The most unfortunate part of any workout plan is realizing the Triple Baconator and large Chicken Fries Combo is probably going to hinder your progress. I’ve never been that bad at consuming too much of anything except two things… Sodium and Carbs. The context for the carbs isn’t even as bad as most people either. I just ALWAYS drank Gatorade instead of… well anything. I also have been known to partake in the occasional Red Bull tall boy (Or six). As for the sodium, everyone who works shift work knows that microwave meals are a must! To keep them from drying out (in moisture and taste) as well as for the sake of preservation, they pump everything full of sodium. I also recently read an article in men’s health claiming that nuking your meals cuts a lot of nutrients out after they get rocked for three minutes inside of your own personal Hiroshima. This lead me to do something I haven’t done in four and a half years… spend an hour and a half in my local commissary looking at every label as if I was the weird kid in class who was allergic to everything.
Within the first 30 seconds I realized something… my staple of Gatorade as my thirst quencher already put me over my daily amount of sodium while boasting well over 650 calories. Like I said, it’s never hindered my training, but def never thought it was THAT bad. I spent a good five minutes slowly walking down the isle as sad music played and I said goodbye to Gatorade… until I realized I just couldn’t live without it. So I met my hero in low calorie G2. It supports only about 1/2 of the calories per serving and 1/3 the sugar. In the past, I have hated diet drinks as they always boasted claims that they taste “As good as the original” leaving off the end of the sentence which should read “If a disgruntled worked had taken a dump in the original before packaging…”. That being said, I was very wary about how the low cal stuff would taste, so I did what any sensible consumer would do. I opened up one bottle of every flavor I planned on buying and tried it. I of course was going to buy it regardless of if I liked it or not since id already drank out of it (For all of you who were gunna scold me for wasting it with people in japan starving), But the test was just to see if I was going to buy in bulk. I was so pleasantly surprised that, for once, this really was just like the original. And in the case of blueberry-pomegranate, slightly better!
Next was on to my reliance on microwave meals. I decided that 3 boxes of hot pockets to snag in case I woke up late and was in a jam was more than enough. And now I will plug the greatest semi healthy meal ive had in a long time. Pretzel bread Lean Pockets. Stuffed with godlike jalepeno cheese and grilled chicken, its just filling enough to hold you over if you didn’t have time to prepare lunch since the only alarm you remembered to set was the frantic 7 inch jumped to your knees on the bed as you yell at and slam your phone for not waking you up (Or alarm clock… either way we’ve all been there). Calorie count is a little high at 280, and the sodium is almost 40% of your daily intake… per sandwich… but hey, if you didn’t have time to make a healthy mid-day meal its definitely not a bad replacement for those on a 2000-2700 calorie diet or those who follow the King/Pauper/Prince method of meal choice.
Then we got to the dairy section. I hate mixing my protein with water and the thought of guzzling 12 oz. of moo juice after going hulk on some weights and sweating it out for an hour makes me want to vomit. It’s the only reason my post workout protein intake has suffered since I stopped taking isolate a month
ago. To remedy this situation, my boy Travis turned me to a formidable substitute… Almond milk. 60 calories a serving and 30% of my calcium intake a day and 3 flavors to rock my world, on top of the fact that it lasts almost 2 months longer in the fridge than regular milk. This coupled with switching to white egg beaters basically takes all the guilt out of breakfast with only a SMALL sacrifice in nutritional benefit. Slap a piece of dairy free/gluten free cheese on the eggs and it’s a downright kosher celebration in my mouth! If you want my personal opinion, god himself made the chocolate almond milk…
On top of adding fruits to the ends of all my meals, I needed a healthy alternative for sweets/ inbetween meal snacks. Enter the Larabar… it’s a gluten free, soy free, Kosher, all natural snack bar that comes in fruity and nutty alternatives. My favorite so far has been the almond cookie bar. At $4.65 for a box of five, it cuts out the excuse of being able to say you don’t eat healthy because its too expensive.
So all of these steps, including grabbing enough tuna to make my tuna melt craving beg for realease and adding the PB2 mentioned above to all of my shakes, made the cut of over 37% of my sodium intake and 40% of my sugar intake seamless. If you’re trying to do something a little less drastic, just try getting sugar/fat free alternatives to all of your toppings and dressings like I did (I.E. Honey mustard, BBq Sauce and Sugar free coffee-mate/Smuckers Jelly). You’ll be surprised at how much of you can cut out by just healthy-ing up your meals trimmings!
Oh and as for the Red Bull… I got the regular sized sugar/calorie free ones. I can’t cut them out so bite me fatty.
Until Next time, Stay Safe and Be well!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
A day for the Century...
Workout
100 Incline DB Curls
100 Cable Kick Backs
100 Cable Crunches
100 2 Handed Cable Curls
100 1 Handed Reverse Tricep Pull-Downs
100 Cable Side Bends
Run
7 Miles
I think you can figure out after reading the workout why i call it one for the Century. The Century set of 100 reps per exercise with low weight is designed to increase muscle stamina and rip the muscle to be conducive, when coupled with the right recovery methods, to building dense muscle while maintaining cuts. Typically, you don't choose a weight that allows you to complete one set of 100 nonstop reps. In standard century training, you actually choose a weight with which you can complete about 70-80 reps (i.e., 20-30% of a weight with which you can do 10 strict reps). To complete a total of 100 reps, you do as many nonstop reps as possible with that weight, and when you reach failure, rest for only as many seconds as you have reps left to perform.
Needles to say, many high schooler's putting up half the weight I normally do as their failure set were staring at me going, "Look at this guy! Hes struggling with 25lb pressdowns!" I wish, if only to save my dignity, say that this wasn't true. However, I absolutely looked like a small child trying to lift the jug of milk to pour myself a glass... and spilling it all over the floor. At the end of the workout, I also felt like the mom who bought said jug of milk had beaten the ever loving shit out of me with an extension cord. At one point, I felt like someone finally got what I was doing when a guy came over and said, "You're really putting up some work today man!" It was real rewarding for a second... until he followed up with, "Hey listen, Do you live in Lompoc? I could really use a ride home..." Lame. Either way, the run after the workout made me sweat like a stripper in synagogue and wasn't to shabby of a run time at only 54.5 minutes. Also, I didn't give that guy a ride home... he was sketchy. I did lend (and by lend I mean bribed him to leave me alone) him 5 bones for a cab.
I also want to use the blog for an outlet to give any new products that are helping me in my journey to the Tough Mudder (See my diet change entry coming later tonight/tomorrow) and I feel like this one is DEFINITELY worth an honorable mention. Its called PB2 and mixed into a protein shake has a very potent peanut butter taste without needing to be blended since its powdered. It boasts only about 1/5th of the calories of reduced fat JIF and half of the sodium with 0 Cholesterol and 0 saturated fat. It also happens to be just as expensive so its very convenient for someone who waits until the last second to do everything and doesn't wanna blend a protein shake at 530am. Hope it leads someone to an easier shake experience!
Be well everyone!
100 Incline DB Curls
100 Cable Kick Backs
100 Cable Crunches
100 2 Handed Cable Curls
100 1 Handed Reverse Tricep Pull-Downs
100 Cable Side Bends
Run
7 Miles
I think you can figure out after reading the workout why i call it one for the Century. The Century set of 100 reps per exercise with low weight is designed to increase muscle stamina and rip the muscle to be conducive, when coupled with the right recovery methods, to building dense muscle while maintaining cuts. Typically, you don't choose a weight that allows you to complete one set of 100 nonstop reps. In standard century training, you actually choose a weight with which you can complete about 70-80 reps (i.e., 20-30% of a weight with which you can do 10 strict reps). To complete a total of 100 reps, you do as many nonstop reps as possible with that weight, and when you reach failure, rest for only as many seconds as you have reps left to perform.
Needles to say, many high schooler's putting up half the weight I normally do as their failure set were staring at me going, "Look at this guy! Hes struggling with 25lb pressdowns!" I wish, if only to save my dignity, say that this wasn't true. However, I absolutely looked like a small child trying to lift the jug of milk to pour myself a glass... and spilling it all over the floor. At the end of the workout, I also felt like the mom who bought said jug of milk had beaten the ever loving shit out of me with an extension cord. At one point, I felt like someone finally got what I was doing when a guy came over and said, "You're really putting up some work today man!" It was real rewarding for a second... until he followed up with, "Hey listen, Do you live in Lompoc? I could really use a ride home..." Lame. Either way, the run after the workout made me sweat like a stripper in synagogue and wasn't to shabby of a run time at only 54.5 minutes. Also, I didn't give that guy a ride home... he was sketchy. I did lend (and by lend I mean bribed him to leave me alone) him 5 bones for a cab.
I also want to use the blog for an outlet to give any new products that are helping me in my journey to the Tough Mudder (See my diet change entry coming later tonight/tomorrow) and I feel like this one is DEFINITELY worth an honorable mention. Its called PB2 and mixed into a protein shake has a very potent peanut butter taste without needing to be blended since its powdered. It boasts only about 1/5th of the calories of reduced fat JIF and half of the sodium with 0 Cholesterol and 0 saturated fat. It also happens to be just as expensive so its very convenient for someone who waits until the last second to do everything and doesn't wanna blend a protein shake at 530am. Hope it leads someone to an easier shake experience!
Be well everyone!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
And the road begins...
An email notification pops up on my outlook tab. Said email contains a link about an endurance competition. It read "Do you like being blasted by fire hoses? Have you ever dreamt of 15ft. high monkey bars above an ice cold lake? What if half of the monkey bars are greased! How about if I told you that you could be shocked by 10,000 volts after completing a 10 mile run?! If you like shitting your pants and vomiting after paying a minimal $160 entrance fee, boy have I got the event for you!!" Thinking back on it, I may be paraphrasing, but if you read the website you can see it really isnt to far off. I decided in about 10 seconds that I, Brandon Lirio, want to pay $160 of my HARDEST earned AF dollars to shit said pants and vomit.
As day one began, I couldn't have been more pumped to meet my future teammates and make the weights wish they had been ordered for a Jenny Craig building somewhere in Mississippi where the only heavy lifting is done from the fried mayonnaise balls tins to the mouth. As soon as i walk in I notice a very interesting fact... I am the only Air Force member in the group of four. I then learned that more people were involved, including my pudgy brothers in blue (obviously just a motivation taunt), but were just unable to make it that day. Everyone seemed extremely cool about it and it became about Tough Mudder's vs. Everyone else. I slowly learned during the workout that its SSgt Lirio going cold Beast Mode and beating on a bunch of Marines and Soldiers (let the 3 month branch of service pissing contest begin...). Below is the day one trial workout, which will get WAY more intense each week. Below that is the details and difficulties of the workouts as well as the place where ill post any speed bumps or tips me and the guys seem to have for anyone who wants to try our training regiment.
The work out
3x 30 second Planks to center, left and right
1x ea side 30 second Side Bends in the plank position
40 Lying Leg Throws to center, left and right
x2 20 ea side Floor Sweepers
20 Sit-ups to standing position
10 Ct. Alternating Leg Lifts at normal intervals for one set with a 6 inch hold for 10 seconds then half time intervals and repeat with no breaks for four minutes
40 x2 Frog Kicks (Keep your legs and back off the ground and complete and knee to chest motion, then straighten your legs while still keeping them off the ground.)
10x2 Corn-cob Pull-ups
3 Min 4 man back to back seated Straight Arm Dumbbell Grabs
30 Sec ea. *Super set* neutral grip Shrugs (Moderate weight), front grip DB Shrugs (Light weight), bent over Shoulder Flyes, behind the back Shrugs
Pre-run stretching exercises
Each exercise was completed for a distance of 10 yards
Frankenstein leg kicks, Forward frog jumps, "In-Outs" (Walk wile keeping your foot level with the ground and rotating you leg from out to in as it is lifted to work the hip flexors), Mario Jumps (Exactly what it sounds like... a gay little skip with your fist in the air)
Run
2.5 miles at a continued 6MPH pace average (Hills included)
When we started working out we decided that due to the length of the course, we would need to increase the run distance by .5 miles every week. This would mean the week before competition would be a 7 mile run 4 times a week. Already complaints began by people who hadn't even shown up to the training session to which the USMC Sgt politely explained, "Gently remove your skirt and meet us out back." We also thought about incorporating some combatives to test our grappling and our brain focus when tired. This of course sparked a controversy about which branch of service tapped who at last weeks training session. After a good 10 mins of dick shaking, we decided it was time to hit the trail to run. We started out without a real set pace until our friendly neighborhood marine started to call cadence. Say what you want about lame it was in BMT and tech school, but it absolutely helps with rhythm breathing (A little trick taught to me by my friend at my first duty station... shout out to rugy) and always tells such vibrant story of love and triumph! We sung about C-130's flipping over and jumping out of planes with faulty chutes! You ever notice that? All cadence calls are attached to stories that make you find ways to get out of the military, not try and keep you motivated to stay in? Anyway,we arrive at the last hill of the run and I notice the cadence has gone silent. My comrades are starting to slow down... and then walk! YOU'RE GOING TO LET A TINY AF GNOME BEAT YOU!?! Sgt Pettingill decides the Marines arent! He catches up to me and we both start all out sprinting. Semper-fi! I tell the marine to be Army Strong and he begins to take the lead... for about 3 seconds until he falls back and yells out "FUCK YOU ZOOMIE!!" I promptly told him to fly into my wild blue yonder and took full use of my bragging rights.
It has now been 12 hours and I can say that the Marines and Army are having the last laugh. It has become increasingly hard to walk, especially with full extension of my right leg. Also, in my haste up the hill, I scraped my big toe in my Vibram's against the concrete and put a hole in them. "Karma? Yes it's Brandon... fuck you. Talk to you soon!"
The sarcasm and inter-service rivalry is obviously a motivation a ploy and most (I said most... not all. I cant just flat out lie) of it is phoned in to make egos flare. The stories and 90% of the dialog and 110% of the workouts and pain are true. Im going to continue writing this blog all the way up and through the day of the event. I do it because I have TREMENDOUS respect for the men and women choosing to do this with me and especially those in my group. We will motivate each other from here on out and I swear, I will not leave ANY of them behind! Not let them falter... and we will not fail! ... and that includes making sure they dont bitch out.
Until next time, everyone be safe!
As day one began, I couldn't have been more pumped to meet my future teammates and make the weights wish they had been ordered for a Jenny Craig building somewhere in Mississippi where the only heavy lifting is done from the fried mayonnaise balls tins to the mouth. As soon as i walk in I notice a very interesting fact... I am the only Air Force member in the group of four. I then learned that more people were involved, including my pudgy brothers in blue (obviously just a motivation taunt), but were just unable to make it that day. Everyone seemed extremely cool about it and it became about Tough Mudder's vs. Everyone else. I slowly learned during the workout that its SSgt Lirio going cold Beast Mode and beating on a bunch of Marines and Soldiers (let the 3 month branch of service pissing contest begin...). Below is the day one trial workout, which will get WAY more intense each week. Below that is the details and difficulties of the workouts as well as the place where ill post any speed bumps or tips me and the guys seem to have for anyone who wants to try our training regiment.
The work out
3x 30 second Planks to center, left and right
1x ea side 30 second Side Bends in the plank position
40 Lying Leg Throws to center, left and right
x2 20 ea side Floor Sweepers
20 Sit-ups to standing position
10 Ct. Alternating Leg Lifts at normal intervals for one set with a 6 inch hold for 10 seconds then half time intervals and repeat with no breaks for four minutes
40 x2 Frog Kicks (Keep your legs and back off the ground and complete and knee to chest motion, then straighten your legs while still keeping them off the ground.)
10x2 Corn-cob Pull-ups
3 Min 4 man back to back seated Straight Arm Dumbbell Grabs
30 Sec ea. *Super set* neutral grip Shrugs (Moderate weight), front grip DB Shrugs (Light weight), bent over Shoulder Flyes, behind the back Shrugs
Pre-run stretching exercises
Each exercise was completed for a distance of 10 yards
Frankenstein leg kicks, Forward frog jumps, "In-Outs" (Walk wile keeping your foot level with the ground and rotating you leg from out to in as it is lifted to work the hip flexors), Mario Jumps (Exactly what it sounds like... a gay little skip with your fist in the air)
Run
2.5 miles at a continued 6MPH pace average (Hills included)
When we started working out we decided that due to the length of the course, we would need to increase the run distance by .5 miles every week. This would mean the week before competition would be a 7 mile run 4 times a week. Already complaints began by people who hadn't even shown up to the training session to which the USMC Sgt politely explained, "Gently remove your skirt and meet us out back." We also thought about incorporating some combatives to test our grappling and our brain focus when tired. This of course sparked a controversy about which branch of service tapped who at last weeks training session. After a good 10 mins of dick shaking, we decided it was time to hit the trail to run. We started out without a real set pace until our friendly neighborhood marine started to call cadence. Say what you want about lame it was in BMT and tech school, but it absolutely helps with rhythm breathing (A little trick taught to me by my friend at my first duty station... shout out to rugy) and always tells such vibrant story of love and triumph! We sung about C-130's flipping over and jumping out of planes with faulty chutes! You ever notice that? All cadence calls are attached to stories that make you find ways to get out of the military, not try and keep you motivated to stay in? Anyway,we arrive at the last hill of the run and I notice the cadence has gone silent. My comrades are starting to slow down... and then walk! YOU'RE GOING TO LET A TINY AF GNOME BEAT YOU!?! Sgt Pettingill decides the Marines arent! He catches up to me and we both start all out sprinting. Semper-fi! I tell the marine to be Army Strong and he begins to take the lead... for about 3 seconds until he falls back and yells out "FUCK YOU ZOOMIE!!" I promptly told him to fly into my wild blue yonder and took full use of my bragging rights.
It has now been 12 hours and I can say that the Marines and Army are having the last laugh. It has become increasingly hard to walk, especially with full extension of my right leg. Also, in my haste up the hill, I scraped my big toe in my Vibram's against the concrete and put a hole in them. "Karma? Yes it's Brandon... fuck you. Talk to you soon!"
The sarcasm and inter-service rivalry is obviously a motivation a ploy and most (I said most... not all. I cant just flat out lie) of it is phoned in to make egos flare. The stories and 90% of the dialog and 110% of the workouts and pain are true. Im going to continue writing this blog all the way up and through the day of the event. I do it because I have TREMENDOUS respect for the men and women choosing to do this with me and especially those in my group. We will motivate each other from here on out and I swear, I will not leave ANY of them behind! Not let them falter... and we will not fail! ... and that includes making sure they dont bitch out.
Until next time, everyone be safe!
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