Strength is a skill" -Pavel Tsatsouline
"Don't take this practice too seriously but train like your life depends on it." -Pattabhi Jois
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee

My Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/yogadude1234/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

On dealing with training injuries.

This is a very general post about dealing with training injuries.  It is not a substitute for seeking an actual professional in the field of sports rehab. 

If you train hard in any activity there is a 100% chance that at some point you will get injured.   There is just no way around this as serious athletes/fat-burners are often toying around at the edge of their physical limits.  I have had and recovered from such an incredible amount of injuries over the past 20 years that I feel very qualified to tell you what to do to get through them and come out the other side stronger.

If the injury causes pain when doing simple stuff like walking, reaching to grab something,  or turning your head you must take a full break from training.  This phase shouldn't last more than a week or 2.  During this phase you need to be very careful.  You have to be aware of the way you are moving when doing your regular daily routine.  Don't move too quickly, don't turn your head too fast, don't reach out and grab something if you cant get it under you.    You will want to ice the injured area at least 2x/day.  Use ice for no longer than 15 minutes per icing.   You can not ice too frequently within reason but you must keep the sessions to 15 minutes or less.   Use this injury as way of getting a deeper understanding of the way you move and move things in space.   

Once you feel that you can move comfortably (but still feel the injury) you can go back to whatever your training is using a much lighter load, usually about 30%.  An example of this would be Kettlebell Getups.  If you used to be able to do 5 sets of getups with a 24 kg kettlebell you will want to start with an 8 lb kettlebell (or even lighter) when you train.  If it still hurts too much to train with the 8 kg bell try bodyweight getups.  The entire point is to start at a very low load and work your way very slowly back up to your full capacity.  Once you feel comfortable at 30% it is time to start slowly adding weight/intensity to your routine.  Do not rush this phase.  It could take you 1-6 months to get back to full strength, depending on the intensity of your injury.

If you find yourself not recovering when training at 30% you need to create a rehabilitative routine to slowly build you back to 100%.  Since I train with kettlebells I guess that is my focus for either strength work or rehabilitative work.  90% of injuries I see are low back, upper back, shoulder or neck.  All of these bodyparts can be healed with one basics exercise, kettlebell hiking.  I believe that the body strengthens and heals as a full-body unit.  When you pick up something with even a little bit of weight the entire body is forced to slowly catch up to its weak links.  I had tremendous success healing my upper and lower back injuries using simple kettlebell hiking.  I had an injury so bad last year that I couldn't even comfortably carry the 4 kg bell.  I put a bottle of water into a bag and hiked with it as if it was a 1 lb kettlebell.  Every other day I added a bottle until I could carry 4 lbs total.  Once I was strong enough to do that I went to the 4 kg bell, then the 8, 12, and finally when I was strong enough to hike with the 16 kg bell I was 100% healed. 

Every injury I have had has led me to a personal record of some sort in my training.  The injury I am describing above was one of my worse, a badly torn upper back muscle.  It took 6 months to get back to 100%.  On the 7th month I set personal records in the strict Military Press (5 sets of 5 with a pair of 24 kg bells) and the Getup (70 lb getup stacking 2 bells). 

Do not let your injuries get you down in any way.  Everything is a learning experience and that which does not kill us eventually leads to new PR's.  Every kettlebell master I study has had injuries.  You are not Superman but you do need to be Supersmart when making your comeback.  Life is long and you will always have plenty of time to get stronger, just be smart about it!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Dropping all conditioning work for the summer

I lost a good amount of strength and muscle the past 2 months.  It took this long to fully recover from something painful in my teres minor and left knee. I also did some experimental ketogenic and vegetarian dieting which depleted the shit out of me.   Finally feeling 100% but feeling like a very skinny human :(   I've decided that I am going to spend the summer only doing slow-paced strength work.  I will as usual be  using the Program Minimum as a base for my program.  Back to swings and getups!  I got a 28 kg bell and am very excited to use it.  In the meantime I am coming back slow as is my method.

Getups - BW x 1, 4 kg  x 1, 8  x 1, 12  x 1, 16  x 2, 18 kgx 1

Swings - sets of 7 reps on the 2nd minute for 24 minutes - 12 kg x 3, 16 kg x 3, 24 kg x 3, 28 kg x 3

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Sugar detox diet

This is not a 100% sugar free diet but I think it qualifies as a detox for anybody eating the standard American diet.  There are sugars in the fullfat yogurt and raw nuts.

When you feel hungry on this diet all you need to do is eat!  What you are going to find out is that what you thought were feelings of hunger are actually sugar cravings because you are an addict.  This plan will help you find your true appetite.

Only follow this plan if you understand that you cant just go off of it on the 15th day haphazardly.  You are going to add back in "safe starches" (with fat added) a little at a time.  This will reduce the chances of you totally breaking down and just pigging out in the days that follow.  I will write more about how to end this plan and include safe-starches in another blog post. 

Here are the allowed foods

Any meat including uncured bacon.  No processed meats.  If you are going to eat chicken make it at least 50% dark meat.  Do not get caught up in the same old chicken breast you have been told to eat for years.  Lowfat foods like chicken breast are what got you here in the fist place.

Any vegetable, high-fat vegetables like avocados are great!   

Fullfat plain yogurt, USDA/Organic is best

Raw nut or seeds of any kind except for peanuts.

Eggs, either raw or cooked.

The more natural fats you eat on this diet the better!  If you eat lowfat foods you will not survive this plan, the cravings will be too much.  You became sugar-addicted because you ate lowfat for years.  Eating lowfat causes intense sugar cravings.  This is why many people can eat what they think is "clean" all day but end up bingeing on sugars at night. 

You can drink 1-2 glasses a day of raw milk/day if you like it but it is not necessary.

Do not drink any store bought milk.  You can use heavy fullfat  creamer for your tea if you absolutely need it.

Drink only water or unsweetened teas.  No coffee as it gives an insulin response and can cause sugar cravings.   Only drink when thirsty , the old standard of 8 glasses a day has proven to be incorrect.  Simply drink when you are thirsty and you will do well. 

Always eat the meat and eggs with a serving of vegetables equivalent to the amount of calories in the meat or eggs.  Do not eat meat or eggs alone if you can help it.  Try not to mix your meats.  Reason being is that you are better off making 2 separate meals with different meats as a way of eating more vegetables and not having to struggle to get fatty protein sources. 

Eat the full-fat plain yogurt as a stand alone meal. 

No alcohol but if you are insistent no more than 2 servings of 1-2 drinks/week.  Unsweetened hard liquor is best.  Beer is to sugary and should be skipped.

Cook your meats and vegetables in either coconut oil, butter, ghee or if you are lucky enough to be able to access lard use it!  Call me first, I want some!

Use olive oil for dressings but do not cook in it. 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Nuts and Bolts

Cholesterol is no longer considered a bio-marker for future health disease but bellyfat is.

So long as your cholesterol is not over 300 it is something you can 100% ignore.  If you have bellyfat and can not sleep through the night without waking to pee you are pre-diabetic or full-on Type 2 diabetic and do not know it.

Treat the symptoms, not the numbers.

A sugar is a sugar is a sugar is a sugar.  You can gain bodyfat or get diabetes from eating too much fruit just like you would eating too much refined sugar.

Very few people need more than 150 grams (600 calories) of sugar a day.  Any more than this spills into the bloodstream causing systemic inflammation.  It is this inflammation that is the source of nearly all lifestyle related disease. 

Sugar is in just about every packaged product.  If we avoid packaged products that is half the battle.

If a product says "gluten-free" it is loaded with sugar.

Fat is our original natural energy source.  Mothers milk is 50% fat, 25% protein, 25% carbohydrates.

The lowfat diet is one of the worst atrocities every perpetuated on mankind

When we eat lowfat the body needs to get energy from somewhere, it will always chose easy to consume sweets.  People have trouble sticking to diets because when they eat lowfat they crave sugar.  You can not replace natural fats with sugar without getting sick and overweight.

We can find our original appetite by detoxing from sugar and eating probiotic foods such as raw milk, raw eggs, fullfat yogurt and certain other fermented foods like sauerkraut.  Man-made probiotics are a waste of money. 

We can fix the above problem by going through a 10-14 day sugar detox and then learning how to eat probiotic foods to fix our healthy gut bacteria.  Once we get over the sugar addiction and feed our helpful gut bacteria our palate will no longer crave sugars, it will crave fats, the true original energy source as given to us by our mothers.

Animal fats do not cause heart disease.  Sugar does.  This is the new science and is not based on statistical analysis like the old science.  Sugar cases systemic inflammation, this inflammation causes cortisol release which is an indicator of how stressed the body is.  The body reacts to this by holding on to bodyfat because it thinks desperate times are ahead and it will need its bodyfat for survival.  The body will burn muscle tissue to survive instead of fat.  This lowers our metabolism and makes it even harder to get and stay lean.

Wheat is not a natural food.  It is grass modified by man to taste sweet.  We mill this wheat so finely to make "whole grain" breads and similar foods.  By milling the wheat so finely we improve its palatability to please our already sugar-addicted bodies.  The body reacts to this very finely milled grain the same way as it would white table sugar.  "Whole grain" is a joke. 

Why do people have trouble defining and eating natural foods?  This is because they are taught that '"lowfat" , "whole grain" or "gluten-free" are health foods.  They are not but they are definitely profitable foods so the answer lies in economics.    Packaged foods can be stored almost indefinitely and are transported easily and cheaply.  Natural foods require refrigeration which increases their cost and decreases the profit to be made off these foods.    There is much more money to be made in refined/processed foods than there is in natural foods. 

It is very difficult to keep weight off on a vegetarian diet because this diet is at its heart, sugar-based.  Remember that sugar is sugar is sugar, fruit or not.  Vegetarians eat "whole grain" products as if it is a health food but it is not.  "Whole grain" is sugar. Beans and rice are sugar based.  Only sprouted grain breads are alive and should be eaten.  Even then, this food needs to be restricted because it is also sugar based.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Day #5 Natural Vegetarian Diet

6 shots espresso w/honey and almond milk (ran out of raw milk dammit)
4 raw eggs
Sprouted grain bread sandwich w/raw almond butter
4 scrambled eggs with 1 whole green bell pepper and 1/2 onion
Sprouted grain sandwich bread w/raw almond butter
3/4 lb broccoli lightly steamed and pan-fried in garlic and butter
1 apple
1 lb strawberries
2 ounces mixed raw nuts
4 scrambled eggs with 1 whole green bell pepper and 1/2 onion and tapatio
1 apple

Monday, July 22, 2013

Slolwy coming back

Now that I a getting into the swing of things with a few private clients I am finding it harder to blog my workouts.  I'm still training myself but my focus is on training these folks, creating a long-term program for them and helping them with their diets. 

My knee and upper back are closing in on 100% but I am still working at about 50-60-%  I make sure to make my comebacks slowly and stay healthy.  .  Didn't make any videos but I will again soon since my swing needs analysis.

Getups - 2 reps bodyweight, 1 rep 4 kg, 1 rep 8 kg, 2 reps 12 kg, 2 reps 16 kg. 
Swings - 30 seconds rest/30 seconds work. 8 kg x 3 , 12 kg x 3 , 16 kg x 2, 12 kg x 2, 16 kg x3
Farmers Walk - 2 24 kg bells for 200 paces.  50 pace sets
Hands-up pushups - 4 sets of 10

Vegetarian Diet for Strength - Day # 3

Vegetarian Diet for Strength -  Day #3

A common trait found in people who eat a clean and powerful diet is that they tend to rely on a smaller variety of foods.  I believe this is done out of convenience and palatability. I believe it is a myth that we need a large variety of foods to be healthy and strong.  What do you think people did before we had airplanes which offers us the worlds food at our fingertips?  They ate seasonally, something totally lost on us Americans.   If anybody sees any holes in this plan as far as micronutrients go please comment.  I've been eating these meals the past 2 days and will most likely eat them again today.

32 ounces full-fat plain organic yogurt
Ezekial muffin or bread with almond butter + honey
4-8 organic cage-free raw eggs
3-6 glasses grass-fed raw milk
2-3 ounces of raw mixed nuts/seeds -  almonds + cashews + hazelnuts + pumpkin seeds + sunflower seeds
1  medium head broccoli, lightly boiled and then pan fried with butter and garlic
Plant-based protein powder made with either raw milk or almond milk + 4 tablespoons of flax seeds +handful frozen strawberries or blueberries
1-2 apples
Kosher baby dill pickles, as many as I want


For now I am not eating legumes, potatoes and certain forms of wild rice that I consider to be "safe starches".  I want to go 2 full weeks on what I consider the ideal fat-burning vegetarian plan since my clients almost universally are eating for fat-loss.  I want to see what this will do to my body before I recommend it to anybody else.

So far the main issue with this diet is that I am definitely having some (but not very bad) sugar cravings.  The ezekial bread, milk, protein powder and apples are all sources of sugars.  I think my previous 2 weeks on the ketogenic diet has trained my insulin response to the point that I do not crave sweets unless I eat them.    An example of this insulin-response craving happened last night.  I had an Ezekial+almond butter+honey sandwich at about 7pm.  Before I started to go to bed at about 10 pm I found myself staring at the fridge looking for something sweet to eat!.  I've been so disciplined lately that it was easy to skip the ice cream I have in the fridge but I was definitely craving it.  I had a big handful of raw nuts instead, not the easiest thing to do for me.  Raw nuts in my mouth, yuch.

I think what I miss the most is the flavor "savory"   You know that awesome burger place Umami?  Umami is the Japanese word for the flavor savory.  We americans are only familiar with the flavors sweet, sour, bitter and salty.  The Japanese consider umami or savory, to be a flavor of its own!  Savory is typically found in fatty meats, particularly in every meat-eaters favorite food, bacon :)   I am sure this is why the broccoli in butter is one of the best things I am eating on this plan.   The cooked butter is a savory taste and is very satisfying.  So far the only reason I can see for eating vegetables is as a vehicle for savory butter. :)

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Links to my current Sources on nutrition and strength training.

Links to my current Sources on nutrition and strength training.

I will not get involved with study-for-study battles with friends on facebook.  There are just too many legit-looking sources that conflict each other.  We all need to pick our mentors, follow their advice and see what happens.  It is too much work for me to keep sending people the same  links over and over again to the experts I currently follow.   I figured I should make something of a "sticky" linking to the stuff I strongly believe to be true.

You can expect this list to change over time, adding stuff, taking stuff away.  I'm open to changes if I believe a person is talking about facts and not emotions.   I will be adding to this later today, this is just a start.

Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by all this information.  It is a product of about 3 years of what I consider my own serious research.  Just take one topic at a time as it applies to your health and strength goals!

Added 10/2/2013
How testosterone can be increased by lowish carb high-fat diet.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/01/18/how-to-increase-testosterone-naturally/

Added 8/18, 2013
Gary Taubes, author of "Why We Get Fat" explains in almost-laymans terms how insulin regulates fat accumulation in fat cells.
http://garytaubes.com/2011/03/dose-of-intervention-land-of-dr-oz/


Added 8/13,  2013
Mark Sissons Primal Blog - one of my earliest reads on paleo/primal lifestyle.  Whenever I am attacking a new topic I usually start here. www.marksdailyapple.com

Petro Dobromylskyj's blog makes me realize how little I understand about nutrition! Purely science based this blog is  a great read if you are willing to take your time with it.  I like this blog because it seems to have no agenda other than finding and spreading the truth about fats and carbs. www.hyperlipid.com

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Dr. Mercola on diabetes - Why a Type 2 diabetic should NEVER be put on insulin and how to treat this condition 100% with diet: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/02/diabetes-most-of-what-youve-been-told-may-be-wrong.aspx

Dr. Mercola on cholesterolhttp://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/05/Does-High-Cholesterol-REALLY-Cause-Heart-Disease.aspx

Dr. Mercola on the benefits of eating raw organic eggs, a real Superfood!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/02/why-does-this-commonly-vilified-food-actually-prevent-heart-disease-and-cancer.aspx

Dr. Mercola on the science of addiction and processed carbs. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/18/brain-imaging-confirms-food-addiction.aspx

Dr. Mercola on inflammation being the #1 bio-marker for future health problems.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/06/eft-on-chronic-inflammation.aspx

Paul Jaminet, Ph.D.& Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet, Ph.D, authors of my current favorite nutrition book, The Perfect Healh diet also on cholesterol     http://perfecthealthdiet.com/category/biomarkers/hdlldlcholesterol/

Paul Jaminet, Ph.D.& Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet, Ph.D on why wheat, not animal products are the source of a leaky gut and chronic health problems.http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/10/wheat-is-a-cause-of-many-diseases-i-leaky-gut/

Dr. Weston A. Price (1870–1948), Passing at the age of 78, he outlived  all of his science-deniers. He is one of the few "old-school" doctors I follow on nutrition.

"In his search for the causes of dental decay and physical degeneration that he observed in his dental practice, he turned from test tubes and microscopes to unstudied evidence among human beings.  As he traveled, his findings led him to the belief that dental caries and deformed dental arches resulting in crowded, crooked teeth and unattractive appearance were merely a sign of physical degeneration, resulting from what he had suspected--nutritional deficiencies. "

Dr. Weston A.  Price on how to fight cancer with natural foods.
http://www.westonaprice.org/cancer

Dr. Weston A. Price on the benefits of  the natural fats found raw milk, cheese, eggs, liver meat, cod-liver oil, seafood, that have nourished generations of people with 0 lifestyle disease for generationshttp://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats

Brendan Brazier is a successful vegan triathlete. His book taught me a tremendous amount about nutrition. The main thing I learned from Brendan is how important it is to avoid stimulating foods like sugar or caffeine in order to get energy for the moment.  His book "Thrive"  details all the foods a successful vegan athlete needs to be strong and healthy. 
http://www.vegacommunity.com/forum/category/listByTitle

Why healthy gut bacteria is crucial to long term weight-loss.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/gut-microbiome-bacteria-weight-loss?page=4


Chinese Food combining 
Correctly combining foods makes all the difference in the world to proper digestion,  
cholesterol and metabolism. Without complete digestion, the nutrients in even the most 
wholesome food cannot be fully extracted and assimilated by the body. 
http://www.mydr2.com/cgi-bin/english/fetch2.pl?refnum=853&querry=colitis


The Worlds Best Kettlebellers and why kettlebells are different than any other strength, conditioning and fat-loss tool

The StrongFirst discussion forum.  A very small forum relative to the giant ones I also follow but in this small forum lies information from the most intelligent strength and conditioning coaches in the world.  You could post a question here about strength training and get answers from the best in the world, sometimes even from our Chief, Pavel Tsatsouline himself!  Loving modern technology when I read this stuff as it has been practically a secret before the internet forced all this info out into the open.   http://www.strongfirst.com/forums/forum/strongfirst-forum/

Mark Reifkind "Rif" has forgotten more about strength training than I could hope to learn for the rest of my life! http://www.rifsblog.blogspot.com/

Tracy Reifkind, "The Queen of the Swing" on kettlebell traning and nutrition for long-term  fat-loss. She lost over 100 lbs at the age of 41. This is almost totally unheard as I have found at that once a person is around my age (42) their belief systems get caught in a karmic cycle that will not let them free.  Great advice for men and women.  http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/ 

Dan John,  world famous strength and conditioning coach.   "Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record"
http://danjohn.net/

Dr. Mark Cheng on kettlebells as a rehabilitative tool
 http://kettlebellslosangeles.blogspot.com/

Dr. Mark Cheng and his  Chung Hua Institute for pain relief and human performance.
http://chunghuainstitute.blogspot.com/

StrongFirst team leader Steve Freides -  I look up to anybody with genetics like mine (basically skinny) who has grown as strong or stronger than anybody else.  If you watch his videos remember he is nearly 60 years old!  From his bio -

"I hold a doctoral degree in music and, after 17 years teaching college, now give music lessons in my home for most of my living (although I am increasingly teaching over Skype as well). It is my honor to serve as a Team Leader in the StrongFirst Girya - SFG - program. (A "girya" is a kettlebell.) I have also won several gold medals and world records as a Powerlifter. I have served as Director of the Professional High Holy Day Choir at Temple Sinai in Dresher, PA, for more than 30 years.
http://ridechickens.blogspot.com/




more to come, time to hike the puppy!












Monday, July 15, 2013

Swing like a beginner for rehab.

4th week of rehab exercises.  Starting to add some weight as I feel stronger and adding Kettlebell Swings for the first time in 3+ weeks.  By swinging like a beginner I mean I am doing 10 reps on the minute instead of 30 seconds work - 30 seconds rest or.  40/20.  Went very light but still got my heartrate up and felt pretty good!

Getups - 2 x bodyweight, 4kg x 2 reps, 8 kg x 2 reps
Swings - 10 reps on the minute w/ 4 kg bell, 8 kg ,8,8,8,8,12 kg,12,12,12,12,12
Farmers Walk - 2 x 12kg - 100 paces, 2 x 16 kg - 200 pace, 2 x 24 kg 200 paces (50 at a time, these felt heavy!)
Hands-up Pushups  -4 sets of 10 - felt much easier than when I did these last week!

Getting there!



Saturday, July 13, 2013

Ketogenic diet is not a good weight-loss diet

The ketogenic diet does not teach a person proper eating habits.  You should only try this program if you want to see if it will help you with any inflammatory problems you may have.  It is used for a few  different health reasons but not for bodyfat loss.  I've been intentionally not blogging or status-reporting my food intake because I do not want people to think that this is the diet  I put people on.  It is not.  That being said, here's an email I just sent off to a friend that I thought would make a good blog post about my thoughts on this diet.  This particular person both strength trains and does endurance sports, hence the comments about backing off on the endurance training :)
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You should cut back on any long-duration training. You will most likely get sick if you go lower than 5% carbs and train more than 30 minutes at a session. What you want  do is back off for these 2 weeks and after that you can eat the same keto diet but you add in good-quality carbs as training fuel. It is a very advanced way to eat, you have to know what you are doing. I can walk you through it. I haven't been blogging or posting what I specifically eat because it is not right for most people and I don't want people indiscriminately doing what I do. 

The first few days are bad but once you get over it you lose your cravings for sugar. If you cheat at all you get an insulin response which makes it really hard not to cheat more.  So I am on day 11 now and it's easy but I'm craving crazy stuff. Today was my biggest eating day yet:

9am - 4 raw organic eggs + 6 shots espresso with tbsp. honey
12noon - 4 raw organic eggs
2pm - 1 organic apple
3pm - 1/2 of a chicken, all dark meat included + 3 tiny slivers of yam
6pm - 4 strips thick-cut uncured bacon
8pm - 1/2 bag organic sugar snap peas which really have no sugar lol
9pm  2 kosher beef hotdogs + sauerkraut
10pm 4 strips thick cut bacon + 3 shots espresso with 1/2 tbsp. honey

The espresso and honey are the things that really help with cravings - the caffeine and little bit of honey change my mind-set but don't affect the blood sugar very much.    That's the main point of eating like this, to get off the blood-sugar rollercoaster and reduce inflammatory symptoms.

You don't need to rely on bacon and eggs so much but I like their convenience. Cooking the eggs is fine and is probably better because you can add low-sugar veges like peppers, onions, anything green.  Any protein source will do except for low-fat options. The whole idea of the diet is to get your body to stop relying on carbs for energy and  teach it how to burn nutritional fats. The thing is that the body can only eat so much fats in a sitting, that is why my above portions are not that big.  4 strips of bacon is about my limit.   So the body first burns the moderate amount of fat we eat at the meal but after that it spends the rest of the time burning bodyfat because there are no sugars in the system (really no glucose stored in the muscles or blood-stream is what this means)

You should only do this diet if you want to correct inflammatory problems. I know you are not and are doing it to lose bodyfat.  We'll make an exception if you follow some guidelines as we go.   You're going to  get moody and shit initially so make sure you got your head on straight and don't take it out on the world around you. You need to back off on endurance training but can still strength train to a certain degree

And you should probably add some sort of fiber like psyllium husk or large portions of chia/flax seeds.   I've been shitting decently but I know this particular days eating is not going to be good as far as going #2 goes lol.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

some more rehab work

My left knee hurts again :(.  I wonder if my days of ass-to-heel squatting are over?  I used a very light load doing my Front Squats this past Monday but still managed to take a step backwards as far as my knee goes.  Next time I do any form of squats I am not going to squat any lower than parallel and see how that feels.

I decided to make todays rehab training very light so I don't make things worse.  My rib cage/teres minor is doing much better!  I can breathe deeply with little to no pain so that is good.

4 sets of Hands-Up Pushups x 10 reps
100 paces each side Overhead Walk with 4 kg bell followed by the 8kg bell
100 paces Farmers Walk with 8 kg, 12 kg, 16 kg bell.  Did the 16 kg bell for 200 paces
5 Getups with no weight, balancing a shoe on my fist.

Going to continue resting and recovering.  Hopefully I will be good-to-go by Monday on the ROP.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Fuck Vegetables

Every day that passes I am more and more convinced that we do not need any vegetables in our diet to have vibrant health and longevity.  I do actually enjoy eating vegetables. I prefer it when someone else buys, stores and cooks them for me.  I get most of my vegetable intake when I eat out.  Since I am trying to eat out as little as possible I figured I would take a moment to analyze non-vegetable sources of vitamins and minerals. 

FYI,  I am  talking about above-ground  vegetables. I believe starchy below-ground (aka root) vegetables are a perfect staple food even though I do not eat a lot of them myself.

My main issues with vegetables are:

1)  You get a very small amount of calories for the amount of food you consume.   Hardly anybody is getting their energy (aka calories) 100% via vegetables.  Most vegetarians eat a diet high in refined carbohydrates. Even though refined carbs are basically "bad" for your overall health, they are an easily obtainable, palatable form of energy.   If you goal is to be skinny, frail and weak, then yes, a diet high in raw vegetables and refined starch calories may be for you. 

2)  The financial cost to energy supplied ratio of vegetables is terribly  high.  This is not even including the extra expense of buying organic which I think is very important. 
 
3)  Vegetables are more difficult to digest than meat.  Try eating 300 calories of steamed broccoli vs 300 calories of medium rare meat. 300 calories of broccoli is 10 cups of broccoli!  300 calories of grass-fed beef will not even fill the palm of your hand.  The broccoli will also sit in your belly longer than the meat because of the fiber.

4)  Vegetables go bad quickly.  I've thrown away so much food in my lifetime and this is something I am working on.  Vegetables make it more difficult because they spoil so quickly, often before  I am ready to eat them. 

5)  Cooking vegetables kills a large percentage of their inherent vitamins and minerals.  A person would need to eat their vegetables  raw or very lightly steamed to get their full benefits.  Once a vegetable goes from the crunchy raw state to the mushy cooked condition I believe we are eating non-nutritious sludge. 

Here's a list of the basic vitamins and minerals we need for good health and their non-vegetable sources. 

You can see why I love raw eggs and milk!

Vitamin A - eggs, liver, orange fruits
Vitamin B1 -  meats, nuts
Vitamin B2 - milk
Vitamin B3 - meat, fish, poultry
Vitamin B5 - chicken, beef, potatoes
Vitamin B6 - organ meats
Vitamin B12 -  fish, meat
Vitamin C - oranges, kiwi, strawberries
Biotin - eggs, milk, berries
Folic Acid - egg yolk, sunflower seeds, liver
Vitamin D - sunlight, fish liver oil, milk
Vitamin E - sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts
Vitamin K1 - one of the few vitamins I can not find a non-vegetable source
Vitamin K2 -  eggs, cheese, liver
Calcium - milk, yogurt, cheeses
Iron - beef, eggs
Phosphorus - milk, meat, eggs
Iodine - iodized salt
Magnesium - most nuts, particularly almonds
Zinc - red meat, seafood
Selenium - organ meats, seafood
Copper - seafood, nuts, seeds
Manganese - nuts
Chromium - meats, poultry, fish

Fiber - fruits, flax seeds, chia seeds

Meat is not "bad" for you unless it is factory farmed or cooked past the medium rare state.  I eat all of my meat medium rare, it's juicy and delicious. 

Milk is only bad for you if you buy the shitty, low quality milk that most folks buy.  When you finally try organic or raw milk you will get all of the benefits of milk with none of the drawbacks.  Lactose intolerant?  Try raw milk, there are more than a few people out there who claim to have lost their lactose intolerance by avoiding low-quality milk.

Ethics of eating animals?   That is the only reason I can see for avoiding animal products.

I do not believe eating animals is inherently unethical unless you are eating factory farmed crap.  I think I am doing all I can do for our fellow animals by avoiding factory farmed products.  I am doing my part by  replacing factory-farmed foods with grass-fed meats, organic cage-free eggs and raw milk (grass-fed cows). 

There is one reason for eating vegetables that I believe has been verified by science.  Certain foods contain antiangiogenic properties.  These foods decrease the growth of new blood vessels which may or may not feed cancer cells.  There are plenty of fruits with these properties so again, no need for vegetables!  http://www.standup2cancer.org/article_archive/view/foods_that_fight_cancer


Monday, July 1, 2013

a little rehab work

It feels like I will be doing this routine for the week.  Hopefully I will be in good enough shape to start the Rite of Passage next week with the 24 kg bell.

5 no-weight getups
Overhead walk w/4 kg bell x  100  paces, 8kg x 200 paces
Farmers Walk w/ 8kg x100 paces, 12kg x 200 paces, 16 kg bell x 200 paces
Hands-up pushups, 4 sets of 10
Front Squats BWx10, 4 kg bells x 10, 8kg x 10,12kg x 10, 16 kg x 10.

Felt pretty good, much better than last week.

back to it

This week off of training came at the perfect time since I have something going on with my rib cage or upper back it's hard to tell.  At the beginning of the week deep-breathing and going from prone to standing was painful.  I am guessing that I pulled something while doing getups.   I wonder if my scheduled week off didn't come one week too late?  I do remember rushing through getups the past couple of weeks but I never felt any pain.  Strangely enough the most painful position for me atm is lying flat on my back.  At the beginning of the week I could not do the first move of a getup on my right side without severe pain.  This had gotten much better but I am not ready to start pushing the ROP again, especially with the 24 kg bell.  I am also still nursing my left knee which was painful for a full month but now only stiff.  I am going to be doing some form of squats in this new routine for sure. 

I usually like to have a training plan for at least a month but I am very unsure of my capabilities at the moment.  I also do not wan to make this problem worse.  I will probably do some combination of squats, bodyweight getups and maybe even some pushups.