Basically I decided to do a random thoughts day since I didn’t have anything in particular to write a good sized blog post about. So here goes.
1. Eat for your goals. I see too many people who want to lose weight and train their asses off, yet they pound food and are just spinning their wheels. The same thing happens in the opposite direction. I remember so many guys in college, and I see quite a few high school athletes everyday who train their asses off to gain size but are so afraid to lose their 6 packs that they don’t eat enough to reach their goals.
Eating for Goals
2. Buy a Theracane. This thing is awesome. Tony brought one into the facility, and I bought one for my fiance and I love it. I have some upper back and neck issues that give me some neck pain and almost constant discomfort. The Theracane, while not having cured it, greatly diminishes my neck pain and removes some trigger points. Try it, you won’t regret it.
3. Watch Lost. It is pretty much the greatest show in the history of television. I also just realized that Matthew Fox was in Party of Five, making him even more awesome.
4. Since 4 is my favorite number, I will leave you all with a spectacular recipe that is similar to some others I have put on here, but is probably my single greatest achievement.
1 cup Friendship Digestive Health cottage cheese
1/2 scoop Vanilla Metabolic Drive
~1/4 cup fresh raspberries (heaping)
~1/4 cup fresh blueberries (heaping)
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
Mash the raspberries when you stir, spreading their beautiful red color throughout the mixture. The combination of blueberries and raspberries is unbelievable and you may never want to eat anything else. You have been warned.
Just wanted to let you all in on the results of my Warp Speed Fat Loss experiment as it is soon coming to a close.
My Weight Loss Coach
Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be a No Carb day, but lets be real, that’s not going to happen. Saturday will be the final day, so I will have the final weigh in on Sunday morning. This morning I felt a little bloated and not as lean or light as the previous day or two, but I weighed in anyway. I came in at a respectable 202. Not too shabby. Down a shade over 10lbs. This program works, period. Here is an example of a training day of mine, modified BSP style. (I can’t leave any of it alone, just not in my nature) This is an excerpt from my FitCast Forums training log, which you can check out HERE.
Monday Jan 19 – Day 15
Took a while to get going today. Just felt sluggish, though once we really got moving, I actually felt pretty good.
Pre Work: Foam Roll & Mobility
A1. Front Squat to 12″ box (tap n’ go) 2×3, 2×6
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
305 x 3
325 x 3
275 x 6
275 x 6
Like I said before, it was a tough start. We opened at 305 just to get things going, and that felt easier than expected, so went back to 325 to keep strength up. Curt was impressed.
A2. Prone Plate Switches 4 x 8x5lbs/side
B Circuit – Perform as meny sets of 6 reps of each exercise as possible in 10 minutes
B1. Walking DB Lunges with 30′s = 8 full sets
B2. Renegade Row with Pushup with 25′s = 8 full sets
No vest this week, and arms were ok. This circuit was still hard, though not as hard as before. We did get in that extra set of Renegade rows.
C Circuit – perform as many sets of 6 reps of each exercise as possible in 10 minutes
C1. Glute Ham Raises = 8 full sets
C2. Neutral Grip Pullups = 9 full sets
Definitely one of the worst ones. Just hard ass work. Got in an extra set of pullups.
D. I didn’t write down what we did here, and for the life of me I can’t remember. It was something.
All in all, definitely starting to feel really fit. Almost starting to enjoy this training. Almost.
For those of you who have been following my Warp Speed Fat Loss adventure, I have been logging my training over at the the FitCast forums. The training has been SO much harder than the diet. These sessions are absolutely brutal. I think I understand now why CrossFit has such diehards. Not that I am doing CrossFit, but I think it is close enough where I can start to see how people get sucked into this style of training. I started this little shindig at a not-as-lean-as-I-used-to-be 212.2 lbs (which wasn’t too bad because I had hit 214 at one point). After one week I am currently down to about 207.5lbs. So, needless to say, it is working. Just want to get close to that 200 mark.
I am also not sure if many of you know this, but I did an interview for the FitCast a while back. It was Kevin’s first midweek show, so you can also check that out HERE.
Also as some of you may notice. I finally got my headshot up, though I don’t think that’s the one I am going to use. A big thank you to Kevin for getting that up for me though.
Finally I will leave you all with a little nugget. Vanilla Metabolic Drive is like candy. It makes everything taste better. My pumpkin pie cottage cheese recipe would not be possible without it. My new favorite snack with cottage cheese and frozen raspberries, is good, but Vanilla MD (and chopped walnuts) makes it unbelievable. So if you want an easy way to add high quality protein as well as a delicious flavor enhancer, I highly suggest it. You can try others, but I promise you will come crawling back.
OK, I am back. Sorry for the lack of writing folks, been crazy with the holidays, never being in any one place consistently. Hope everyone enjoyed their time off and you have some fun plans for tonight. I hope you all enjoyed 2008 as much as I did, it was a hell of a year. So on the Eve of 2009, I thought it would only be appropriate if I recap the 9 best stories, things I learned, or basically anything that was awesome in the past year.
1. Yup, Tony and EC will kill me for this one, but number one has to go to my fiance. We got engaged on Labor Day weekend, and it was probably definitely the best decision I ever made. Tony loves to give me a hard time about it, though he secretly dreams of having 12 kids. I’m gonna stop right there, cause if I write anymore she will probably never talk to me again!
2. Discovering Lyle McDonald. Prior to working at CP, I had never really heard of Lyle. I had heard his name kicked around here or there, but boy was I in for a surprise. Lyle is simply one of the absolute smartest guys in the entire nutrition world. You will learn more info from any of his books, especially the absolutely fantastic The Protein Book, than from a year of nutrition undergrad. Seriously. Thank you Tony.
3. Winning the Inaugural CP Fantasy Football Season/Trophy. I may have gotten the last pick, but I don’t think there was ever any doubt as to who would finish the season on top.
4. Discovering Jonny Bowden. Wow. If you want some unbelievable nutrition info really describing why some foods are so awesome, and some are not, definitely check out Jonny’s stuff. Truly top notch. If there was one book of his many that I had to choose to recommend, it would hands down be The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Awesome. If you ever wanted to know why some foods were so good for you; all the nutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals they contain to make you damn near immortal, then this is it.
5. Finally getting this blog/website up and running. It had taken a long time for me to get the ball rolling on this. I have had a blast and greatly appreciate all the wonderful support and feedback from all of you. I am humbled to know that there are people out there who not only read my incoherent ramblings, but actually might even enjoy them! Thanks again, and here’s to a great 2009.
6. Becoming a Certified Sports Nutritionist. I have had my nutrition degree and CSCS for a while, but since nutrition is my thing, it was nice to get a quality certification to go along with that. I would highly recommend the CISSN exam to anyone interested in working nutritionally with clients. Check out the International Society of Sports Nutrition HERE.
7. Given that I work for Eric, this might not come as a surprise, but I definitely think his Truth About Unstable Surface Training belongs up here. Having worked in a commercial gym as a personal trainer for a year, I have unfortunately seen first hand the ridiculous use of Bosu balls and physio balls employed by trainers who should know better, and just regular gym goers who might not. With this fantastic resource that was based on his Master’s Thesis, Eric lays out why most unstable surface work is incorrect, what use there is of it, and the proper progressions. It is a great read and a tremendous resource for anyone interested in fitness.
8. The Boston Celtics winning their 17th championship against the Lakers. I was too young to remember the old 80′s rivalry, though I’ve heard a ton about it. I have also pretty much only known the Celtics as garbage, so it was very nice to see them become what they once were. PS – if this were the Bruins, it would be #2.
9. Last but not least, Gourmet Nutrition. This cookbook is simply phenomenal. So many healthy and delicious recipes, beautifully photographed, will full nutritional breakdown of each meal. It has everything you could possibly ask for in a cookbook. The original Gourmet Nutrition was excellent as well, but it wasn’t much to look at. The new version, with 120 brand new, spectacular recipes, is off the charts. The protein bar recipes alone are worth the price of the book. And the Pesto Chicken Pizza? Amazing. So do yourself or your loved one a favor, and pick up a copy.
Have a great and safe New Year everyone, and I will see you all in 2009!
As some of you may know, and some of you probably don’t, I played a ton of very competitive rugby in college. I was introduced to the sport after my hockey playing days were over and loved it immediately. It is a non-stop thrill ride of controlled aggression and actually a surprising amount of skill and strategy. At UMaine we were one of the few top DII teams that did not have a coach (though I believe they kinda have one now), so we weren’t real big on the skill and strategy part.
Rugby in a Horse Barn - Brilliant!
You may be wondering where I am going with this, but just bear with me a little while longer. We were a huge team and at 5’10″ 210 I was one of the smallest guys. Needless to say, we were known for our aggressive defense, and smashmouth offense. We were not known for impressive ball movement and fancy plays. We ran the ball right down your throat. Well, my former teammates and I are a little older now, and it seems that time, and lots of rugby, are catching up with some of them. I have at least three teammates from our glory years who have had or are having knee surgery directly related to their playing days. I am certainly not putting down this spectacular sport. It is awesome. I thankfully never suffered anything more serious than a broken nose or two myself (knock on wood). These were some of the unfortunate few.
My point of the story is that most if not all of their knee problems could have been prevented. Now some traumatic knee injuries will happen no matter how great your training and programming was and how fit you are, but the proper training can make a HUGE difference. Hands down the best resource on making and keeping your knees healthy is the Bulletproof Knees Manual by Mike Robertson. It contains tons of great info on the best ways to improve the health of your knees, and keep them that way. Check it out HERE.
I’m not gonna lie, I am a huge fan of msn.com. It is my homepage, and where I like to get my daily dose of online news. Its not so much because it has great content, I am just used to the set up. It usually has some interesting and fairly unique rotating news stories at the top of the page. The one place where I feel MSN really struggles is in their “Health & Fitness” section. They spew a lot of the same crap that most educated professionals are working so hard to eradicate from the industry. They interview dietitians who give them the ridiculous Food Pyramid style advice that has made this country fat in the first place! And while recently they have begun to post info from some really smart guys, like Chad Waterbury and Bill Hartman, they usually choose attention hungry dumbasses who are just trying to make a buck. Like this:
Does this look challenging to anyone?
“Grace Miastkowski, a mother of two in Rochelle Park, N.J., had a flash of inspiration during a recent home workout. To do an arm curl, she tied one end of some exercise tubing to a dumbbell, anchored the other end around the leg of her couch, then curled.”
“The magic behind this dynamic duo is simple: “You have to work harder to keep your body moving in a straight, steady line, so you really hit those hard-to-shape deep muscles,” explains Scott Berlinger, the founder of Full Throttle Endurance Training in New York City. Here, he’s revved up traditional dumbbell moves with the tubing-and-weight method to create a body-sculpting program that will tone you from head to toe.”
Really? And what exactly are those hard-to-shape deep muscles? Yeah that band must really stimulate those extra deep biceps brachii muscles that I just can’t reach! And tone me from head to toe? Haven’t we obliterated this myth yet? How is this garbage still around? You can not “tone” a muscle, a muscle can do 1 of 3 things: hypertrophy, atrophy, or stay the same. Granted, you can increase muscle density, and decrease intramuscular fat stores and subcutaneous fat to see more definition, but there is no such thing as a muscle “toning” exercise.
People need to stop buying into bullshit hype and learn 3 keys to getting slim and “tone”:
1. Put down the processed anything. Yes, this includes most whole wheat products, soda or pretty much anything in a box.
Reality = not much better than a bagel
2. Lift weights. Real, challenging, heavy weights to build some muscle and burn some calories.
3. Put down the magazine. If you can read while you are “training”, then you are just spinning your wheels. Even with cardio it is still all about progressive overload.
Don’t believe everything you read, especially when it comes to training and nutrition. There are a lot of people out there who have no qualms about taking advantage of people who just do not know any better. As the old saying goes, if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is. Getting results might be simple, but simple does not equal easy. It does require actual hard work. So get to it.
Just a quick one today. I was interviewed on the mid week show of The FitCast last week. It is a fitness and nutrition podcast hosted by Kevin Larrabee. It is the highest rated fitness and nutrition podcast on the internet, so if you want to hear 25 minutes of me rambling on about nutrition and what we do at CP check it out here.
You will be hearing a lot more about The FitCast and myself in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Posted on February 4th, 2009 by Brian St. Pierre
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