Okay sometimes I will tell a client, try eating this for breakfast. They will respond with, "that for breakfast?"
We all have learned that breakfast food is one certain kind of thing, lunch is something else, dinner is something else. Typically breakfast is either pastry or some egg dish, lunch is some bread dish like a sandwich, and dinner is the biggest dish, usually meat and potatoes followed by desert. Where did that rule come from? It doesn't matter. Do not think of meals as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are more indicative of time not what sort of food. We are not designed to process different kinds of meals a day, like we process pastries better at night and eggs better in the morning.
A meal is a meal, no matter what time of day it is. Doesn't matter style, genre, category, just make it a good one. And forget about eating small meals or 3 square meals, etc. Eat when you are hungry, eat when you rise, eat long before you go to bed. There are no other rules. Food is abundant now but our bodies were designed when food was scarce.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Week 5
DAY 1 TO DAY 30
Height: 5'6
Weight: 130 to 120
Waist (measured at the belly button): 30' to 28'
Thighs: 20 to 18' 1/2
Arms: 11' 1/4 to 11'
So five weeks and ten pounds. You can really start to see the definition on her stomach. I don't see any point to keep this going and will end here. It is up to her now to maintain her results on her own. The last week she finished her work outs faster, with more intensity, and her diet became very manageable as she made small changes every week. The diet in it's simplest form is just protein and vegetables.She never counted calories or even had a target weight, her body just got leaner and stronger and she not only broke her 130 mark, but blew it away by going down to 120.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Train Like A Human
Sometimes I see people working out, and even trainers training their clients in a manner that wasn't meant for humans. I am not sure what animal that its meant for, to lay on the ground and lift my own leg up and down or hold a balance ball over my head and run in place. Looking at how we look now, we wouldn't know it but we are the fittest and most evolved of all animals. We have all this untapped genetic potential. They say we haven't tapped into our full brain potential? What about our full body's potential?
Not only did we for the majority of existence chase animals until they were exhausted, we then still had the strength to kill it, defend it from would be scavengers and other humans, and then drag it's heavy carcass home. If we gathered food, our radius that we gathered in was so large, and once the food was gathered, they had to be also able to carry all that food back. Not only enough food for themselves, enough food for a long time, enough food for their tribe. We look at serving sizes now, back then it was all communal and we had to share our food. Outside of that we rested.
You look at how people train now, it is way too long, not nearly intense enough, and no prescribed rest times. Certain muscles on humans got large for a reason and a majority of the time people don't even work their large muscles. We still can control the expression of genes, evolution gave us big legs and hips, will we now work against nature and try to give ourselves big biceps and small legs?
We not only had strong legs, we were the only ones with a strong enough and complex spinal and core system that allowed us to stay upright, to give us vertical advantage. Not only that it freed up our arms, and we had strong upper bodies meant to wield tools and weapons, even fling weapons. We look at wild animals now and think we would stand no chance against them. But in reality, throughout history, we did, we did better, we thrived. We were more mobile, had more range of motion, had free hands, could use a tool, use our brain, hunt in a pack.
I mentioned it in a post before, how a cheetah isn't strong enough to defend it's prey after the chase. When we see animals fight, we see them only fight for a few seconds, or a minute, then they are tired. If you watch MMA, humans can fight for 25 minutes! Back when there were no time limits, there are recorded fights lasting several hours. Do you train like a human being? Really? Does your trainer train you like one? Do you train like the pinnacle of animal evolution? Can you lift your own body weight? Run for a long distance and still have enough left to create explosive power? Can you generate explosive thrust? Torque? Can you lift heavy things with your arms? Can you lift it over your head? A real human has never lifted something light over their head a bunch of times and patted themselves on their back. A real human never jogged lightly forever. They chased or were chased. If you have been working out forever and you still can't lift your body weight up over a pull up bar several times or be able to hold at least double your body weight with your legs, man or woman and you are physically able, then you are not training like a human. I can't even insult an animal by naming one you may be training like, you are just training like something weak that would have died off by now.
We can ride waves and climb mountains. Animals can do that also, but what animal can do both? Only us. We can also run far and lift heavy things! We are supposed to be awesome. We are supposed to be...
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Not only did we for the majority of existence chase animals until they were exhausted, we then still had the strength to kill it, defend it from would be scavengers and other humans, and then drag it's heavy carcass home. If we gathered food, our radius that we gathered in was so large, and once the food was gathered, they had to be also able to carry all that food back. Not only enough food for themselves, enough food for a long time, enough food for their tribe. We look at serving sizes now, back then it was all communal and we had to share our food. Outside of that we rested.
You look at how people train now, it is way too long, not nearly intense enough, and no prescribed rest times. Certain muscles on humans got large for a reason and a majority of the time people don't even work their large muscles. We still can control the expression of genes, evolution gave us big legs and hips, will we now work against nature and try to give ourselves big biceps and small legs?
We not only had strong legs, we were the only ones with a strong enough and complex spinal and core system that allowed us to stay upright, to give us vertical advantage. Not only that it freed up our arms, and we had strong upper bodies meant to wield tools and weapons, even fling weapons. We look at wild animals now and think we would stand no chance against them. But in reality, throughout history, we did, we did better, we thrived. We were more mobile, had more range of motion, had free hands, could use a tool, use our brain, hunt in a pack.
I mentioned it in a post before, how a cheetah isn't strong enough to defend it's prey after the chase. When we see animals fight, we see them only fight for a few seconds, or a minute, then they are tired. If you watch MMA, humans can fight for 25 minutes! Back when there were no time limits, there are recorded fights lasting several hours. Do you train like a human being? Really? Does your trainer train you like one? Do you train like the pinnacle of animal evolution? Can you lift your own body weight? Run for a long distance and still have enough left to create explosive power? Can you generate explosive thrust? Torque? Can you lift heavy things with your arms? Can you lift it over your head? A real human has never lifted something light over their head a bunch of times and patted themselves on their back. A real human never jogged lightly forever. They chased or were chased. If you have been working out forever and you still can't lift your body weight up over a pull up bar several times or be able to hold at least double your body weight with your legs, man or woman and you are physically able, then you are not training like a human. I can't even insult an animal by naming one you may be training like, you are just training like something weak that would have died off by now.
We can ride waves and climb mountains. Animals can do that also, but what animal can do both? Only us. We can also run far and lift heavy things! We are supposed to be awesome. We are supposed to be...
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Your Body Is Not Just A Beater
To get your brain to work. Some people tend to think all their body is good for, or meant for, is to house their brain. They treat their car with more respect than they do their own bodies. They seem to think no matter how bad it gets, how beat up, how sick, they can still think, work, communicate, etc. They don't think that the brain is actually a PART OF THEIR BODY. That somehow the health of their body will not affect the health of their brain, that stress hormones will not get worse from the insulin responses in your body due to the foods you eat. That nervous system health doesn't affect your ability to think. That hormones in your body, high fat levels, lack of neural pathways, will not affect your ability to think.
Why are there fat doctors, out of shape professors, anthropologists and human genome scientists who eat donuts? How can people so disconnect their body from their consciousness? And anything related to a mind body connection is some new age mumbo jumbo? What is a brain without a body? Dead. What is a body without a brain? Dead. If you got shot in the head, you would die. Ironically if you got shot through the heart, you will also die. How can people pretend to be so smart, pretend to do their job well, pretend not to be a burden on society, have such a sense of entitlement, yet order or eat some of the worst foods and not choose to be active, and brag about it? As if they just made a brilliant choice with their life.
So how is it possible that people can respect their brain and their mind so much but not their bodies? It is widely accepted there are some foods that are good for the brain. If so, why are we not eating more of it? If we are so smart, why are we so stupid?
I remember watching an Animal Planet show about obese pets, and the veterinarian speaking on the subject was herself obese, and was telling dog owners not to overfeed their animals or feed it this or that, and how it needs more exercise. I wondered how some people can separate their academic and intellectual life from their real life? They must think their bodies are some kind of avatar and is not their true self. That the body is a trap. How disconnected they must be from their own bodies, how trapped by their bodies.
In this age, physical activity has become voluntary and food is no longer scarce. You could actually choose to live like an invalid if you wanted to, sitting all day, and gorging yourself on food. And when you do, and when you have, it's no wonder that your body doesn't feel like your own, and that you are trapped in it. It becomes a vicious cycle. Our brains haven't changed much in the last 10,000 years, we used to chase or be chased. We use to hunt and gather. Now we sit over the computer and read reports and check e-mails. We no longer have to rely on fight or flight instincts to survive so now that instinct gets triggered by everything, causing us anxiety. Our bodies are no longer naturally muscular. No wonder our body doesn't feel like our own and we are easily stressed out.
Your body is not just a beater to get your brain to work. Treat it with respect.
Why are there fat doctors, out of shape professors, anthropologists and human genome scientists who eat donuts? How can people so disconnect their body from their consciousness? And anything related to a mind body connection is some new age mumbo jumbo? What is a brain without a body? Dead. What is a body without a brain? Dead. If you got shot in the head, you would die. Ironically if you got shot through the heart, you will also die. How can people pretend to be so smart, pretend to do their job well, pretend not to be a burden on society, have such a sense of entitlement, yet order or eat some of the worst foods and not choose to be active, and brag about it? As if they just made a brilliant choice with their life.
So how is it possible that people can respect their brain and their mind so much but not their bodies? It is widely accepted there are some foods that are good for the brain. If so, why are we not eating more of it? If we are so smart, why are we so stupid?
I remember watching an Animal Planet show about obese pets, and the veterinarian speaking on the subject was herself obese, and was telling dog owners not to overfeed their animals or feed it this or that, and how it needs more exercise. I wondered how some people can separate their academic and intellectual life from their real life? They must think their bodies are some kind of avatar and is not their true self. That the body is a trap. How disconnected they must be from their own bodies, how trapped by their bodies.
In this age, physical activity has become voluntary and food is no longer scarce. You could actually choose to live like an invalid if you wanted to, sitting all day, and gorging yourself on food. And when you do, and when you have, it's no wonder that your body doesn't feel like your own, and that you are trapped in it. It becomes a vicious cycle. Our brains haven't changed much in the last 10,000 years, we used to chase or be chased. We use to hunt and gather. Now we sit over the computer and read reports and check e-mails. We no longer have to rely on fight or flight instincts to survive so now that instinct gets triggered by everything, causing us anxiety. Our bodies are no longer naturally muscular. No wonder our body doesn't feel like our own and we are easily stressed out.
Your body is not just a beater to get your brain to work. Treat it with respect.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Why It's Harder When You're Older
People seem to think the reason it's harder to get started in fitness when you are older is because your body is just broken down. That is not the case. If that were the case, all you would have to do is scale down the work out to meet the needs of the older athlete.
The problem is, as you get older, the further you are in life, the more things you've done; you feel like, you've already paid your dues. That is what is hard to overcome, because you have already paid your dues, why do you have to work out hard now? Why can't it just magically happen for you? Why can't this be easy? Don't they know you already paid your dues? It's really a form of entitlement, it's why you will sometimes see old people yelling in line that they've waited too long, because they have already paid their dues and they don't want to pay it again.
In fitness, the problem is normally not physical, its normally always mental. The symptoms of your mental health show up in your physical form.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
The problem is, as you get older, the further you are in life, the more things you've done; you feel like, you've already paid your dues. That is what is hard to overcome, because you have already paid your dues, why do you have to work out hard now? Why can't it just magically happen for you? Why can't this be easy? Don't they know you already paid your dues? It's really a form of entitlement, it's why you will sometimes see old people yelling in line that they've waited too long, because they have already paid their dues and they don't want to pay it again.
In fitness, the problem is normally not physical, its normally always mental. The symptoms of your mental health show up in your physical form.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Week 4
The Numbers:
Height: 5'6
Weight: 123
Waist (measured at the belly button): 28' 1/4
Thighs: 19' 1/4
Arms: 11'
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Modern Man
If an athletic caveman lived in today's age, he would look just like the rest of us. The reason being is, in his day, he was forced to be active to survive, and his body had to conserve energy and store it. We are much the same today. Except today, physical activity has become optional.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Incentives
The world is incentives based. That's at least what economists say. You need proper incentives to get something done, even if the incentive is as simple as feeling good about yourself or comes in the form of pride, it is still incentive.
A friend and I are trying to find more time to train martial arts. To do this we need to at least meet up and train together three times a week, an hour at a time. We are both serious people, and committed martial artists, and even still we will fail at this with just a handshake and a promise. The only way we can get better is if we put in those three meetings every week consistently. So I told him we have to have a system. If one of us doesn't show up to practice, or cancels on the other person the same day, we will owe the other person a $100. So I guess we are taking our commitment very seriously right? And for sure now neither one of us will ever miss a practice, and we will get better very quickly. If that incentive isn't in place, I guarantee this whole deal will fall apart. How do I know? We have tried, as other martial artists have in the past and it always ends up one person mad at the other person as being a flake.
The same thing is true for fitness. With my clients I too have a cancellation policy of 24 hours. If I let people cancel whenever without penalty, what will they do? They will inevitably cancel whenever. They will also show up to less sessions a week. Not intentionally, but never the less it will happen.
So what about people who are working out on their own or with a friend? They need goals, they need incentives. If you are working out with a buddy, make a promise of something like 5 dollars. It doesn't have to be a large amount like I am using (because I am planning on never having to pay it). It's not the amount that will drive the person to show up, its the principle they have to pay will drive your partner to show up. It's the incentive. All humans naturally have a sense of entitlement, use it in a good way, use it to attain your goal. It doesn't even have to be money, it could be like buying someone lunch, washing their car, etc. It's just that money is the most convenient, you may have to wait forever for that person to wash your car, in which case it doesn't work very well as an incentive. Or both people can put money into a pot and whoever loses more percentage wins the pot. Or both training partners can reward themselves with something when their reach their fitness goals.
If you are working out alone, it could also be the form of a reward. Or you will deny yourself a night of going out or seeing a concert you wanted to see if you miss a workout session. Or you can donate 10 dollars every time to a charity. It doesn't matter.
We just have to be realistic. If you never worked out three times on your own, it is unrealistic to think you will all of a sudden do it because you magically create a love of fitness. It's best to give yourself an incentive.
I find money the easiest thing to work with, because it's simple, the idea of gaining or losing capital. It's also the most convenient and doesn't take any extra leg work.
A friend and I are trying to find more time to train martial arts. To do this we need to at least meet up and train together three times a week, an hour at a time. We are both serious people, and committed martial artists, and even still we will fail at this with just a handshake and a promise. The only way we can get better is if we put in those three meetings every week consistently. So I told him we have to have a system. If one of us doesn't show up to practice, or cancels on the other person the same day, we will owe the other person a $100. So I guess we are taking our commitment very seriously right? And for sure now neither one of us will ever miss a practice, and we will get better very quickly. If that incentive isn't in place, I guarantee this whole deal will fall apart. How do I know? We have tried, as other martial artists have in the past and it always ends up one person mad at the other person as being a flake.
The same thing is true for fitness. With my clients I too have a cancellation policy of 24 hours. If I let people cancel whenever without penalty, what will they do? They will inevitably cancel whenever. They will also show up to less sessions a week. Not intentionally, but never the less it will happen.
So what about people who are working out on their own or with a friend? They need goals, they need incentives. If you are working out with a buddy, make a promise of something like 5 dollars. It doesn't have to be a large amount like I am using (because I am planning on never having to pay it). It's not the amount that will drive the person to show up, its the principle they have to pay will drive your partner to show up. It's the incentive. All humans naturally have a sense of entitlement, use it in a good way, use it to attain your goal. It doesn't even have to be money, it could be like buying someone lunch, washing their car, etc. It's just that money is the most convenient, you may have to wait forever for that person to wash your car, in which case it doesn't work very well as an incentive. Or both people can put money into a pot and whoever loses more percentage wins the pot. Or both training partners can reward themselves with something when their reach their fitness goals.
If you are working out alone, it could also be the form of a reward. Or you will deny yourself a night of going out or seeing a concert you wanted to see if you miss a workout session. Or you can donate 10 dollars every time to a charity. It doesn't matter.
We just have to be realistic. If you never worked out three times on your own, it is unrealistic to think you will all of a sudden do it because you magically create a love of fitness. It's best to give yourself an incentive.
I find money the easiest thing to work with, because it's simple, the idea of gaining or losing capital. It's also the most convenient and doesn't take any extra leg work.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Week 3
The Numbers:
Height: 5'6
Weight: 123
Waist (measured at the belly button): 28' 1/4
Thighs: 19' 1/4
Arms: 11' 1/4
She has gotten stronger and increased the weight on all the resistance exercises. She is only doing a total of 8 minutes of intense cardio/speed training. She has increased her speeds and lowered her rest times. She has stopped eating processed carbs.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Religious People Twice As Likely To Be Obese
I guess due to most things that are pleasurable being sinful, I guess gluttony is the most forgivable.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/faith-fat-religious-youths-obese-mid-life/story?id=13204624
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/faith-fat-religious-youths-obese-mid-life/story?id=13204624
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sumo Finishes Marathon
Remember what I said about distance training and that sometimes you don't have to be thin to run long distances, you just need a large heart? This is a good example of this.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fatman-20110321,0,3121345.story
Remember running 5k takes much longer than doing 5 pull ups, but 5 pulls ups are much harder.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fatman-20110321,0,3121345.story
Remember running 5k takes much longer than doing 5 pull ups, but 5 pulls ups are much harder.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Week 2
The Numbers:
Height: 5'6
Weight: 126
Waist (measured at the belly button): 29'
Thighs: 19' 1/4
Arms: 11' 1/4
So after 2 weeks here are the results. She was shocked to finally drop below 130, without counting anything, measuring food portions, or working out every day nonstop. It's the first time she's been there since freshman year of high school. She increased her protein intake and started to eat more whole foods along with some adjustments to her training. Her training time for the week increased to 3 hours a week. She gets plenty of rest and plenty of sleep.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Food Ego And The Search For Love
I was at a food court today, grabbing a bite after some tough training. I'm in the process of moving so it's hard for me to cook at the moment. So I sit down and unwind and eat. Directly in front of me, barely a few feet away is a table with plates of food. Then a girl comes by and drops off more and more plates of food.
This girl is overweight and not within a healthy buffer zone. All the food she is bringing is not healthy. Mostly fried stuff. I don't mean healthy in just a, "she will gain more weight sense" but also in a, "that food will give her cancer" sort of sense. She didn't look healthy and she didn't make healthy food choices.
That's not the thing that made me look, its the amount of food she got. It was so much food. Her friend came by with his own plate of food. Before he could bite in, she stood up with her phone. Then I saw the strangest thing. I thought she was just texting, but then she was hovering over the food. She was taking a picture! I was so confused. Why was she taking a picture? I would understand if she cooked it herself or it was food that was our of the ordinary plating and style. But no she was taking it to show what she was going to eat.
Then she began typing on her phone. Again I figured texting, then I realized she was blogging about it. Either on an actual blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp. What is this madness? Then they began eating. They were so close I couldn't help but hear everything.
All they did was talk about the food. That's fine. But the amount of hubris she took not only in her eating ability, but her food selection...I don't know how else to describe it but call it ego. She actually sounded egotistical. People are developing food ego? My friend calls this being a "foodie." I thought that meant more of like a connoisseur like a wine aficionado or someone who knows what a good choice of meat is. She was proud of her food choices of heavily chemically treated and genetically modified food.
Observing her relationship with food was so baffling. It was an unexpected relationship with food. Then I looked around the food court, there were others just like her.
At the end though, even though she consumed so much (her friend ate a little bit, he was being taken out on a food outing and she was introducing him to different types of food) they threw over 2/3 of the food away. My mother would say at that point, "why did you order so much?" That is neither green nor sustainable practice. Does being a foodie make one against sustainability? I don't know.
Then I pondered why this relationship? What was going on? Posting this up of course would get her attention from like minded people, envy, devotion, people would love her blogs or reviews, etc. Then I realized what it was. Food provided love. Social media becomes the outlet. They even call some foods comfort foods because it feels comforting to eat. Emotional eating, eating when stressed, etc - people just want to feel loved and comforted. I think about my own upbringing as an Asian American. Asians do not get shown the most amount of affection growing up (this girl also happened to be Asian). Then when I look at food blogs, Yelp, and social media, there is a disproportionate amount of Asians on there. Finally relating, connecting, friending, complimenting, winking, poking, tweeting, sharing, devoting, all around something so common, something so universal and easily understandable that we can relate through all color, cultural, social, and economic lines - food. Even the cool kids had to eat right? So much easier and less scary to do it in cyberspace, and now even more acceptable.
It made me wonder, is food a way for a lot of people to emotionally connect with one another? With their own families? I often hear from people that the only way their parents knew how to show love was by feeding them a lot. Maybe then until this is resolved, no diet and weight loss or exercise program can work indefinitely. Something emotional and mental must happen first before the body can respond. People obviously revere and respect food. What about a sense of respect for oneself and the world they live in?
In the end it made me want to call my parents and tell them I missed them. It made me want to devote more time to meditation and my martial arts. It made me want to share this observation on my own blog. Not a blog dedicated to food and flavors, but a blog dedicated to effort.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
This girl is overweight and not within a healthy buffer zone. All the food she is bringing is not healthy. Mostly fried stuff. I don't mean healthy in just a, "she will gain more weight sense" but also in a, "that food will give her cancer" sort of sense. She didn't look healthy and she didn't make healthy food choices.
That's not the thing that made me look, its the amount of food she got. It was so much food. Her friend came by with his own plate of food. Before he could bite in, she stood up with her phone. Then I saw the strangest thing. I thought she was just texting, but then she was hovering over the food. She was taking a picture! I was so confused. Why was she taking a picture? I would understand if she cooked it herself or it was food that was our of the ordinary plating and style. But no she was taking it to show what she was going to eat.
Then she began typing on her phone. Again I figured texting, then I realized she was blogging about it. Either on an actual blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp. What is this madness? Then they began eating. They were so close I couldn't help but hear everything.
All they did was talk about the food. That's fine. But the amount of hubris she took not only in her eating ability, but her food selection...I don't know how else to describe it but call it ego. She actually sounded egotistical. People are developing food ego? My friend calls this being a "foodie." I thought that meant more of like a connoisseur like a wine aficionado or someone who knows what a good choice of meat is. She was proud of her food choices of heavily chemically treated and genetically modified food.
Observing her relationship with food was so baffling. It was an unexpected relationship with food. Then I looked around the food court, there were others just like her.
At the end though, even though she consumed so much (her friend ate a little bit, he was being taken out on a food outing and she was introducing him to different types of food) they threw over 2/3 of the food away. My mother would say at that point, "why did you order so much?" That is neither green nor sustainable practice. Does being a foodie make one against sustainability? I don't know.
Then I pondered why this relationship? What was going on? Posting this up of course would get her attention from like minded people, envy, devotion, people would love her blogs or reviews, etc. Then I realized what it was. Food provided love. Social media becomes the outlet. They even call some foods comfort foods because it feels comforting to eat. Emotional eating, eating when stressed, etc - people just want to feel loved and comforted. I think about my own upbringing as an Asian American. Asians do not get shown the most amount of affection growing up (this girl also happened to be Asian). Then when I look at food blogs, Yelp, and social media, there is a disproportionate amount of Asians on there. Finally relating, connecting, friending, complimenting, winking, poking, tweeting, sharing, devoting, all around something so common, something so universal and easily understandable that we can relate through all color, cultural, social, and economic lines - food. Even the cool kids had to eat right? So much easier and less scary to do it in cyberspace, and now even more acceptable.
It made me wonder, is food a way for a lot of people to emotionally connect with one another? With their own families? I often hear from people that the only way their parents knew how to show love was by feeding them a lot. Maybe then until this is resolved, no diet and weight loss or exercise program can work indefinitely. Something emotional and mental must happen first before the body can respond. People obviously revere and respect food. What about a sense of respect for oneself and the world they live in?
In the end it made me want to call my parents and tell them I missed them. It made me want to devote more time to meditation and my martial arts. It made me want to share this observation on my own blog. Not a blog dedicated to food and flavors, but a blog dedicated to effort.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Cutting Weight
There is a difference between losing weight and losing size. Wrestlers, professional fighters, and any other athlete that requires weighing in will use the tactic of weight cutting. Weight cutting is the technique of losing weight, while staying as big as you can be. So when I compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I may walk around at 165, but I will cut weight down to 149. Why? Because I will still be the size of a 165lber so, if my opponent makes the mistake of fighting at his natural weight and walks around 149 and fights me, he will have a size and strength disadvantage.
If weigh ins are a day before, a fighter could easily cut weight, and gain it all back before fight time. So if I weigh in a day before at 149, by fight day I will be back up to around 163.
How does this happen? It's not pretty but a lot of people trying to lose weight will use the weight cutting tactics, which are not the same as size cutting tactics.
First try to sweat out as much water as you can. Sauna suits, saunas, steam rooms, hot showers, and tons and tons of cardio. You don't even care about how many calories you burn, just how much fluid you lose. You also try to get as much out of your bowels as you can. Lots of fiber, flushes, detox, etc. Maybe liquid diet so you can sweat it out.
The benefit to fighters is you don't lose size and you can gain your weight back really REALLY easily. Bad for people trying to make themselves leaner and smaller? You may lose weight but you won't be any smaller, and it's really REALLY easy to gain the weight back. And with this method you will ALWAYS gain the weight back.
If weigh ins are a day before, a fighter could easily cut weight, and gain it all back before fight time. So if I weigh in a day before at 149, by fight day I will be back up to around 163.
How does this happen? It's not pretty but a lot of people trying to lose weight will use the weight cutting tactics, which are not the same as size cutting tactics.
First try to sweat out as much water as you can. Sauna suits, saunas, steam rooms, hot showers, and tons and tons of cardio. You don't even care about how many calories you burn, just how much fluid you lose. You also try to get as much out of your bowels as you can. Lots of fiber, flushes, detox, etc. Maybe liquid diet so you can sweat it out.
The benefit to fighters is you don't lose size and you can gain your weight back really REALLY easily. Bad for people trying to make themselves leaner and smaller? You may lose weight but you won't be any smaller, and it's really REALLY easy to gain the weight back. And with this method you will ALWAYS gain the weight back.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Mindless Training
I see this all the time. People coming into the gym, putting their headphones on, or reading a book on their treadmill, or their mind is elsewhere on other thoughts outside of the gym, or they just want to hear their trainer tell them what to do while they mindlessly do it.
I call this mindless training and it serves no purpose. How can you make a mind-body connection if your mind is somewhere else and your body is doing all the work? How can you correct your form? I've seen people who have been working out or training for years and still cannot keep a straight neutral spine or balance on one foot. Some people can barely control their breathing, it's still for many an unconscious response.
You are training your whole system as a unit, if any part of it is doing something else, your system will not evolve. It's called deep practice in many circles. It's how you cultivate talent and technique. Try reading a book while checking stuff online and see how well you own the information in the book? Try the same thing with exercise. And in exercise you are being bombarded with information through all your nerves, senses, visual, hearing, and thought. How can you do that mindlessly? Who told you that was okay?
Don't train mindlessly. You are not a robot or a beast. Mindful training is the key, being engaged, there now, improving, becoming more athletic, owning the move, owning the weight, the rep count, the time, owning your own progress. Any moron can train mindlessly, only a superior being can train mindfully.
I call this mindless training and it serves no purpose. How can you make a mind-body connection if your mind is somewhere else and your body is doing all the work? How can you correct your form? I've seen people who have been working out or training for years and still cannot keep a straight neutral spine or balance on one foot. Some people can barely control their breathing, it's still for many an unconscious response.
You are training your whole system as a unit, if any part of it is doing something else, your system will not evolve. It's called deep practice in many circles. It's how you cultivate talent and technique. Try reading a book while checking stuff online and see how well you own the information in the book? Try the same thing with exercise. And in exercise you are being bombarded with information through all your nerves, senses, visual, hearing, and thought. How can you do that mindlessly? Who told you that was okay?
Don't train mindlessly. You are not a robot or a beast. Mindful training is the key, being engaged, there now, improving, becoming more athletic, owning the move, owning the weight, the rep count, the time, owning your own progress. Any moron can train mindlessly, only a superior being can train mindfully.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Feeding Infants
When feeding an infant, you wouldn't feed them adult food correct? You would only want to feed them something that they could digest, that would pass through their system, that was nutritious, clean, healthy, and possibly organic.
Why do we not hold our own interests on that same level? We can only save others after we save ourselves. What's the point of feeding your infant well, when as a cognizant child they see you eating all the wrong things?
Why do we not hold our own interests on that same level? We can only save others after we save ourselves. What's the point of feeding your infant well, when as a cognizant child they see you eating all the wrong things?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Cheetah
Is the fastest land animal! It is also one of the most feeble hunters and is on the verge of extinction. With prey dwindling, competition is rising. They can chase any animal, for a certain distance. By the time it catches up, a lot of times it no longer has the energy to kill it's prey. Nor is it strong enough to kill most prey to begin with.
Now let's say it catches up to it's prey, it kills its prey, then a hyena or some other animal comes. It normally doesn't have the strength to defend it's food after the chase, losing it's lunch to the other guy.
What does this have to do with training? Do not train like the cheetah. Always train and push yourself in a way where, even if you think you burned yourself out, you still have more in reserve. Or train with intervals. Or start your work out with speed, then end with muscle endurance or vice versa. Make other people's work outs your warm up.
Now let's say it catches up to it's prey, it kills its prey, then a hyena or some other animal comes. It normally doesn't have the strength to defend it's food after the chase, losing it's lunch to the other guy.
What does this have to do with training? Do not train like the cheetah. Always train and push yourself in a way where, even if you think you burned yourself out, you still have more in reserve. Or train with intervals. Or start your work out with speed, then end with muscle endurance or vice versa. Make other people's work outs your warm up.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Week 1 of Experiment
The Numbers:
Height: 5'6
Weight: 130
Waist (measured at the belly button): 30'
Thighs: 19' 1/2
Arms: 11' 1/4
So after 1 week we have lowered her exercise time from around 6 hours a week to 75 mins a week. Also increased her water intake throughout the day, and used recovery and icing sore muscles. Her workouts are much shorter in duration the intensity has increased. More based on resistance than cardiovascular training. She has been able to maintain her weight but lose half an inch on her thighs. She has no way to measure body fat as she owns no calipers or body fat analyzers but we can assume she dropped fat and replaced it with an equal amount of muscle, as her measurements have shown.
About the Author:
Sam Y. is a Personal Trainer, Coach, Performane Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook at his personal fitness page.
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