Friday, May 6, 2011
Eating Competition
Why does the simple act of eating with people (or drinking for that matter) turn into a contest or competitive? Or somehow you are competing with yourself how much or how fast you can eat or drink? As if you will get some reward or recognition for killing yourself.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Cleanse And Puking
Doing a cleanse reminds me of throwing up. Whenever you get sick and throw up, it's always hard to digest the next day because you lost a lot of your healthy stomach and digestive culture. Same thing happens when you do a cleanse or even any other type of purges that are popular now. Without a healthy stomach culture, you will not be able to digest food properly. That is not a good thing.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My Father's Health
A couple years ago, my sister was diagnosed with cancer and she passed away. My family did what the doctors told them to do, had whatever surgery that needed to be done, and hoped for the best. She went very quickly. My father was diagnosed last year. This time I personally didn't want to just do or not do what the doctors said but be pro-active. We of course did the modern medicine, and went on treatment. He was already at Stage 4 colon and liver cancer. We also did a lot to change his eating habits and diet, I was very obsessed about that. Then exercise and stress management were other factors. There is no magic cure-all. It's all a game of inches and I wanted to be as greedy with the inches as I could be. My dad is also in his 80s, lifetime smoker, and alcoholic. He stopped smoking maybe 20 years ago, and stopped drinking once he was diagnosed.
I've seen most of my dad's friends and siblings pass away. He had one friend, a lot younger than him. Would visit all the time once my dad was diagnosed. A couple months ago he also was diagnosed with cancer. He recently passed away. Both went to the doctors and did all the medical stuff, both are religious men, but I think the true difference was that my dad made all those changes to his diet. And diet was one conversation the doctors never had with us... When I engage in them about it, I can tell right away their lack of knowledge in the subject. My dad is pretty healthy for the most part, active, walks, talks, drives, etc. Only when on chemo is he weak, but not weak from cancer but from the medicine.
Truly diet isn't just about weight or appearance, but is about overall health and longevity.
I've seen most of my dad's friends and siblings pass away. He had one friend, a lot younger than him. Would visit all the time once my dad was diagnosed. A couple months ago he also was diagnosed with cancer. He recently passed away. Both went to the doctors and did all the medical stuff, both are religious men, but I think the true difference was that my dad made all those changes to his diet. And diet was one conversation the doctors never had with us... When I engage in them about it, I can tell right away their lack of knowledge in the subject. My dad is pretty healthy for the most part, active, walks, talks, drives, etc. Only when on chemo is he weak, but not weak from cancer but from the medicine.
Truly diet isn't just about weight or appearance, but is about overall health and longevity.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Even Though You Don't Gain Weight
Doesn't mean every time you eat crap you are not creating metabolic damage.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Every Day
Every day you wake up just a little bit better than yesterday. A little bit smarter. A little bit stronger. A little bit leaner. A little bit healthier.
Friday, April 29, 2011
With Good Form All Things Are Possible
Too often accomplishing something becomes a mental exercise. It becomes an ego thing, an anxiety thing, a motivation thing. We have to make it about none of those things, and make it about the form, and execution of good form which will lead to that desired result. Not the want of that result getting you that result. It doesn't matter if you are in a good mood or hyped or in a bad mood and pressured, bad form is bad form and you will not succeed. Even if someone lies to you because you are so hyped that you did something, even though it was the worst form possible and would never count as a real rep.
Your body is ready to do it, it's your mind who becomes the backseat driver and messes you up. Just focus on form, do lots of reps, create body memory. In the dark you know where to stick the car keys into the ignition on the first attempt. It's a small hole and a smaller metal object you are sliding into the hole. So easy to miss yet you have repped it so many times its easy and you are not thinking about it. Once you think about it you will mess up. If you are doing something really well, and I tell you wow you are doing something really well, do it again. You may fail at it because you are trying to repeat what you first did without thought.
Whether you succeed or fail, do it with good form. Even if you are in a good mood, bad mood, nervous, excited, whatever, just do it with good form. Because eventually if you ever do want to be able to lift that thing, move that weight, jump that box, you can't do it without good form. So the advice just do it, is meaningless to me. As if it's some mental hurdle stopping me. Just get the form right, and the form will take care of the rest.
Your body is ready to do it, it's your mind who becomes the backseat driver and messes you up. Just focus on form, do lots of reps, create body memory. In the dark you know where to stick the car keys into the ignition on the first attempt. It's a small hole and a smaller metal object you are sliding into the hole. So easy to miss yet you have repped it so many times its easy and you are not thinking about it. Once you think about it you will mess up. If you are doing something really well, and I tell you wow you are doing something really well, do it again. You may fail at it because you are trying to repeat what you first did without thought.
Whether you succeed or fail, do it with good form. Even if you are in a good mood, bad mood, nervous, excited, whatever, just do it with good form. Because eventually if you ever do want to be able to lift that thing, move that weight, jump that box, you can't do it without good form. So the advice just do it, is meaningless to me. As if it's some mental hurdle stopping me. Just get the form right, and the form will take care of the rest.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Chugging Alcohol.
You can consume the same amount of alcohol over time, or chug it really fast. Which one will make you drunker faster? So eating quickly and eating foods that absorb quickly into your blood as opposed to slow absorbing food. Which one will make you fat faster?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
White Rice
White rice is common in many people's diets. How is it for nutrition though? Well let me answer it with this. Know what else is made of white rice? Paper. Also glue and paste. Sounds really nutritious.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Forced Recovery
I had an experiment I had a client do. I already knew the outcome but had him try it anyway. I had him do a circuit of multiple exercies. He was seeing how many rounds of those circuits he could do in 20 minutes. I gave him the stop watch, told him he paces himself and he decides how many rounds he will do. First day of doing it he did around 2. The next day we tried it again. I told him this time, whenever a round ends, to force himself to take exactly 60 seconds to rest before he starts the next round. He did. And he did 3 and 1/2 rounds this time. Even though he took longer rests in between.
People think it's harder and you get in better shape if you mindlessly do one exercise after another. Actually a superior athlete isn't someone who can go from one thing to another thing nonstop and do it at a slow or medium pace. A superior athlete can go at a very high pace with just a little time for recovery.
People think it's harder and you get in better shape if you mindlessly do one exercise after another. Actually a superior athlete isn't someone who can go from one thing to another thing nonstop and do it at a slow or medium pace. A superior athlete can go at a very high pace with just a little time for recovery.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Science
Seems like so many scientists from so many different fields: chemistry, biochemistry, biology, anthropology, genetics, endocrinology, neurology, oncology, etc. all independently coming to the same conclusion, that man made sugars and lack of fiber and insulin response is the enemy not fats, yet our government, health experts, trainers, doctors, people on TV are not listening?
In our past, doctors and our government told us cigarettes were good for us. Will today's experts look as foolish years from now with their calorie counting and anti-fat pro-man made sugar recommendations? As big as Big Tobacco ever was, how big is Big Food? Big Food probably has more fans and supporters than tobacco ever did. There was never a TV channel and blogs/magazines/websites dedicated to cigarettes.
Today a smoker is considered a jerk. Also today, if you tell people to eat healthy or eat less or your just generally care about everything that goes into your body, you are also considered a jerk. 80% of the time I hear disdain in people's voices when I hear the word "vegan."
We're 25lbs heavier than we were 20 years ago. Adult males eat 187 more calories per day and adult females eat 335 more calories per day than they did 20 years ago. We also increased our consumption of low fat meals, how did they make up for the lack of flavor due to the missing fat? With fructose.
We say we are a drug culture sometimes. We are also a food culture now.
In our past, doctors and our government told us cigarettes were good for us. Will today's experts look as foolish years from now with their calorie counting and anti-fat pro-man made sugar recommendations? As big as Big Tobacco ever was, how big is Big Food? Big Food probably has more fans and supporters than tobacco ever did. There was never a TV channel and blogs/magazines/websites dedicated to cigarettes.
Today a smoker is considered a jerk. Also today, if you tell people to eat healthy or eat less or your just generally care about everything that goes into your body, you are also considered a jerk. 80% of the time I hear disdain in people's voices when I hear the word "vegan."
We're 25lbs heavier than we were 20 years ago. Adult males eat 187 more calories per day and adult females eat 335 more calories per day than they did 20 years ago. We also increased our consumption of low fat meals, how did they make up for the lack of flavor due to the missing fat? With fructose.
We say we are a drug culture sometimes. We are also a food culture now.
Miracles!
During this religious time of Passover and Easter, where there will be plenty of feasting, I am reminded of a little story. Maybe it's worth thinking about during this religious period.
Now there is a version of this story in almost every faith and belief, of a messiah feeding the masses. The most famous one is of Jesus feeding his followers. He had just a few loaves of bread and some fish and he was able to feed thousands! What do I take away from this story???
That people back then ate way smaller portions! A few loaves and some fish would feed maybe one modern person, but back then, shoot. So many! Maybe that's a trainer's perspective of the story anyhow, maybe there is a bigger moral there, what I got out of it was, people back then always left enough for the other guys to also eat.
Stories from every faith share this concept, that somehow a little bread, a little rice, some beans, some fish, a lamb, a goat, etc. was able to feed a family and their guests and so forth. It wasn't very long ago that being large was a sign of wealth. Why? It's easy to say wealthy people could afford more food. That was true, but it was also, wealthy people were rich enough that they didn't have to share. Wealth gave the person the ability not to have to share and have their own protected portions.
The regular people couldn't just think about themselves, whatever they had, they had to think about leaving enough to share with everyone else. This goes back to the dawn of man, meat sharing, sharing of gathered foods with the tribes. It made the tribe and community stronger. Now we don't have to share, now a portion for one person could feed a family from years ago, actually it could feed a present family in a poor country.
To quote Gordon Gecko from Wallstreet, "Greed is good." Somehow being greedy with our food, being able to eat a lot, taking way more than your share or that you can eat, became a good thing. Something to brag about, write about, take pictures about. Gluttony and greed no longer sinful when it comes to food. Look at how much so and so can eat? Wow. I bet I can eat more than you. Let me update my status on Facebook about how much I ate today and how well. Eating, and talking about eating even becomes competitive, people always want to out eat each other...
That story of the fish and loaf of bread, to me the miracle was the act of sharing and charity. Not greed and gluttony. Yesterday's feasts in today's standards would be a pretty weak table.
Christians like to ask themselves - What would Jesus do? I think that also encompasses these questions - What would Jesus eat? How much would Jesus eat? According to a new study though, religious people are twice as likely to become obese than non-religious people. There is definitely a disconnect from the message then.
Remember, the Jesus I know had a 6 pack.
Now there is a version of this story in almost every faith and belief, of a messiah feeding the masses. The most famous one is of Jesus feeding his followers. He had just a few loaves of bread and some fish and he was able to feed thousands! What do I take away from this story???
That people back then ate way smaller portions! A few loaves and some fish would feed maybe one modern person, but back then, shoot. So many! Maybe that's a trainer's perspective of the story anyhow, maybe there is a bigger moral there, what I got out of it was, people back then always left enough for the other guys to also eat.
Stories from every faith share this concept, that somehow a little bread, a little rice, some beans, some fish, a lamb, a goat, etc. was able to feed a family and their guests and so forth. It wasn't very long ago that being large was a sign of wealth. Why? It's easy to say wealthy people could afford more food. That was true, but it was also, wealthy people were rich enough that they didn't have to share. Wealth gave the person the ability not to have to share and have their own protected portions.
The regular people couldn't just think about themselves, whatever they had, they had to think about leaving enough to share with everyone else. This goes back to the dawn of man, meat sharing, sharing of gathered foods with the tribes. It made the tribe and community stronger. Now we don't have to share, now a portion for one person could feed a family from years ago, actually it could feed a present family in a poor country.
To quote Gordon Gecko from Wallstreet, "Greed is good." Somehow being greedy with our food, being able to eat a lot, taking way more than your share or that you can eat, became a good thing. Something to brag about, write about, take pictures about. Gluttony and greed no longer sinful when it comes to food. Look at how much so and so can eat? Wow. I bet I can eat more than you. Let me update my status on Facebook about how much I ate today and how well. Eating, and talking about eating even becomes competitive, people always want to out eat each other...
That story of the fish and loaf of bread, to me the miracle was the act of sharing and charity. Not greed and gluttony. Yesterday's feasts in today's standards would be a pretty weak table.
Christians like to ask themselves - What would Jesus do? I think that also encompasses these questions - What would Jesus eat? How much would Jesus eat? According to a new study though, religious people are twice as likely to become obese than non-religious people. There is definitely a disconnect from the message then.
Remember, the Jesus I know had a 6 pack.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Potatoes
Was something every culture ate in times of famine and scarcity. All the recipes for potatoes along with adding potatoes to dishes to make it more "hearty" came from this time. And you know what? Most of these cultures didn't do so well living off of potatoes because it lacked a lot of nutritional content.
Now in times of plenty when other foods are available we are choosing to eat potatoes more than any other vegetation. No longer out of scarcity. It's like with fish, the most expensive fishes were always the most bland and whatever was left at the fish market was what the commoners ate, the salty fish. Now we are choosing to eat that bottom of the barrel fish on purpose and ordering it at restaurants!
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.
Now in times of plenty when other foods are available we are choosing to eat potatoes more than any other vegetation. No longer out of scarcity. It's like with fish, the most expensive fishes were always the most bland and whatever was left at the fish market was what the commoners ate, the salty fish. Now we are choosing to eat that bottom of the barrel fish on purpose and ordering it at restaurants!
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 14, 2011
Shoes
I don't care who made your shoes, how new they are, how much you've paid for them. If your shoes don't bend and let you get on the balls of your feet, your shoes have no value.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Food Poisoning
I've had a bad case of food poisoning for the last few days due to eating some bad oysters. Or maybe one bad one in the bunch? But I was still able to train all my clients due to two reasons. I wasn't contagious, secondly I did not want to be considered a wuss.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Idea Of Breakfast
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
