Tuff Mudder

I did the Tuff Mudder a couple weeks ago with one of my clients and a dude we know from the gym. It's a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces. It's basically all the stuff you've got to do in Basic Training. Wall climbs, low crawls, partner carries, a little swimming, and lots of running.

 BTW, I was in the ARMY. I don't think I've mentioned that yet on this blog.

At the beginning I was indifferent about the whole thing. I approached it the same way I do all events. Which is knowing I'm probably in better shape than 90% of all the participants. Right away I was looking around, sizing everyone up, wondering who my competition would be. It was about what I expected. Lotsa frat boys, a bunch of military types, everyone in pretty decent shape 18- 40ish dudes mostly. 

When you've worked in the fitness industry as long as I have you develop an eye for physiques. You can usually tell right away who trains properly. 

1st. I picked out all the runners, swimmers, and cyclists. Long lean bodies, not a lot of muscle."These people" I thought "are gonna have a hard time climbing walls, pulling themselves up ropes, and carrying weight." Sure enough at the 1st wall all the people having the hardest time pulling and pushing themselves up and over were the endurance athletes.

2nd. I noticed the gym rats. Huge arms, legs, and chests. Not as lean as they could be. I thought "These are gonna be the ones suckin' wind on the hills and long run stretches. Sure enough, all the guys doubled over on the side of the roads were the meat heads.

3rd. The young heads. 18-25 ish dudes who look like they're in decent shape. (Mostly because they're 18-25) "These guys" I thought "have no idea what they're in for." Sure enough, littered along the whole course were young dudes puking, laid out, screaming with ab, calf, and leg cramps.

4th. I noticed the people I considered my competition. Long, lean, muscular, well trained bodies. The kind of body you get from years of cross-training, lifting, swimming, running, martial arts, etc.. These were men and women 27- 37ish, and looked GREAT! Sure enough the same faces I sized up at the start were the ones breezing through the run, killing the obstacles, and charging the hills (right along side me)...ahem

I'm sure this all sounds like hubris, but my point is that the road to ultimate fitness is varied. You've got to do EVERYTHING! 

Olympic lifting: For brute strength and power.

Martial arts: (I'm partial to capoeira) for balance, flexibility and coordination.

Isolation lifting: To strengthen your weak points and fine tune your physique. 

Cross training: Because you never know when you'll need to bear-crawl up or down a muddy hill. 

Running: Lots of it!

And lawd help me! even Yoga.

Unfortunately there's nothing that will prepare you for crawling on your belly, in water up to your chin, in the dark, being shocked by electrodes :)

All in all Tuff Mudder was an amazingly fun time! It was well put together, bloody well run, and all for a great cause! http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5FFRmXFmjYs

I'm putting a team together to do it again next year. 

Who's with me?!

Vegan Pesto Veggie Pasta

I've been on a no soy kick for about a month now. It's been tricky making meals without my go-to, quick source of protein (tofu), but it feels better knowing I'm eating food closer to the way it comes in nature.

A few nights ago I realized that I hadn't eaten pasta in a while. Not for any reason in particular. I just kinda forgot about it. 

Most people think pasta isn't vegan. Well, most of the time you can buy any kind of pasta from anywhere and it'll be vegan. Some pastas (not many) uses eggs, so you'll have to take a second to read labels.

Technically pasta is a processed food, but everything else is fresh, and or raw so I let it slide. Plus I love how full I feel after a pasta dish.

Here's all you need:

* Broccoli

*4 medium sized Portobello Mushrooms

*2 yellow peppers

*3 cups Penne Pasta

*6 table spoons Pine nuts

*4 cups Fresh Basil

*4 cloves Fresh Garlic

*1 lemon (3 table spoons)

*1/4 cup Nutritional yeast

*6 table spoons olive oil (extra virgin if you're fancy. My palate isn't sophisticated enough to tell the difference) 

*1 cup Sun dried tomatoes

*WINE!!! 

                             Pesto Sauce: I totally jacked this recipe. Check it out HERE

1. Put basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt, lemon in a food processor. Process until everything is combined and has a finely ground consistency.

2. Add olive oil and nutritional yeast and continue to process until you get a creamy sauce

The Rest:

1.Prep 3 cups of Penne pasta. Do you really need me to tell you how to do that??

2. Toss the Chopped the yellow Peppers, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and broccoli in a saute pan with a 1/4 cup of water and 3 table spoons of olive oil. Blanch until the water cooks of (30 secs-1 minute), then pan sear for (30 sec- 1 minute)

3. Top a bed of pasta with your veggies, top the veggies with your pesto sauce, top the sauce with pan seared pine nuts, and GRUB!

4. Drink the wine. ALL OF IT!  (I drink 2-Buck Chuck with my pinky in the air 'cause i'm classy)