Broccoli Cheddar Scramble for Breakfast

Well I decided since I've been bugged one too many times I would start blogging again. I wouldn't expect very frequent posting, but I'll do my best to post some happenings on a somewhat irregular basis.

The past week I went on what was likely the most painful diet I've ever tried. I'll post more on it later as I want to see a bit longer term effects before I give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

That said it was nice to wake up this morning and get back to my roots with a favorite of mine. Anyone that knows me, knows I despise broccoli. My Dad always used to make broccoli with this awesome cheddar cheese sauce and I found broccoli in that state to be tolerable. Anyway here is my breakfast this morning. It was a treat.

What you are looking at is a broccoli cheddar scromelet. It's an attempt at an omelet gone bad, so you just end up with a scramble at the end. I believe I acquired this term from Eric Cressey a while back. Anyway it's extremely simple to make.

1 cup of steamed broccoli (I steam mine for about 10 minutes, if you like mushy broccoli go ahead and steam it some more)

4-5 Whole Omega-3 Eggs (I like Oakdell farms here locally in Utah, but any omega 3 egg will do, if you are trying to shave calories some egg whites in place of a couple of the whole eggs might serve you well)

1 tsp coconut oil (you could use another cooking oil, or cultured butter, I use coconut oil because it withstands higher temp cooking better).

1 oz. of cultured cheddar cheese shredded (I like sharp cheddar from organic valley)

Salt to taste.

Put the coconut oil in the pan and after it melts swirl it around the bottom of the pan, put in the broccoli and saute it just a bit. You should hear the broccoli sizzle a little when it hits the pan, else your pan is too cold. Add the eggs and scramble them all around with the broccoli. Once the eggs are almost done, add in the cheese and let it melt. Once the cheese is good and melty throw it on a plate.

I had this meal today with a piece of fruit and a cup of Kukicha green tea from adagio teas. 2 tsp's of liquid fish oil and I was off to a great morning.

Eat Less. Move More.

Eat less. Move More. It is that simple, but as you can see for some, it's just not easy.

Fish Oil Burps

Most people are aware now that supplementing with omega-3 fats can provide a whole host of benefits. Even with this knowledge a lot of people complain that when they take fish oil they get the "fish burps." Some go as far as not taking fish oil just because of this. The benefits of fish oil are just too strong to ignore and sometimes you've just got to suck it up, but fortunately for those wanting an alternative here are a few things to try to combat and hopefully prevent fish burps.

Barney just can't stand that fishy repeat

1. Refrigerate your fish oil - This tends to work for most people. I'm not sure the science behind it, but I'd imagine the colder you keep it the less likely it is to go rancid on you. Liquid fish oil should always be refrigerated and I've noticed certain high end brands of fish oil are now recommended that it be refrigerated as well.

2. Use liquid fish oil instead of capsules - Most people are repulsed by the thought of taking a spoonful of fish oil, but to be honest the taste is not bad at all. The Lemon Flavored Carlson's Fish Oil has a subtle flavor that is actually quite enjoyable. You can even use it to compliment the flavor of a shake. The downsides to this is that it has to be refrigerated so it's not "portable" like fish oil capsules. That said it's still an excellent choice and I've never gotten a fishy repeat after taking it.

When life gives you lemon flavored fish oil...

3. Take your fish oil capsules with a meal - This works less often than the other two, but some find it super effective (myself included). As long as I take my fish oil with food (which you should be doing anyway) I don't get any of those nasty burps. I'm not talking about a snack here either, I'm talking about a legit amount of food.

4. Try a different brand of fish oil - Cheaper brands of fish oil tend to be more burpy than others, so just make sure you are buying a quality brand, because lets face it you get what you pay for.

5. Take enteric coated capsules - enteric coating on capsules tends to be easier on the stomach and many people who switch to these kinds of capsules for fish oil never switch back. Costco (Kirkland brand) sells this type in a blue bottle.

Now what's your excuse for not taking your fish oil today?

Mark Martin Set to Dominate Daytona 500

Though I'm sure many of my readers don't know who Mark Martin is, he has always been someone who has inspired me. Some would argue that Nascar is not a sport, but not knowing the physical and mental demands of the sport I can understand that argument. That said Martin is a 50 year old I've watched race ever since I was a kid and though he's always a force to be reckoned with, he's never won the coveted Daytona 500 nor captured a Nascar championship.

So Close...

So what does this have to do with fitness and health. Well Mark is arguably the fittest guy out there. He trains harder than any other driver and now he can couple that with some of the best equipment which gives him the ingredients to a recipe for victory.

Today Martin will race in his 25th Daytona 500, and he's starting just outside of the pole. I don't think anyone will take him lightly in this race as he is sure to contend. There is nobody that deserves this win more than he does. Nobody is going to hand it to him though, he'll have to go out there and take what is his.

Eggs, 6 Pack Abs & Michael Phelps

Can you build a better body while eating 16 eggs a day? Check out this CNN article here.

The news managed to solve another mystery this week. Just how exactly does Michael Phelps get the appetite to eat 12,000+ calories per day.

Munchies!

Missing the Bigger Picture

I was recently at a meeting where they reviewed the "new" food pyramid. Yes I realize it's not all that new as it has been around for at least a couple years now.

These so called health experts went over the differences from the old to the new. One of which is that all food groups are essential. The thing that bothered me the most is that they missed what I would deem the largest change, which was the silhouette climbing the stairs signifying the need for activity.

They spent so much time going over the food that they forgot to mention the fact that exercise plays a crucial role in overall health and fitness. It's important to have a mixture of both. So oddly enough I think the food pyramid is making strides in the right direction. Though I don't necessarily agree with it 100%, it certainly can be a valuable tool to someone that is a nutritional degenerate.

Precision Nutrition Goes Vegan with Version 3

With all the hype surrounding precision nutrition, it was inevitable that they began branching out and listening to what used to be a small group of vegans and vegetarians on their site. With what I assume is the help of Ryan Andrews, the rising star nutritionist that eats a plant based diet, they've added a new vegan approach to the precision nutrition lifestyle. You can pick up a copy of Precision Nutrition V3 here. For those of you meat eaters out there don't fret. There is something in PN for everyone now.

In fact John Berardi is even giving a plant based approach a try. Blasphemy?

A New Kind of Dumbbell

I'm not sure if this is real, but it has been getting a lot of buzz on various sites and I was finally able to hunt down a video for it. Hope you enjoy.

Makin' Jerky

There is nothing more manly than eating a stick of dried meat. In fact it's one of my favorite foods and is undoubtedly my favorite portable food. Unfortunately good jerky is hard to find let alone some that isn't laced with MSG and sugar. I don't mind the salt so much but I feel like sometimes that is a bit overpowering as well.

The Solution To Crappy Store Bought Jerky

Anyway my point is I finally manned up and got a dehydrator so I could make my own jerky. Ironically it came with jerky flavor packets that included MSG, so didn't get much out of that. So my first crack at it was some buffalo that I just added some random spices in my cabinet to. The jerky came out in terms of texture but I definitely need to work on the flavor. I still have a lot to learn but overall the process of drying out meat is pretty simple. See below for the before dehydration pictures:

Raw Buffalo Meat!

Let The Resolutions Begin

Everyone knows that for the commercial gyms it is make or break time right now. They usually have some catchy deal that will lure the "resolution" people in. This is good news for the gym, but unfortunately for the rest of the commercial gym goers it just turns a crowded gym into an unbearable gym. Just as St. Patrick's Day is an amateur night of beer drinking, the new year brings roughly a month of amateur gyming (yes I know that isn't a word).

Fortunately for me, I don't train at a commercial gym and there hasn't been much of a surge in attendance of these chaps and the regulars, are well, still regular. I'd encourage those in search of a gym membership to seek out commercial gym alternatives. Often you'll find yourself with a more positive training environment that will keep you motivated. Definitely try before you buy. Don't get coaxed into a long contract when you aren't even sure you like the place.

Training in a commercial gym while home for the holidays made me realize just how good I have it. I also got a testing session in at Cressey Performance while back on the east coast as well, which was great for a number of reasons. It was even better than I had remembered. Before I get to the results I just can't say enough about the environment they've created there and it shows in the caliber of clientele they get. Three top notch coaches, one guy with an MBA and a pool of motivated athletes(and weekend warriors) and you've got the recipe for success. If you are ever in the Boston area be sure to check them out.

On to the results. So I completed all 4 phases of Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength, which took me about 20 weeks rather than the 16 because I was working around a forearm issue resulting from a bowling mishap.

With that said here was my starting point for packing day:
Deadlift - 315lbs
Squat - 240lbs
Bench Press - 210lbs
3RM Chin - 213lbs

And After for moving day:
Deadlift - 385lbs (+70lbs)
Squat - 300lbs (+60lbs)
Bench Press - 215lbs* (+5lbs, or 10lbs depending on how you look at it, see below)
3RM Chin - 230lbs

*I actually did a 220lb single at the tail end of phase 3. Some days you feel like you could move the world, unfortunately for me, testing day wasn't one of those days. Going to work on my bar speed in my next set of training. Hopefully that will help some.

So anyhow this brings my 3 lift total to 900lbs. Only 100lbs until I reach my goal of a 1,000lb total, which mind you is one of my 3 resolutions!

Do it for Bob

A few years back this article was a great piece of motivation. It was reprinted again, and when I reread it, I felt it was worth sharing.

And for those who aren't aware today is a very important day. It's the day you clean house of all the garbage you've accumulated over the two weeks leading up to Christmas. Throw out the extra cookies, leftover cakes and start getting back into the swing of things. One last hurrah is coming your way on New Years, but there is no reason to wait. People who succeed will not use New Years as an excuse to postpone their road to the better life. Will you?

A New York Sports Club Review: First Impressions

This post was inspired by my training at a New York Sports Club this week. As I'm home for the holidays my normal gym on the other side of the country is unavailable, so it's trail membership time at the local gym. The guy gave me some schpiel about trying to lock me in for a full term membership and wasted about 10 minutes of both of our time(that's 20 total minutes for the math whizzes out there). He was a pretty good salesman and probably would have conned most people in to one, but frankly I don't know if having a membership in a town you don't reside in would be all that useful.

As for the workout. I had a fairly simple workout lined up that involved box squats, glute ham raises, forward lunges, one legged box squats and some bar roll outs. I guess it would be considered simple in most gyms, but not here.

The locker room area was pretty nice with all the amenities one could dream of. Honestly I thought it was too nice, and they could have better spent the money on, umm round plates. Seriously all the plates were shaped like stop signs with holes in them. As Lyle MacDonald has taught me, there is no way to keep the power inside the bar if you have plates with holes in them. He's right as everything I tried to lift felt heavier than it actually was.

Try doing a bar rollout with plates shaped like this...

The warm up area was pretty sparse. So sparse in fact was all it had was some as seen on tv ab device that I thought went out with the 20th century and every different sized fitness ball you could imagine in this putrid green color. Sadly there were no foam rollers in sight(*edit* I found a foam roller on day 2!). I don't know how anyone could start a workout without one of them.

One sign I noticed that was pretty cool was that cell phone usage was limited to designated areas. It was as if cell phone users were akin to smokers, and this is as it should be. I hate people that use cell phones in the middle of sets. If you are that important, just skip the workout and get the lipo. It reminded me of a sign that the boys at Cressey Performance hung up after I had left. I believe I inadvertantly provided the frame for that sign. There are exceptions to the cell phone rule, though there are few and far between. One acceptable reason might be that you are making dinner plans with Jessica Alba.

That better be you on the other end, else get your butt back in the squat rack

The center had your standard run of treadmill/ellipticals and bikes all equipped with your very own television. I even saw a girl reading a book while on the elliptical. I honestly get car sick reading, so I'm not entirely sure if this elliptical reading is humanly possible. I quickly came to the conclusion that she must be an alien as that was the only rational explanation. I wasn't able to get a glance as to what she* was reading but I'll just assume it must have been the most rivetting book ever. Anyone else have some ridiculous spottings at the gym, feel free to post them in the comments section below.

My favorite machine by far(sarcasm) had to be this smith-machine-like-contraption that not only was controlled in the vertical plane but also the horizontal. This is to ensure that you actually don't do much of the work at all as the contraption will stablize the whole thing for you while you can pretend you are really strong because you get to use the big boy plates for the first time. I think it would be better served up front right next to the lockers for additional coat rack space.

So the glute ham raises didn't happen as I wasn't able to find any suitable equipment to do them, or even a place to do natural hams. As for the bar roll outs, lets just say I had to substitute another exercise. All in all this isn't a training environment I can thrive in, but hopefully can hold me over through the holidays.

*I'm not well versed in aliens, so I'm not sure if they assume the female human form they actually are female. Maybe they are in fact like slugs and possess the abilities to be either sex.

Should I have burst this guy's bubble?

So the other day I was in the supplement store picking up some post workout goodness and I started chatting it up with a guy who had seemingly been working out consistently for about a month and was ready to step up his game. He had apparently been cutting back his soda intake and felt it was time for some post workout shake.

He then pointed to a magazine that had a roided out, veiny freak on the cover and said "I don't want to look like that."

Realistic?

He then pointed to a men's fitness super ripped lean guy and said "I just want to look like that." I didn't have the heart to tell him that those guys don't look like that all the time, if ever and he would need a lot more than a post workout drink and cutting back on soda. He would also need the help of photoshop and a fake tan, much like that cover model.

Can Joe Six Pack with a desk job look like this?

Anyway my point is that one needs to set realistic goals for the amount of work they are putting in. I don't expect to be a fitness cover model any time soon, because frankly I don't train like one, and I'm not going to take any shortcuts to get there. I think people realistically see these cover model guys, read one article about their diet and training and think "hey, this ain't so bad, I can do that." Well you probably could if you quit your job, spent all your time perfecting your diet, and spent ample amounts of time in the gym and had some good genetics or drugs working on your side. If that is what you want to do then great, but if you aren't going to do those things don't expect to be on the cover of next months magazine. You get out what you put in. It is that simple.

Grocery Store Wars

Some people have way too much time on their hands. Gotta love the Cannoli.

Trying New Things: Foods & Herb Growing Kit

The theme for me this past week was trying new things. So I picked up a bunch of cool new stuff at the natural food store and Costco that I don't normally buy:

Asian Pear (have to be honest, have no idea what to do with this thing)
Sprouted Grain Bread (despise bread, although a new york bagel sounds good right about now)
Almond Butter (peanut butter guy by trade)
Raw Cashews and Brazil Nuts (usually and almond and walnut guy)
Kale & Mustard Greens (spinach almost exclusively)
Mixed Frozen Berries (usually just go for the straight blueberries)

Dang, I almost made it into the picture

Having a variety of foods in your diet is beneficial for sure. So get away from your comfort foods and try some new things. Who knows you may find you really like something, or at least you'll know you don't ever want to try something again.

I even picked up an herb growing kit. Frankly paying $4 for a sprig of something has always pissed me off(you end up throwing out the rest), so growing some stuff in house will definitely save some dough in the long run. Should be fun as well. Hopefully I remember to water them. If you don't see a picture of them sprouted in the near future you'll know it was a bad idea.

Body Composition Analysis

Ouch

So I had my body composition analyzed before Thanksgiving Dinner (I wonder what it is now), and over the two tests the both came in roughly the same. This was an assignment per my Precision Nutrition coaching.

Bio-Impedence which isn't really known for its accuracy (especially when dealing with overweight and obese) came in at 12% body fat. Not too shabby. Honestly I thought it would have been a bit higher, but heck it's not all that accurate right?

Next came the fun part with the skin pinching and caliper measuring. With that test I managed a 12.28%. This test is more accurate and I feel a little more confident with this one. My score would fair better if I could get rid of some more abdominal fat, and some lower back fat which tends to be my problem areas. Yey for being an endomorph.

And now for my rant. I think people tend to put too much weight(pun intended) into these percentages and even more so when dealing with the scale. Rather than using this data to analyze exercise and diet habits and make tweak here or there, they become demotivated and mentally defunct.

To me these numbers represent just another way to measure progress. My main marker that I will continue to use is strength and performance, frankly because it's simple and it works. I think this is just something that training at Cressey Performance ingrained in my head. Or maybe it's the constant emails from Tony Gentilcore saying "I will always, ALWAYS tell people that if you train for strength/performance, the aesthetics will follow (assuming they're not eating like a nimrod). You[Gregg] are a true representation of that. It works!"

Tony, what can I say, you've made me a believer. So here is a good list of all the things you can do to measure progress, in decending order of how I value each one.

Strength/Performance - As measured by 1RM testing, or some other form of test that you can replicate and show improvement with. Tony recently blogged about a 225lb bench press test you can check that out here. I personally use things like a box squat, deadlift, bench press and 3 rep chin-up as my markers as outlined in Eric Cressey's book. He also even uses some various jumps with his clients to track progress as well (vertical, broad, etc).

Photos - A picture every few months really lets you visually see progression. Who cares what the scale says when you look leaner, jeans fit better, etc.

Body Composition Analysis - I think I've discussed this enough above.

Girth Measurements - Basically you measure the length around things like calves, biceps, waist, etc to see how the measurements change over time. The only thing misleading about this is if you were to put on a ton of fat your biceps might get bigger, but it's not because of muscle.

Scale - I don't really like to use this exclusively because it doesn't address any change in lean tissue as opposed to fat weight. If someone was trying to get lean it would be pretty difficult using this as the only means of measurement.

The Airport Escalator

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. And for those of you that partook in the black friday Wal-Mart shenanigans, that put a damper on the entire day ought to be ashamed. Traveling back to Long Island to see my family and friends was a treat, but that sure didn't sit right the entire weekend, especially since it happened in close proximity. Anyhow the trip went well aside from the aforementioned and the flight back.

My night flight basically turned into a red eye when delays put me back in Utah after 3am. One thing I did take notice of was after everyone got to the escalators to go to baggage claim their legs would take one step on and instantly left them immobile. Reminds me of this advertisement:



I don't see why everyone needs to make things so easy on themselves. The wheels on my luggage never touch the ground as I carry it to the escalator, where by some modern miracle I put one foot in front of the other and walk up them, as if they were stairs.

We've become habitually lazy because of conveniences like these. So next time try and inconvenience yourself a bit and increase that NEPA (Non-Exercise Physical Activity). Even if your NEPA only amounted to a meager 10 calories a day (it certainly can be more) that would be one extra pound you wouldn't see on the scale upon years end. Simply taking stairs over elevators, parking farther away, carrying luggage, chewing gum, etc can all increase that calorie burn.

Eat the Turkey

Just made myself some gunpowder green tea as I'm writing this and I have to say it's quite a treat. As promised I had my body composition analysis this evening, and I'll post the results for you some time next week when I get back.

I know a lot of you are expecting me to recommend you take it easy on Thanksgiving dinner, but frankly I'm going to recommend the complete opposite. If you've been getting your exercise in, and nailing down your food lately, then a free meal on Thanksgiving evening isn't going to hinder your efforts. Just remember the rule of 90%. Dial in your training 90% and dial in your diet 90% and everything else falls into place. Now if you are training for a bodybuilding competition that is another story, but I'll assume most of my readers are weekend warrior types just trying to shape up and stay healthy.

This Turkey knows the importance of vitamin D

And with regards to this wonderful holiday there is no better time for me to thank you, my readers. All of you that read this blog keep me motivated to keep posting, and keep progressing myself. Without you, I'd just be talking to myself. I'll be thinking of you all when I have that first bite of some homemade pumpkin pie.

I'm off to New York to see my family (it has been a while). Wishing you all safe travels, and a Happy Thanksgiving.

First Class Fat

It's hard to believe that Canada has ruled that the obese have the right to get two seats for the price of one on an airplane. Check it out here.

With all that extra room maybe "they" can fit in there

Next thing you know, obese people will be getting the following at zero additional cost:
Extra horsepower added to their car because a sports car doesn't perform the same with all that extra weight.
Free Seconds at Restaurants (heck they need to eat more, why should they have to spend more)
Free Custom Car Seats (Why should they be forced to lose the weight when they can have Cadillac provide them with a larger seat at no cost)
A complete redesign to all theme park rides to accommodate bigger butts. You may remember they are already starting to do this.

Now I have nothing against the obese, but frankly this is sending the wrong message, that being fat is acceptable and we're going to accommodate you. We are applying a band-aid to the problem and not really digging into the root cause and getting these people healthy. I don't know about you but knowing I would be paying double to fly home this thanksgiving would surely make me more apt to buy that gym membership because of the net cost savings. Now when I'm flying to Canada, I'll just have to make sure I eat up so I can get that extra seat. "Yes, I'll have the middle and window seat please."

Waiting for the Stars to Align

As I am about to embark on a 6 month journey with precision nutrition coaching, I thought it was interesting getting some of the reactions of the people I told. Knowing that it starts this coming week, my friend was quick to point out that it starts the week of Thanksgiving. I also found this same comment as to why many people hesitated signing up for the program, which worked out for me, because now I got my spot and they didn't. So to get to the point, yes it does start the week of Thanksgiving, but why should that hold me, or anyone else back. There is never a perfect time to start down the path toward any goal. People often say oh I'll start this day or that day, but never get to it because "stuff" gets in the way. Thanksgiving being this week or not, there is no better day to start than today.

The stars will never be perfectly aligned, just do it!

I've taken my before pictures, filled my refrigerator with enough food to get me to Wednesday (I'll be heading back to New York for Thanksgiving) and I'm ready to go. I have to get a professional body fat analysis over the next few days. I'll share the results of that with you when time comes.

Oh, and here is a quick shot of the meal I'll be using between lunch and dinner this week. It's simple, easy and gets the job done.

Simple

~2oz. Carrots
1/3 Cucumber
2/3 Sliced Bell Peppers
2 TBSP Walnuts
2 "Light" Cheese Sticks (I still haven't found good jerky out here, the quest continues, but cheese stix are okay in a pinch to ensure I get enough protein in this meal)

This simple snack is loaded with protein from the cheese and some from the nuts. It has fiber from the nuts and veggies. Some good fat in there from the walnuts, and some great nutrients from vegetables.

Don't forget to start today.