Training with an Injury

Injuries are an unfortunate part of an active lifestyle. Take all the precautions you like, sooner or later something's gonna pull, strain, sprain, tweak, spasm, break, hyper extend, or tear. For athletes this can be a stressful time. Not training for a person who trains 1-3 hours a day 6-7 days a week  is unthinkable. Fortunately there are tricks that allow you to train around your injury. You may need to take the intensity down a few notches (which can be just as frustrating) but its better than sitting on the couch.
Recently I took on a client whose ankle needed to be completely immobilized for 4 weeks. She went from playing tennis 2-4 hours a day 5-6 days a week, to not being able to run, bear weight on her leg, and only limited walking (with a severe limp).  My challenge was to put together a workout intense enough to challenge her level of endurance without aggravating her injury. Very tricky since most of the high intensity cardiopulmonary drills in my wheelhouse involve sprints and sharp changes of direction.

Super sets are a great way to train opposing muscle groups. They allow one muscle group to rest while you train the other, all while forcing you heart to pump blood to both. Boom! Cardio without running.

 Super-set 1 (Immobile foot)

Heavy rope, double (seated) 60 seconds/ Seated dumbbell curls. 8-15 reps to failure. Repeat 3xs

Since we train 2 days on/ one day off I split our sessions into pushing muscle groups (anterior and medial delts, pecs, tri's) and pulling muscle groups (lats, posterior delts, bi's). This way we avoid over -training.  All super-setted with various 60 second heavy rope drills. It does get a little repetitive, but it's temporary.

DON'T LETS INJURIES SLOW YOU DOWN!

Why Vegan?

I'll preface this blog by saying that i'm not a nutritionist and that I think meat and cheese are delicious. Also, I have been known to back-slide from veganism on occasion, (mostly around the holidays)
That said, I am a strict vegan/ raw foodie (most of the time). Nuts, legumes, fruits, some grains and veggies are all I eat. I picked up the vegan lifestyle a little more than 11 years ago.
Before that I was the typical gym rat. Slingin' weight everyday, eating meat with every meal , getting larger and larger every year. At my biggest I was 260 lbs and about 7% body fat. Back then I thought being large and ripped was what fitness was all about.
 Like most (fitness minded) guys my age, I grew up worshiping Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Dillette, Kevin Levrone, Lee Haney, Shawn Ray, and Flex Wheeler. We all read the Arnold Schwarzenegger Body Building Encyclopedia and followed it religiously.
Not sure why but around age 23 I started looking around the gym at all the meat-heads and having second thought about where I wanted to take my body. I noticed that once bodybuilders hit 50 and 60 years old they looked awful.

I decided that being long, lean, and healthy, was the best way to go.

 I met a couple who were just breezing through town  (hippy types) who made a vegan meal for me. They showed me a few vegan propaganda pamphlets, and dropped some knowledge about the benefits of a cruelty free diet.
 I tried it out for a few weeks. I noticed right away that my body seemed to work better, feel lighter and cleaner, but when I notice a drop in my muscle mass I freaked and went back to my omnivorousness diet. This happened several times over the course of a few months. Eventually I decided that feeling awesome and healthy all the time was better than being yolked and feeling sluggish. I was vegan from then on.
 I started the same way most vegans start. Replacing meat with meatless products. This lasted a few years until I realized I was just eating chemicals instead of meat. Gradually I worked processed vegan foods out of my diet. Its taken a long time but I've finally gotten to the point where I'm able to stack on muscle, keep the fat off, and have enough energy to get through my crazy ass days.
   After 11 years of trial and error with a vegan diet, 22 years of trial and error training my body with every technique under the sun, Here are my conclusions:

1.) Don't eat dairy: Humans are the only species on earth who drink milk after infancy, and the only ones ever to drink the milk of another species. Kinda gross when you think about it.

2.) Train for the body you want: You wanna look like a cave man?? Huge traps shoulder and quads. Then spend your workouts in a gym slinging weight around with the other troglodytes

  You want a long lean body? Do everything! Distance running, some form of martial arts,  isolation and Olympic lifting, and speed work! Sprint, sprint, sprints!

3.) Get the hell away from American food: Have you looked at the ingredients on a box of cheerios or Velveeta shells and cheese??

Simple ingredients, fresh fruit, veggies, beans, nuts, (some) whole grains, and lots of water. That's. All. You. Need.

Don't make the changes all at once. Try to gradually phase out bad foods and replace them with good raw foods.                                                            

                                                                                           

                                                                                                                  Baby steps!

Happy Training!

HIIT Playlist

Music is a big part of my life and fitness is my career. Naturally the two are connected. I rarely take requests for music in my classes because I need  music that I enjoy to keep me motivated so that I can motive. I like it fast and I like it loud!

Someone asked me the other day if I would throw some Katie Perry in the mix.

I looked at her like:

Then she was all "What?? That's good music!" and I was all:

Then she was all "Well it's good to workout to..." and I was like:

A good playlist can mean the difference between a good workout and a great workout.
Here the playlist I've been using at HIIT class for the past few weeks.

Here I Come: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKRTtplc_98

Spiral Staircase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VtRM9HgTjI

Sleep Now in the Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI

Decent Days and Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfJMqUN0FCE 

Apple Tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9u_zhBL5x4

Dead Wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoYi9ympj_I

Stand and Deliver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzT4m6fJ7jo

If your Going Through Hell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ulRwXIzbo

Neon Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfsKEdsmU7Y

Happy Training!!

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)

No Soy?? No Doy!!!

Had a crazy day of training yesterday: 11 mile run, 3 mile run, 1 hour of Capoeira, 1 hour weight session. By the time dinner rolled around I was HANGRY!

I've been on a no soy kick for the past few weeks. I read some pretty scary stuff in Men's Health Magazine about its effects on men's testosterone levels: http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/soys-negative-effects (I ain't goin' out like that)

My body needed lots of protein to recover and I'm not eating Tofu anymore. This meal is 100% dairy and soy free, and vegan obviously.  Here's what I had:

Quinoa, Lentils and Guacamole.

Quinoa: I use Quinoa instead of rice. It's got 2x the protein and 1/3 the carbs. Preps the same as rice. Takes about 10 minutes.

Lentils: Tons of protein and they cook up quick. I salted the water, add a little olive oil and 3 cloves of garlic. Takes about as long to prep as a pot of thick pasta. Check the health benefits: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5488/7-Health-Benefits-of-Lentils.html

Guacamole: Hass Avocado, Garlic, Roma Tomatoes, orange (I use orange instead of lemon cause I'm cool like that) Mash it up with a fork, and grub.

Raw Kale Salad:

 1 chopped head of Kale, 2 shredded carrots, 1 chopped red bell pepper

Tahini, Lemon, Garlic sauce:

4 lrg spoonfuls Tahini, 2 squeezed lemons, 2 chopped garlic cloves, equal parts water/ Tahini, salt to taste. A small food processor works best.

I made a bed of Quinoa, dropped a large spoonful of Lentils in the middle, topped it with Guacamole and Daiya cheese, then surrounded the whole thing with Raw Kale salad.

 The whole thing took about  an hour (I had a little help) I went to bed with a full belly and woke up in the morning turbo charged for my 5 mile group hill run.

Bon appetit and Happy Training!

Consistency, Accountability, and the Secret to Weight Loss

con·sist·en·cy  [kuh n-sis-tuh n-see] noun
1. steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc...

ac·count·a·bil·i·ty   [uh-koun-tuh-bil-i-tee]  noun
1. the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.

                                                                                                               The Secret to Weight Loss:

AND THAT'S IT!