video that says “For every like, I’ll do a push up” Candy or I will actually do a push up! Check out the 7 push ups we’ve done already!
Children PLAY, Adults WORKOUT
So one of my clients today mentioned that at her daughter’s preschool they were teaching the kids yoga (which I think is actually a really great idea!).
Downward dog is apparently her daughter’s favorite. She practices the moves all around the house and loves teaching her mom, my client, the moves they learn at school.
Her daughter seems to love the yoga and definitely doesn’t consider it to be working out.
For her, yoga is another form of play.
When does the majority of society stop considering working out to be playing?
Is that age getting earlier and earlier as TV, video games and more sedentary extra curricular activities are becoming more popular for our children to do? Or maybe is it all of the organized sports for kids of all ages?
Or maybe it’s us adults that are the problem. We enable or inadvertently discourage play. I’m not being mean or even really judging. I’m just being honest.
I mean who isn’t going to get their kid video games if ever other kid on the block has them? Who isn’t going to want to sit down and watch TV or a movie with their kid after a long day at work?
I’m guilty of not encouraging play sometimes when I babysit. If I’ve had a long day, I love putting on a cute Disney movie and vegging out next to the kids. I don’t have to move or do any work! YES!
And the organized sports? Why are we starting kids with ORGANIZED sports so young? Why not let them experiment with different activities and have fun?
I guess I’m just wondering how much the pressure of organize sports changes what should be “play” into something they “have to do” like working out…
So is it all our fault? Are we adults to blame?
Maybe if we start playing more, our children will!
Go play on the playground with your kids. Go paddle boarding. Go run and climb and swing in the trees with your children.
Make working out play again!
Just like Ivy Morphine of the Boston Derby Dames does!
Ivy Morphine of the Boston Derby Dames showing off her Man Bicep!
Why blame the red meat?
See! It is all a conspiracy!
Seriously, why is everyone so determined to blame red meat for all our health problems? I swear I saw at least 3 stupid sensational news pieces about it today.
Why does everyone look to cut out red meat before processed foods and gluten?
Sorry people, but we ate red meat way before we had all of the diet related health problems that we have now.
It is interesting to note that most studies don’t take into account how many carbs or vegetable oils people consume along with the supposedly dangerous fatty red meat.
It is also interesting to note that most of the doctors that support these studies have vegetarian leanings…like Dr. Ornish…He has the “Ornish diet,” which, with its vegetarian leanings is supported by this study.
Everyone (myself included) will jump on board studies that benefit them! But come on people…take a look at the study. They didn’t look at gluten, processed foods OR vegetable oils. So who says it is the red meat that we’ve been eating since our hunter-gatherer days?
On to the next article I found…
The article starts out by blaming our bad omega-6 to omega-3 ratio on red meat.
Ok…but red meat isn’t the thing highest in omega-6s so why is it being blamed by this article for “diet induced obesity?!!”
Actually the protein highest in omega-6s with the worst ratio is, CHICKEN! And guess what else provides you with way more omega-6s than red meat?
VEGETABLE OIL!
So why is red meat being singled out?
Both of these studies also don’t consider the difference between grass-fed beef and grain-fed beef.
Can I just point out that there is a HUGE difference between the two!!!
Just to name two differences…Grass-fed beef has more omega-3s and is LEANER than grain-fed beef. Also, grass-fed beef has CLA, which has been proven to prevent cancer! Check out more health benefits of grass-fed beef here!
Now just some extra PROOF that we shouldn’t eat less meat and more carbs!!!!
Here is a study “A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet versus a Low-Fat Diet to treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia – A randomized, controlled trial” that compared the effects of a low-fat diet to that of a low-carb diet. The conclusions drawn from this diet were:
Conclusions: Compared with a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet program had better participant retention and greater weight loss. During active weight loss, serum triglyceride levels decreased more and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with the low-fat diet. (They also state that HDL went up and that with continued weight loss the LDL lowered down.)
I also just want to link out to a guy who has proof coming out of his ears that red meat isn’t the problem – Gary Taubes. Below is a quote from an interview
You have to consider that when I wrote the article I already knew the results of five clinical trials—short term, admittedly—that compared Atkins-like low-carb diets to low-fat, low-calorie diets of the kind recommended by the American Heart Association. Since my article came out, those five studies have been published and they all showed that cholesterol profiles—specifically triglycerides—improved on low-carb diets compared to the AHA diets. So I knew that your uncle’s bacon double cheeseburger for breakfast wouldn’t kill him as long as he remembered to skip the bun.
I also knew that some 30% of Americans—40% over 60, which probably includes your uncle—have Syndrome X/Metabolic Syndrome and, for those people, low-fat diets will do more harm than good. I also knew that long-term studies of low-fat, low-calorie diets showed they were worthless and didn’t lead to long-term weight loss. I also knew that if individuals could lose weight on Atkins or any diet, their cholesterol would drop with the weight, regardless of the diet. Knowing all that, I knew that anyone could try a low-carb diet and it wouldn’t kill them and might actually help them. I had faith that if they somehow gained weight eating all the fat that Atkins recommends, they’d stop the diet. (I’m still mystified by nutritionists and other “experts”, who feel they have to condemn a diet in advance because some individuals might allegedly gain weight. Don’t they think that anyone smart enough to read what they write is also smart enough to stop a diet that doesn’t work for them ?)
Ok now bring on the red meat haters!
Top 10 ways to quickly and easily improve your diet
This amused me but my sense of humor is questionable.
- Don’t drink your calories. Most people aren’t usually very aware of just how many calories they are consuming each day through liquids. AKA stop drinking sodas and fruit juices. Both are loaded with sugar and really aren’t good for you. Fruit juices also aren’t the same as eating a piece of fruit – they don’t have near the nutritional value of actual fruit. I also find that I feel way more satisfied when I’ve chewed my calories instead of drinking them.
- Cut out gluten. So this is obviously my Primal bias, but if you cut out gluten you will be amazed by the changes in your body. You will lose fat ESPECIALLY stubborn belly fat. Plus if you cut out gluten, you can add in way more nutritionally dense calories like fruits and veggies. Gluten has also been linked to inflammation, which causes a whole host of health problems!
- Eat more veggies. Uhm hello!?! More vitamins and minerals AND few calories? They are just screaming out, “EAT ME!”
- Drink more water. I’m not saying you have to get exactly 8 glasses of water a day. I’m just saying that you should make sure you get enough water to stay well hydrated. Sometimes you can think you are hungry when you are actually thirsty. I also find that most of my clients munch when they are bored. Having a bottle of water there keeps them from munching but still gives them something to do.
- Keep a food journal. Most people really aren’t fully aware of what they are consuming. Keeping a food journal can help you realize when and where you are struggling with your diet. It can also help you make sure you are taking in enough (but not too many) calories as well as sufficient vitamins and minerals!
- Plan out your meals. I find that most people get into trouble when they don’t know what they are going to eat and let themselves get super hungry before they decide. When you are super hungry, you usually have less self-control and are more likely to eat something you’ll regret later. So plan out your meals. If I know I’m going to a restaurant but don’t want to cheat, I even look at the menu before I go so that I know what my options are. Planning makes committing to the diet so much easier!
- Don’t wait till you’re starving to go searching for food. I rarely get to the point any more where I’m starving and can’t control myself (mostly thanks to IF), but when I do reach that point, I’m going to grab the first thing that looks good, which usually isn’t good for me. I’m also way more tempted by simple carbs when I’m starving. Most people make poor decisions when they are starving so plan ahead. Bring small healthy snacks just in case. Celery, carrots…veggies in general are a great snack option!
- Enforce the 80/20 rule. If I don’t allow myself little treats, I find that I eventually lose all self-control. Knowing that each week I get a little “Primal cheat” helps me be good 80% of the time. Perfection is very hard to reach, but being good 80% of the time is totally manageable! Plus if you are “perfect” one week, you can be proud of yourself instead of feeling like you ruined a week if you had one little cheat during it!
- Plan to cheat. If there is a food you love, don’t just indefinitely deny yourself of it. Planning in cheats can help you stay more committed because you KNOW there is a time when you will get the cheat foods you enjoy!
- Eat more fat! Fat makes you feel full. It is also SUPER GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH! Having a good omega-3 to omega-6 ratio is essential to optimal health and reducing inflammation. Take fish oils. Eat grass-fed butter. Avoid processed vegetable oils! Your energy level will be great AND so will your health!
R…E…S…T…
That spells rest, people!
Not truly related but it made me laugh.
I love working out. Actually, I’m addicted to working out.
But even I realize that REST is a very necessary and IMPORTANT part of any workout program.
Apparently though, most people refuse to rest no matter how much their body is screaming at them that they need to.
If you plateau or your body feels constantly fatigued or you are INJURED, you should probably take some time off!
I had this woman in my cycling class today with tendonitis in her knee.
Tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon in your body and is most often caused by overuse.
HA! Overuse!?! Hmm maybe I am right that rest is important….
Today she asked me to check her bike set up since her tendonitis hasn’t healed even though she has had it for months.
I asked what she was doing for “treatment.”
She kind of just looked at me. I asked if she took any anti-inflammatory medication. I asked if she iced her knee. I asked if she took any time off.
Pretty much, the answer was no. She took ibuprofen occasionally. And she iced it at the beginning. But time off!?!
She looked at me like I had three heads.
I wanted to laugh in her face. You are asking me about bike alignment when you haven’t taken any time off for an injury that is probably caused by overuse!?!
I told her she needs to take an anti-inflammatory and that she needs to ice. I also told her that she NEEDS to take time off. I mean as it is tendons have poor blood flow and take even longer to heal so not taking time off definitely isn’t helping!
She gave me another look and all I could do was turn and walk away.
She wasn’t going to listen. She wasn’t going to take time off.
And why not!?!
Because she might miss a week of cycling? What was she training for that was more important than resting and healing her body?
Nothing? Go figure!
Pushing through an injury or extreme fatigue isn’t “cool” or “gnarly.” It’s plain old stupid.
Trust me. I’ve been there and done that. I have the battle scars to prove it.
So learn from my mistakes. Don’t push through an injury. REST!
Because if you do try to push through, you may end up needing to take more than a few days or a week off. Just remember a minor injury can become worse if you keep pushing it.
What is the point of injuring yourself so badly that you need surgery or to take months off when you could just have rested for a week?
And what really gets me is that the woman in my class wasn’t even pushing through because it was her job or career! She is merely a recreational exerciser!!!
So don’t be stupid. REST when your body hints it needs it.
You’ll come back stronger if you do!
P.S. I didn’t have time to finish the foam rolling video so it will be posted later this week. Sorry!
Growing the Guns
So as I mentioned in my post yesterday, Saturday is my self-control recharge day. I usually go into the gym for a nice deadlift workout before I begin my day of binging, but I just wasn’t up to it today.
Actually, I realized I need a full de-loading week. I usually try to wait till a vacation to take a week off, but with no vacations planned for the near future, I’m just going to be taking next week off from weights. It is always hard taking time off when you are still in the gym 24/7, but hey it’s necessary. (Tomorrow I will post a nice little video about foam rolling!)
Anyway, today for one of my cheat treats, I made chocolate coconut whipped cream for our coffee. Can you say DELICIOUS!?!
Chocolate Coconut Whipped Cream
Chocolate coconut whipped cream in a mug Ryan made for me with some delicious breakfast potatoes and grapefruit!
Ingredients:
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup organic grass-fed heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Trader Joe’s coconut milk
Whip cream and coconut milk together until the mixture starts to thicken. Add in cocoa powder and continue blending until the thick consistency of whipped cream (takes about 5-8 minutes depending on what level the mixer is on).
If you need a bit of sweetness, add in a tsp of powdered sugar. I don’t find it necessary but it won’t kill you either!
Our breakfast was also delicious. Occasionally, I add in potatoes on Saturday and today’s breakfast potatoes were delicious.
The Meat Lover’s Breakfast Potatoes
The Meat Lover's breakfast potatoes and half a grapefruit. YUM!
Ingredients:
1 potato
1/2 lbs The Meat House Lamb Merguez
1/2 onion
1 tsp cumin
2 slices of nitrite free bacon
1 oz Chorizo (Nitrite-free from the Meat House!! Our latest discovery!)
1 tbsp Duck fat (courtesy of The Meat House)
Chili powder, salt and pepper to taste
3 cage-free, omega-3 eggs
Brown the bacon and onion with cumin in a skillet. Add duck fat and potatoes. Once the potatoes start to brown, add merguez and chorizo.
Once mixture is cooked, divide onto plates. Cook eggs in grass-fed butter and place over breakfast potatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder.
Since I’ve provided you with recipes to help grow the guns, I think it is now appropriate to show you some true Man Biceps!
Heather's awesome bicep! A dedicated runner who can appreciate the benefits of weight training!
A pre-birthday bicep picture from Kristen who recently started weight training!
And last but not least…an early St. Patty’s day bicep from Alyson…
Her bicep says "Lucky." 🙂 LOVE IT!
Self-control – Keeping the tank full
Your self-control is like a tank of gas.
You start with a full tank, but each and every time you use your self-control, the tank goes down.
And you know when you hit empty – it’s the day when no matter how hard you try, you just can’t stop yourself from stuffing your face with everything in the cabinet.
So how do you keep yourself from getting so low on self-control that you lose all control?
You give yourself days to recharge where you don’t have to use your self-control!
We take days off from working out to rest our bodies. We take days off from work to recharge for the next week.
So why wouldn’t you need to take a day off from eating a perfectly clean diet?
80/20 remember!?!
This recharge each week isn’t an all out cheat, which can be good to do every once in a while if you enjoy non-healthy foods like I do.
But instead this recharge day, unlike the other 6 days of the week when you try to not eat past being satiated, you can eat till you are absolutely and completely stuffed full of all the Primal foods you enjoy!
For me this day is Saturday, each and every week. Yep even during my very strict two months, I had a day to recharge.
Each and every Saturday, I would indulge in all of the Primal foods I loved until I was so stuffed full I didn’t want to eat anything else. Depending on the week, I could have anything from potatoes fried in duck fat to full-fat cheese, dark chocolate, nuts and fruit.
All still whole, natural foods, but I didn’t worry about the quantity in which I ate them. If I wanted a huge hunk of cheese, I ate it. If I was craving something sweet? I would eat dark chocolate macadamia nut bark, or fruit or my primal “sorbet” (frozen berries, heavy cream and dark chocolate pieces all mashed together).
Not only did this day help me refill my self-control tank so that I could make it through another week of meat and veggies, but I also truly believe that this high calorie day really helped me get as lean as I did in two months.
All of the diets that I’ve found to be successful and fairly easy to maintain, are diets that have give you one “cheat day” each and every week. I mean just take a look at Lean Gains or Tim Ferriss of the 4 Hour Body.
And these diets incorporate cheat days because cheat days promote fat loss because they:
- Increased thyroid hormone output. When in a caloric deficit, underfed individuals produce less T3 and T4—both important thyroid hormones that play roles in the regulation of metabolic rate. A cheat day or strategic overfeed is used in part to increase these hormones.
- Increased 24-Hour Energy Expenditure. A caloric surplus from a cheat day causes the body to upregulate basal metabolic rate (BMR). Some studies have shown an increase of 9% above baseline, and it’s hypothesized that more is possible.
- Increased serum Leptin levels. The big one that most harp on. Leptin levels drop while in a caloric deficit (lasting as little as 72 hours), and a periodic bump in leptin coming from a cheat day has several benefits including increased thyroid output, increased energy expenditure and BMR, and overall increased thermogenesis.
Of course, there’s the psychological benefit of being able to take a day off from your diet; eat whatever you like and be comfortable in the knowledge that you’ll still get lean. It’s hard to quantify how much that actually helps, but the majority of folks who opt to use cheating protocols cite this as one of the most significant benefits. (RFS)
So if you “cheat” once a week not only can you recharge your self-control, but you also make your diet more conducive to fat loss (and more enjoyable)!
Man Bicep 