Before you hit the gym, take a look in your pantry

Before walking into the gym or wherever it is that you like to work out, you have probably already made 4-5 decisions far more important than whatever you are about to do. Let’s talk nutrition for a minute. Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, I am not a doctor, or a certified trainer; all of these statements are solely based on my experiences, both good and bad.

You may remember from my intro my previous life as a college soccer player. When I was playing I was able to eat anything in sight; 3-4 hours of practice/weights will do that to a person. After graduating and exploring different aspects of fitness and exercise, I settled into the weight room. I did months of workouts and wasn’t getting the results I wanted. The fact is, no matter what you do for the hour you are at the gym, it will not overcome the other 23 hours in a day. Once I got my nutrition in check I started to see the results I was hoping for. Here is what I have learned:

--People will tell you to lose weight you must eat multiple small meals throughout the day. I can’t disagree with this more. Eat when you are hungry- if you are not hungry, don’t eat. Simple enough.

--Cut out the processed nonsense. If you can’t pronounce the word, you probably shouldn’t eat it.

--Focus on clean sources of protein: chicken, fish, etc.

--All fats aren’t bad; don’t avoid the good ones. You should understand the difference between the fat in a candy bar and the fat in an avocado.

--Carbs aren't the enemy, as long as you get the important carbs. This goes back to the processed comment; focus on whole grains.

--Track your macros (carbs, fats, protein) but don’t obsess over them. I only suggest tracking them so you can really get a glimpse of what you put in your body. If you have to write it down, you have to be more aware of what you are eating.  Don't let this become obsessive to the point where you also cannot enjoy food.

--Plan out meals. It’s easy to grab something unhealthy when it's 6pm and you want dinner, but if you already have your meal planned you're much more likely to eat something in line with your health goals.

--Diets are temporary, change your lifestyle.

--MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you are going to have a cheat meal, whether it is cake, candy bar, whatever, then make sure you satisfy the craving. Enjoy the indulgence and then get past it.

 

Hopefully you can incorporate as many, if not all, of these into your routine. Whether you are trying to gain weight, lose it, or just maintain, nutrition is number one. Don’t forget, your body keeps a journal that everyone can read. Next up on my list of posts is supplementation! Until next time, work hard in the gym and get in the kitchen!

Sometimes you feel like a Nut...tasty, yet easy Paleo Granola!

One of my guilty pleasures since starting Crossfit and changing my diet has become nuts, particularly almonds and cashews. I don’t know if something has changed about my metabolism or what, but I used to NEVER eat them, like ever, and now I’m fairly certain that I could live off of them alone. Tree nuts contain a good bit of fat, but it's a healthy fat so I suppose it's better to binge eat on almonds than Twinkies. This is one of my down falls though, because although they are healthy and completely Paleo/Whole30, I still believe that you should practice some self-restraint and only eat them in moderation (something I tend to epically fail at). I’ve even read in some places that you should only eat them in amounts equivalent to a topping, like for your salad or other meals, rather than eating them in handfuls on their own as a snack. On the other hand, I have read or know of many athletes who will have a palm full of nuts with breakfast or lunch, so as always you just have to figure out what amount works for your body and your level of workout intensity.

I have to admit that I haven’t had time to finish reading “Paleo Solution” by Robb Wolf, but I hope to sometime in the relatively near future and I will hopefully be able to give you a little more insight on this topic when I do. Dallas and Melissa’s book, “It Starts with Food,” contains a table that is helpful to decide which nuts (and seeds) are better for you when you do choose to eat them. The best nut choices include cashews, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts. The middle category contains almonds, brazil nuts, pecans, and pistachios. Flax seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and walnuts make up the lowest tier of this type of food.

            A big mistake that I made shortly after starting crossfit, but before my Whole30 challenge was that I would have peanuts as a mid-day or pre-workout snack from time to time. Contrary to their name, peanuts are NOT nuts! Peanuts are considered legumes, a food group that includes beans and lentils; and legumes are not Paleo or Whole30. The argument against legumes, and therefore peanuts, is that they act similar to how grains affect your gut, whole separate topic for a  future blog.

            Nonetheless, granola (when eaten in moderation) can make for a delicious, yet, healthy and filling snack. My favorite is to eat it like cereal with almond milk and maybe some fresh sliced fruit or berries, but it’s just as good on its own! Here is the original recipe, but I made a few changes: http://lexiscleankitchen.com/2013/05/25/paleo-granola/ (I get a lot of my recipes from “Just Eat Real Food” on facebook…they post a lot of great stuff, but be sure to read the ingredients because I have found some non-Paleo stuff on there and some of it is Primal instead of Paleo; you can also pin this stuff to your pinterest which is what I do…feel free to follow me there as well!).

Ingredients:

•   2 cups nuts (I used cashews, raw slivered almonds, hazelnuts and chopped pecans- pulsed in magic bullet to break into to small pieces, but not ground completely)

•   1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I used desiccated, but shredded would work as well)

•   1/2 cup sunflower seeds

•   2 tbsp flaxseed meal

•   2 tbsp sesame seeds (I used pumpkin seeds instead)

•   1 tbsp cinnamon

•   1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional and I used apple pie spice because I didn’t like pumpkin pie when I last tried it so I figured pumpkin spice granola may not be my favorite either)

•   Dash of salt

•   3 tbsp coconut oil

•   3 tbsp honey (I was running short on honey when I made this last so I substituted the difference with pure maple syrup)

•   1 tsp vanilla extract

•   2 tbsp pure maple syrup (can sub agave/or omit)

•   1 tbsp almond butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. In a large bowl combine nuts, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, flaxseed meal, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, pumpkin/apple pie spice, and a dash of salt.

3.  In a pan on the stove combine coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract, pure maple syrup, and almond butter; Let boil.

4. Once boiling, pour over dry mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly.

5. Pour onto baking sheet. A lot of times I'll double the recipe, but regardless be sure to spread the mixture well so there's only a thin, even layer otherwise you may end up with the thinner parts burned and the thicker sections a little undercooked. Bake at 350, stirring occasionally, until slightly brown (watch carefully to ensure that it doesn’t burn!)

6. Let cool and then break apart and its ready to eat or be stored!

Enjoy!
~ Hailey ~

Insanity and Making Plyo Work for You

I want to do a quick shout out to my awesome husband who weathered (teehee) tons of rain and mud a couple weeks ago so that I could enjoy day 2 of Music Midtown.  He didn't say it directly, but I'm sure if it were just him, he'd have bypassed all that muck and just spent the day hopping breweries.

Just to give you an idea of how much walking you can do at an outdoor concert/festival, here's screenshot from my Fitbit app:

Pretty impressive, no?  Kind of amazing how far you can walk if you're on your feet all day.  

As an aside, I love my Fitbit Flex.  Jeremy has the Jawbone Up but has managed to break it twice.

So, the point of today's post is to provide a quick review of the Insanity fitness program from Beachbody, but more importantly, to provide some advice for getting the benefits of a plyometric workout no matter what your favorite exercise happens to be.

Insanity

My journey: I started Insanity on my 24th birthday after an insomnia-fueled pledge to actually get into shape after years of off-an-on weekend warrioring.  At the time, my fitness level amounted to running less than 6 miles per week and some occasional yoga or pilates.  The first two weeks were basically torture - my legs were so sore I could hardly function.  Eventually I learned that taking some extra time to stretch or go for a walk after the videos kept the pain to a dull ache.  Somehow, I made it through 9 weeks of intense, gut-busting plyometrics - and my results were pretty great.

I won't bore you with the details of every workout - other sites break down each DVD, including runtime and difficulty.  Instead, I want to highlight the unexpected benefits of this kind of HIIT Plyo.  Ok, if you want the gory details, scroll down to the postscript and I'll do a breakdown of each workout.

- HIIT is a super efficient way to burn mega calories.  I don't necessarily buy into the idea of "after burn" that all the HIITers will try to sell you on, but just calories burned in the workout can be impressive.

- Plyo will cut time off your runs/bike rides/laps at the pool.  You can't NOT build crazy muscle doing plyo.  I struggled to break a 10 min mile before Insanity - after 2 months I was closing in on a 7:30 pace.  I didn't run AT ALL while doing those 9 weeks, but still managed to shave 25% off my mile time.

- Plyo and HIIT is fun.  You are constantly changing your moves, changing your focus, going all out or catching your breath.  Time flies.

- You can get abs without working your abs.  Okay, you are technically working your abs, but it's like a secret.  Every jump, and every lateral movement can target in on your midsection if you just focus on keeping your core tight.  I never thought I would be one of those people with any kind of definition, but after Insanity I started to believe.

- You'll learn to love it.  I remember a time when dreaded any workout that involved jumping.  My rare days in the gym were spent on the elliptical or bike.  Jumping just seemed so exhausting.  Well, it is - but it's also really fun.  You find your inner kid pretty quickly.  You start to challenge yourself - higher! faster! Can I land without making any sound - like a ninja?!

Now, all that being said, you should definitely take it slow if you are new to these kind of workouts.  Plyo is the definition of high-impact and you need to be healthy to take it on.

Because not everyone has $120 laying around, I've got some recommendations for including Plyo into your normal workout routine:

Are you a runner?
    New to plyo?  Start skipping!  Seriously.  On your next run, take a lap or a quarter mile and skip it out.  Then back to running.  Then a lap of high knees, and another of butt kicks.  You may look silly, but these three moves will give you more power with time.
    Feel stronger?  At your halfway point, take a quick minute to stretch.  Then get to work with a few minutes of squat jumps, jump lunges, side-to-side hops.  Then go ahead and finish your run - bonus points if you treat it like an interval routine with sprints and recovery jogs.

Are you a pilates junkie?  Try these moves designed to lengthen your limbs while working up a sweat.
    Once you are nice and warmed up, start with vertical jumps (start with feet together, squat slightly then jump straight up, arms reaching high, getting as much air as you can).  Continue for up to a minute.
    Then get into a high plank and jump feet in, keeping legs straight, into a pike position.  Do a pike pushup and jump back.  Repeat x 20.
    Star jumps are next.  Feet together, squat down and touch your toes, then jump up, reaching arms and legs out wide and landing softly with feet together.  Return to start and repeat for up to a minute.
    Finish it off with pushup jacks.  Starting in a high plank, jump feet (and arms if you're up for challenge) out and lower down.  Bring legs (and arms) back together as you push back up.

Never leave the weights room?  Keep some dumbbells near by for these revved up moves.
     Burpee with curls is a great combo.  Stand, holding dumbbells to your sides then lower down, jump back into plank (if you have perfectly circular weights, you need to set them down; if not, you can keep your grip on them as handles).  Jump feet back in (knees together) and stand, curling into a strong bicep contraction.  Repeat for one minute.  Add in a pushup at the bottom for extra points.
   Next, do weighted 180 squat jumps.  Holding one dumbbell against your chest, squat low.  Jump up, spinning 180 degrees and pushing arms up high over your head.  Land softly and repeat x 20.
   Finish it off with weighted calf hops by starting with two basic weighted calf raises and following up with an explosive hop into the air, knees bent slightly to absorb your landing but focus on just using your calf for the power.  Repeat the raise-raise-hop move 25 times.

Alright, unless you are really interested in exactly what Insanity will put you through, I'll leave you here.  I appreciate you making it this far into a pretty dense post!  Think of all the calories your eye muscles must have burned!!

Go earn some sweat :)
-bgt

----------------Click below to read more about INSANITY...

Live, Love, Crossfit!

As my first real blog I thought I would just outline some things about the way I choose to workout. I don’t know how familiar people are with crossfit and many times when people ask me what I do they’re response is cross-what? My goal is to provide you with a non-biased, objective description of this style of training, but it’ll be hard since there are so many things that I love about what I do. So what is crossfit?...now that could be a fully-loaded question! For me personally, it’s the best of many aspects of working out: Olympic lifting, fast pace cardio, gymnastics movements, body-weight exercises, sometimes high rep, sometimes low rep, sometimes heavy weight, and sometimes not as heavy weight. One of my favorite things about crossfit is that I never get bored. There are so many WODs (Work out of the Day) and movement combinations that if you never wanted to do the same workout twice, you probably could. Although repeating the same WODs and lifts from time to time will allow you to measure your progress objectively. Switching from one movement to the next helps me to think less about how tired I am or how out of breath I am and more about pushing myself to get through this movement, this rep, this round, and before you know it….you’ve finished the workout! Because there are so many movements, there are always challenges and always things that you could be better at. If WODs start getting easier, do it faster or add more weight. While I don’t feel that anyone could say, “I have mastered the sport of crossfit,” it is also 100% scalable. If you’re just starting crossfit or maybe just starting to workout period, you can customize the WODs to your level of comfort and still get an awesome workout by scaling (aka lowering) the reps, the rounds, and/or the weight. For most of the movements there are even scaled movements, movements that can be substituted for those who can’t yet do prescribed movements whether it be for lack of strength, comfort, or due to injury. Periodically I will post links to specific crossfit programming sites and try to post scale down movements for those who are just starting crossfit, working up to Rx movements, or trying to do WODs at home with limited equipment. I would also encourage you to keep track of your workouts because it always feels good to look back at the last time you went for a one-rep max on a lift or did a WOD so you can see your progress!

When starting this blog, I asked for feedback about what all I should include. One of the common answers I received was about what the lifestyle of a crossfitter is like and how I make it fit into my schedule. Just like the WODs we do, you can commit to as much or as little of the “crossfit” lifestyle as you want….although just like anything else, you’ll only get out what you put in. Many crossfitters eat Paleo, some are more strict than others. Most crossfitters believe in scheduled rest days, some play their workout schedule by ear by listening to when their bodies tell them that they need rest. Everything you do must work for you, and what works for you may not work for someone else so most of what my boyfriend and I do has been determined by trial and error. We eat mostly paleo with a max of 3 cheat meals per week. Every morning we both have a protein shake for breakfast. The protein that we use is the only non-paleo item that we consume on a daily basis (and we don’t count this toward our cheat meals). I have my protein mixed with water or almond milk after every workout as well. We take 2 rest days every week. Thursday is our strict rest day…we usually do nothing as far as exercise. Sundays are usually our second rest day, but is most often, but not always, more of an active rest day….we’ll typically go for a family run with our furchild or maybe hiking. Being committed to working out almost everyday makes for a busy week for us. James and I usually get up around 4:30-5:00am, fix our shakes and coffee, take care of our dog, and start our day at work and at the hospital, respectively. We get home at varying times depending on the day, but usually between 4 and 5pm. We get ready and go workout around 5-5:30pm and are there until 7:30 or 8pm. Then its hurry home, fix and eat dinner, shower, and get in bed to do it all again tomorrow. My schedule varies depending on what rotation I am on and how much I have to study, which in turn determines how much time I allow myself to stay in the gym. During my third year when my days were longer and I had to study more, I limited my workouts to an hour and usually just did my box’s (crossfit terms for my gym) daily WOD. Now in my fourth year when my schedule is a little more lax and all my board exams are done, for now, I let myself stay at the gym longer (although this may change soon as I’m preparing for an away rotation in a couple weeks and getting ready to dive head first into interview season). Needless to say that with days like these, how do we also find time to prepare a healthy dinner rather than giving into the convenience of unhealthy fast food? My solution is plan ahead! Quick and easy meals and crockpot dinners have also become my best friends (so get excited about all the recipes that will be coming very soon)!

I think that the some of the most important things to keep in mind in regards to your health is:

1.                     We are not gingerbread cookies, therefore, there are no universal cookie cutter programs or diets that will work for everyone. I hope that when you read my blogs and other information on this topic that you take the information and make it your own…tweak it to fit your body and your lifestyle.

2.                     As my amazing boyfriend always reminds me: “Hailey, focus on the little victories!” You will not go from a couch potato to giving Rich Froning and Samantha Briggs (the winners of the 2013 Crossfit Games) a run for their money overnight. If you’re not active at all right now, focus on getting up and moving because something is better than nothing. If you are active, maybe you’ll get a PR (personal record) today, or this week, or maybe this month, but maybe not so concentrate on progress! So you couldn’t hit more weight on your lift, but you looked stronger and more solid and had better technique this time or maybe you got a few seconds faster or a couple more reps in on a WOD than you did last you did it.  

3.                     Read labels, know what you’re putting in your body! You’d be surprised to know what items have sugar and other nastiness added to them (more to come on paleo/whole30) J

4.                     Love what you do. I feel better, physically and mentally, when I eat paleo, which is why I chose to do it. I feel better and see more results when I crossfit and work on my Oly lifts so that’s what I do predominantly, but I also run and do yoga sometimes too. If you don’t love what you do, what you eat, and the way you feel then you won’t stick to any plan no matter how good it is or how much data there is to support that it works.

5.                     Abs are made in the kitchen. You can work out from sun up to sundown, but nothing substitutes for eating right. I see the biggest changes in how lean my body does and does not look when I look at what I’ve been eating. Just because you workout doesn’t mean you can pig out!

I promise my next blog won’t be so long and will be something you can apply, a workout or a yummy recipe! J Please feel free to post any questions, feedback, and/or constructive criticisms in the comments below! 

New Contributors!

New Week, New Name.

I'd like you welcome some new contributors!  I want to create a well-rounded resource for people looking to include new workouts and recipes into their arsenal.  I figured the best way to accomplish that would be to invite some new authors.

I'm going to let them introduce themselves below.  Shout out your welcome in the comments!

Geoff
Hello all and thank you so much Becky for inviting me on here!  I have always wanted to do a fitness/workout blog but never had the drive of my own to sit down and actually do one so kudos to you.

A little back ground history for those who don't know me:
Name: Geoff
Occupation: Engineer
Athletic Interest: NCAA soccer player, marathon / half marathon runner, and gym junkie
Age: 26
Nickname: Nerd in the weight room

So as I said, i was really excited when Becky said she was going to be adding some new contributors to her blog and couldn't wait to be a part of it.  She then went on to ask what I would like to contribute to the blog and this was a harder question to answer than expected.  I have always been a huge fitness junkie.  With soccer all through college, I then became a crazy marathon runner and have now transitioned into a weight lifting regiment.  With all that said, I decided it would be best to share with you my experiences whether it be in the weight room, on the running path, on the soccer pitch, or even in the kitchen.  There is a TON of information out there, and not all of is correct as well as most of it is taken out context.  I look forward to sharing my experiences and all that I have learned along the way.  So get ready to sweat, learn, and most importantly, eat.

Hailey

Hello everyone! I am very excited that Becky has asked for my input for this blog. I've considered blogging about my fitness and diet adventures before, but never really had time and didn't know how to get started. I am a 4th year medical student currently applying to OBGYN residency programs. I have always been very active and began cheering competitively and tumbling in middle school, competed on two cheerleading teams throughout all four years of high school, and continued to cheer in college, although no longer competitively. I also got some experience with olympic-style lifting and traditional weightlifting programs during college. January of my first year of medical school I started running and ran my first 10K that May, several 5Ks after that, and finally my first half-marathon February of 2012. I also started going to a bootcamp at a local gym around that time. July 2012 I moved to a new clinical campus for my last two years of school and it was then that I started crossfit.

I have tried several different strategies with my diet, from portion control to strict calorie counting. In January 2013, I decided to participate in a Whole30 challenge with my crossfit gym. I stuck to Whole30 for 31 days, then continued to eat strict Whole30 during the week with breaks on the weekends for another several months until I switched to Paleo. Now I eat about 60-70% Paleo.

I am looking forward to sharing what I've learned along my personal fitness journey and my experiences with crossfit and Whole30/Paleo/Primal (including some amazing recipes), but I'm also very excited to see what other people have to share about their experiences as well!


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As a final note, I want to highlight a recent article in the British Medical Journal that touts exercise as equal to medicine in preventing death from a second heart attack, and perhaps better than medicine at preventing stroke-related mortality.  As if you needed another reason to get off the couch and move!


bgt