clue bat

Sometimes we all need to be smacked back into reality. Despite good intentions, and knowing better, most of us will do things, that after coming back to reality, will cause us to scratch our heads and go, "WTF was I thinking?". My most recent post prior to this one, is one of those things. At the time I started down that happy path, it all seemed so logical. I even lost weight. Must be a good thing right? Sometimes too much knowledge is worse than not enough. When I read things, especially new studies, or different twists on old ideas, my mind goes off on these tangents and starts coming up with ways to improve or alter what I'm doing to incorporate this new information. Sometimes these things can take weeks to play out. This latest episode was relatively short lived. In the case of nutrition, Pareto's principle still holds true. All the complicated answers and formulas and ideas and all the new and novel plans, still come down to the basics. Get enough protein. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables everyday. Minimize refined sugar and sweeteners. Be active. It really is that simple. For reasons I can't understand, I, like countless others, seek to make it so much more. The hardest thing about all of it is to keep it simple. Is it because we live in a world of such startling complexity that simple answers seem so unacceptable?

Part Time Low Carb

I'm not exactly sure how this came about. I had done some reading about Intermittent fasting and various implementations of cyclical ketogenic diets, and this idea began to form in my brain. This idea was borne of a combination of my boredom as a cook with preparing meat and veggies and not getting to flex my culinary muscles on some of the worlds great cuisines and dishes that I once took such pride in creating, and this nagging feeling that there was such a great variety of new things that were out of my reach due to the restriction of eating a carb controlled diet. While I no longer make my living cooking for others, In my heart of hearts, I still think of myself as a chef. Now I am fully aware that for some, this approach will lead to disaster. For others, it just may be the thing that keeps them from going off the track into a binge. The concept is brutally simple. Eat a very low carb diet every other day. On the opposite days, eat three meals of what ever you want. When I say very low carb, I mean less than thirty grams carb total, including fiber, sugar alcohols, etc. When I say three meals, that means three meals. If, like me, you normally eat a mid-afternoon snack on low carb days, you can have a snack on your off days as well. Your off days are not an excuse to go face down in the buffet and gorge all day. I just means you don't have to watch your carbs on those days. If you want dessert, fine, have it with your meal. For me the addition of grits or biscuits to my morning eggs on some days has been a little slice of heaven. I still don't eat much sugar, and end up getting plenty of fat and protein, mostly because thats how I like to eat. Over the past couple of weeks while experimenting with this I have with out trying, lost an inch off my waist, and 5 lbs on the scale. Nether of which was the goal. I was really shooting for maintenance. I have as a matter of course, lifted weights mostly on my "off" diet days, and I still don't do cardio. Posted below are two recent days of what I've eaten.

LC DAY
3 eggs
3 slices bacon
Coffee with cream and splenda

Grilled steak
Leafy greens
Peppers
Onions
Oil/Vinegar
Provolone cheese

Handful Almonds

Parmesan Coated Tilapia
Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower


Off day
2 eggs
scrapple
biscuit with fresh pumpkin butter
coffee with cream and splenda

Turkey Sub with the works
Diet soda

Apple
Mixed nuts

Saltimbocca Romana
roasted potatoes
bread
Olive oil
tossed salad
Wine
zabaione
(yes, I cook like this)

Average Guy's Guide #6

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Ok, so for those of you who are waiting with baited breath, all two of you, for the next installment into the average guys guide your wait is over.

The question I here from my meat space participants who have been my guinea pigs, most often is, "How strong is strong enough?" Well, the most straight forward answer I can find is the tables at EXRX.net For the purposes of this series the only two of the exercises listed that we are going to concern ourselves with are the over head press and dead lift. The combination of these exercises provide for a very good assessment of total body strength. You goal should be to achieve the "novice" levels of strength. According to the authors of these charts, the level of strength associated with novice is sufficient to support vigorous fitness activity. So in my estimation, that is strong enough for an average guy. This is not strong enough for competitive lifters, or bodybuilders, but hey, all we're trying to do here is be strong enough to be healthy, fit, and not too fat. Right? So far I've had you do a body weight, and an intro routine. Nether of which included the dead lift. A stiff leg dead lift yes, but that is not the one we are concerned with. The dead lift is the most basic exercise there is, and one of, if not the most useful. It involves your whole body, and working up to novice levels of strength in this exercise will pay dividends for years to come. We will not however be doing any one rep max lifts, nor will we ever work this exercise to failure. Start with a weight you can lift with confidence and slowly add weight. It will get hard soon enough. Starting with this next routine we are going to be working a split routine. Not a bodybuilders body part split, we are just going to divide the exercises into two different workouts, each done once a week.

Workout A
DeadLift 2 sets of 8 reps
Overhead press 2 sets of 8 reps
Curls(optional) 2 sets of 8 reps
A brisk walk or other conditioning work

Workout B
Split Squat 2 sets of 8 reps
Bent Over Row 2 sets of 8 reps
Push Ups/Bench Press 2 x max reps/2 sets of 8 reps
Hammer work

Continue using this routine until you reach novice levels of strength as defined by the charts at Exrx.net. Do a warm up set or two prior to the work sets. This is a tried and proven program that has been used before by many many trainees to achieve strength levels much higher than we are shooting for here. You can find numerous variations of this routine in books and on the Internet. The reason you see this routine in so many places is quite simple, it works. Don't be put off by its simplicity, worked hard, this is a beast. Yes, it is enough volume. Until you have built a solid foundation of strength you will do yourself more harm then good by doing extra work. Leave the advanced routines to the advanced trainees. To sum it up, lift hard, eat well, get enough sleep, recover between workouts. Simple ? Yes. Easy? No.

Tagged

So I've been tagged again. It's taken me a couple of days to come up with eight random facts about me. So, In no particular order of lack of importance.

• 1. On the day I turned thirty, on a dare, I got my belly button pierced. Some friends and I were out and about imbibing when one of them mentioned that I was to old to do any such foolishness. So I said if they would pay for it I would do it, they did and so did I. When I turned 40 I took it out.
• 2. I have a cat named "Pig". when he was little he looked just like a little piglet, hence the name.
• 3. I make the worlds worst beef stroganoff. I can follow any recipe, and it will still come out wrong. I can cook many other things, just not stroganoff.
• 4. I've been drunk and asked to leave a bar on 6 different continents. "Beer" and "Jack Daniels" are understood world wide. Actually I was only asked to leave 5 times, the sixth one thru me out.
• 5. I have no problem jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, but climbing a ladder scares me.
• 6. Anne Marie Fahey was a friend of mine in college. It still weirds me out, what happened to her.
• 7. I know people who worked in the World Trade center on 9/11, all of them made it out, or were late for work that day.
• 8. On a clear day I can stand on the roof of my house and see 5 rivers, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and the Chesapeake bay.

Does Organic still Matter?

With Big Agri-business now firmly in control of the organic products available in most grocery stores, how much does buying organic really matter? No longer does organic signify small family farms and local, seasonal goods. In the case of dairy if one were to visit a Dean foods, Horizon Dairy operation, it would be indistinguishable from its non-organic line. They are both feed lot operations, and ship products all over North America. Much of the produce that is organic is grown half way around the world, and shipped by airplane. The carbon footprint of this produce is far higher than non-orgainc produce grown anywhere in the United States. Is that what we are really trying to accomplish when we purchase orgainc products?Given the efforts of large agri-business to homogenize our food supply, it has become fairly impossible to eat a healthy diet and eat only locally grown meat and produce. There are still a great number of family farms in small communiteis across these United States, and we are doing ourselves the biggest favor of all when we support our local faremers, even if they are not organic. Farmers markets and roadside stands are a great source of high quality local produce. The money you spend at these places stays in your community, and doens't flow to large corporate interest. Even better, plan now to plant a garden next year. There are few things that will ever taste as good as home grown tomatoes.

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

Guy Clark - Refrain from "Homegrown Tomatoes"

Average Guy's Guide #5

So, the time has come, man meets iron. After much consideration, read procrastination, its time to get busy lifting weights. We are going to stop the body weight deep knee bends, but keep the push ups, situps and hammer work, plus add a few other things in. There will be a link provided for each new exercise to exrx.net for a complete description and demo. So here is your next routine

Spilt Squats
Stiff leg Deadlift
Overhead Press
Bent over Row
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Hammer work

There ya go. Do these twice a week, giving yourself at least 2 or three days between workouts. Start conservative with the weights. These are new movements, and it'll take a time or three to get the hang of them. Its far better to do it light and do it right, then go heavy too quickly and get hurt. Getting hurt is not good, in fact part of why we're doing this is to be more injury resistant. Now that we are past the absolute beginner stage the question always comes up as to how many sets to preform. If you travel about the internet you will find various answers to that question. Here is mine, One set works IF you have a qualified coach or partner to spot you, push you, and watch your form. IF you are in this situation, especially if you have access to high quality equipment like Med-x or Hammer, then go for it, one max set is all you need. IF however, you are working out alone in your garage or basement, then two hard sets, is better then trying to do one max set unsupervised. To start the Split squats and deadlifts with, use a weight that you could get 20 reps with but stop at 15. For the press' and row's, use a weight that you could get 15 reps with, but stop at 12. For the pushups and sit ups you should be able to get 2 sets of 20. If on the second set you aren't sure if you can get all the reps, stop on the last rep you know you can get. Just try to do a little better next time. After you are able to get all reps in both sets confidently, add weight, 5 lbs, at the next work out. This routine should last you for about 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, take a week off. It will be time to change things up again.

Average Guy's Guide #4

So, how ya doing so far? You're probably wondering when the miraculous transformation is going to start. Well, it ain't. This here is not some get ripped in 90 day type of program. This is about building a foundation of strength and health, one brick at a time. There are plenty of books and websites that'll promise you the moon,take your money, and leave you right where your are now, looking for a real answer. The real secret to strength and health is there ain't no secret. Its about eating right and getting regular exercise, for the rest of your natural life. Sorry to bust your bubble. Thats right, the pursuit of health and strength is not something you do for a little while and then you're done. Nope, to continue to reap the benefits of eating right and exercising, you got to do this forever.

So, Back to the eating right part. Protein, protein, protein. In case I was too subtle, PROTEIN. Forget all the nonsense you hear about the dangers of a high protein diet. Unless you have been diagnosed with kidney disease, a high protein diet is better than good for you. How much protein? I am so glad you asked. Since I am in The U.S., I will answer in pounds and ounces. Dive your weight in pounds by 10. That is how many ounces of meat/fish/foul you should eat everyday. Notice I didn't say grams of protein, this is how many ounces of meat you should put on your plate. A piece the size of a deck of cards is about three ounces. So if you weigh 210 lbs, that would be 21 ounces or seven decks of cards of meat. Such non meat items as eggs and cottage cheese can be used as well. Each large egg is one ounce of meat, a half cup of cottage cheese is 4 ounces.

Your mother was right, about vegetabels anyway. After protein, vegetables are the most important part of your diet. A serving a vegetables is about a cup raw. To get the number of servings you should eat divide your body weight in lbs. by 30. Round Up any decimal point to the next whole number. This is how many servings of vegetable you should eat everyday. One serving can be of root vegetables (carrots, beets, potatoes etc), and beans (navy, kdney etc) can be substituted for a serving as well. People who are carb sensitive may need to do an either/or on the root vegetables and beans.

For servings of fruit divide your body weight in lbs by 70, and round up as before. If you are carb sensitive stick to berries, apples, and citrus, and avoid tropical fruits (bananas, mangos).

Eat one ounce of nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds etc) or two table spoons of nut butters everyday.

The above are minimums. Divide it up over 3-4 meals and a snack or two. You can eat more if you like.

What about Pasta, cereal, and bread? Here is the deal. Fill your plate with the protein, vegetables and fruits first. If on any given day you have the choice between pasta and a potato, pick the potato. As long as you eat your minimums of the meat, vegies, fruits and nuts, you can eat what ever else you want, just don't stuff yourself to do it. I eat dairy almost everyday in the form of yoghurt, or milk in my protein shakes. I go to community dinners where spaghetti is served. I just make sure I eat meatballs, sausages and salad in sufficient quantities to go with it. BBQ's are easy, just stick to the ribs, chicken, beans, and fresh fruits. Everyday isn't going to be perfect. Life sometimes gets in the way of our best efforts. The object is to be on track 90% of the time. If you blow a meal, or a whole day for that matter, just get back on track the time you eat. Again, its not about being perfect, its about making progress and doing better over time.

NOTE: The above diet is based on a post Made by David Maurice in the Hard Gainers Round Table. To see the original diet as posted you will need to join the round table.