Texting For Macronutrients

Here's a cool tip I picked up from a nutritionist on the Today Show. While I wouldn't recommend frequently eating out at mainstream restaurants(nor watching the today show), you can text diet1 with your favorite restaurant menu item and promptly get back a calorie and macro breakdown (protein/fat/carbs).

I texted "Big Mac" to diet1 and was hoping to get something like "don't even think about it mister" but instead got 540calories, 29g of fat, 45g of carbs, and 25g of protein. Pretty clean and simple. Hopefully this little tool can help someone in a pinch to make a better decision. Keep in mind this service is free, though you will be charged your regular texting fees associated with your phone.

Today Was The Day

So here in New England it finally warmed up enough to allow "them" to take the streets. Who am I talking about? Runners, they were out in full swing clogging up the sidewalks huffing and puffing. It's funny that most of these people are running to get fit, but as anybody who hasn't had their head up there ass for the past few years knows, this isn't a great way to get in shape. You can't run to get fit, rather you need to be fit to run.



A study published in 1994 (that's right this information isn't new at all) showed that 15 weeks of interval training burned 13,614 calories, while they were compared with 20 weeks of steady state exercise (typical of your runners mentioned above) that burned 28,661 calories. Well obviously based on that you'd assume that the steady state runners lost more fat right? I mean they expended more energy, they must have.

Defying all logic the interval training group lost 900% more fat than that of the steady state group. I'm not sure science really has figured out exactly why this happens, but who cares. You now know interval training is more effective, yet you continue to run in steady state fashion. What are you afraid of? More fat loss in less time, hmm...sounds good by me.

Step Up!

As with any goal you want to achieve I think it's important to keep it fresh in your mind. So when it comes to health and fitness it isn't any different. One of many things I do to keep my health and fitness in check is to read about it on a daily basis. It can be anything from NY Times health news, Reuters, or even blogs.

I want to take this post to tell you about my favorite source. The blog is written by Tony Gentilcore, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. If you were to ever meet Tony, you'd understand exactly why he writes the way he does, because...well...it's Tony in a nutshell. His blog is entertaining, funny, and most importantly informative and educational. I'd say if you need some motivation on a regular basis, just reading his blog might do the trick. It can be found at the boston herald site here:

Step Up!

Cuz Tony Said So...

Test Day Recap

So testing day proved to me that my routines have worked thus far. All my lifts are up as well as other athletic performance markers, keeping in mind my program didn't have any plyometrics whatsoever.

So all in all I'm pretty happy with where I'm at. My bench is a little lower than I had hoped but hopefully I'll be able to break through my recent plateau with next month's programming. My trap bar dead lift form on my 355lb lift wasn't quite where it needs to be as well(understatement of the century). So those are my two major takeaways. I'll be focusing on strict form for my deadlifts, and ensuring that my bench press strength doesn't stagnate.

I've been training consistently for over 8 months now(has it been that long already!). I'd say the results are keeping me motivated. My back problems have all but gone away, I'm stronger, and generally feel better on a daily basis. I've gotten many comments about my improved posture lately too.