PLANT BASED DIET UPDATE

It has almost been two weeks now since I started a plant based diet. So far so good. My only complaint is that it is a challenge eating only plants. I work around food all day and as I said before I love meat. In the past two weeks I have seen hundreds of pounds of tasty meats being cooked and served to anxious carnivores with smiles on their faces.

Aside from getting bored eating salads and veggie soups I have noticed a couple positives effects from the diet. I have noticed that I sleep much better. Not only do I fall asleep right when I lay down, but I also wake up 30-45 minutes before my alarm well rested and full of energy. As far as training is concerned, in two weeks my one rep max on bench press has climbed from 275 to 300 pounds. That is a 25 pound gain in just under two weeks. I do have a hard time giving all the credit to a plant based diet though. Mainly because I train hard. This 25 pound climb could be do to proper training techniques, and hard work, its hard to say. What I can say is my plant based diet in no way held me back. I also dropped some weight. I went from 206 pounds on an empty stomach to 198 pounds. I'm guessing this is due to the reduction of saturated fat and an increase in dietary fiber.

I still have two weeks left and I still expecting some more results. What I can say in two weeks is that this plant based challenge has taught me a lot. I have learned more about how my body works with certain foods and that eating plant based can still work for someone that trains 5-6 days a week for 2-3 hours a day.

I will keep you posted on more progress and interesting ways to cook and eat plant based. If you want more info on plant based diets check out this website. http://www.richroll.com  

PALEO SUSHI

Recipe: Whole30 Sushi

Makes 2 sushi rolls, which can be cut into 4 or 8 pieces each.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 4 large hard-boiled eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar (optional)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 nori sheets
• Filling of choice

Process:

1. Peel the avocados and hard-boiled eggs and toss 'em all together. Mash with a fork if you can, but between you and me, I wound up using my (clean) hands. We want it to be chunky, not complete mush.
2. Add vinegar and salt and stir to combine, if necessary.
3. Place your nori on a bamboo rolling mat, or a sheet of plastic wrap if you don't have a mat. Place a layer of the avo-egg mixture on 2/3 of the nori. Try to get down to the edges, unlike me.
4. Place your filling in a vertical line on the sushi roll.
5. Begin to roll up the bamboo mat and nori as shown. This takes a little practice. You may wet the end of the nori to make it stick, if necessary.
6. Cut the sushi roll in half using a sharp knife. Then cut each half in half, and repeat once more if necessary. You'll have to be gentler with this roll than traditional rice sushi – it is squishier and more prone to getting smashed. Because my knife was not very sharp, I only cut this roll into four large pieces.
7. Serve immediately to ensure crisp nori, but I kept these in the fridge for a day and they were still tasty. Unfortunately, the avocado tends to get grayish brown as it oxidizes, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad! Experiment and eat up! Oh, and don’t forget the coconut aminos!

GLUTEN FREE, LOW CAL, HIGH FIBER CUPCAKES

Raspberry cupcakes
Note: gluten free, low cal, high fiber

Ingredients (15 cupcakes):
-125 g coconut flour
- 6 eggs
- 250 g natural yoghurt
- sweetener (I use stevia)
- 400 g raspberries (I used frozen)
- 10 g gelatine (you can also use agar-agar)

Directions:
- Mix the eggs, coconut flour, yoghurt and sweetener (I used 2 tablespoons) together
- Put the mixture in cupcake tins (15 servings - fill each cupcake tin ½ to ¾)
- Bake the mixture in the oven for 30 minutes at 200°C
- Let cool down
- Heat up the raspberries and add the gelatine (first put the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes, squeeze the water out) or use agar-agar
- Add some sweetener (again I used 2 tablespoons)
- fill the rest (+- ¼) of the cupcakes with the raspberry mixture
- Let cool down
- you can put it in the fridge or freezer if you are impatient

Nutritional facts (1 cupcake):
Energy: 65 cal
Protein: 5 g
Carbohydrates: 4 g (sugar 2 g)
Fat: 3 g (saturated 1 g)
Fiber: 7 

STRENGTH TRAINING = FAT LOSS

Let’s say you want to lose weight, and you want to do so in the fastest way possible.  Is it hours on the treadmill?  Sprints up a hill?  Could it possibly be squats and bench presses?  I’m going to guess that you have assumptions on what might be best for you.  In today’s royal rumble, I’m going to break down the difference between these three contenders and let you know which will give you the most bang for your buck.  The results, which certainly aren’t unanimous, will surprise you…

Meet today’s contestants:

• Cardio: Pretty much anything with relative low intensity that you can do for a prolonged period of time that elevates your heart rate.  Regular aerobics, going for a three mile jog, running on a treadmill for an hour, using the elliptical for twenty minutes, etc.
• Interval Training: When you decide to run, bike, use the elliptical, etc. with varying rates of speed and intensity.  Sprinting for 30 seconds followed by 90 seconds of jogging, and repeating this cycle for 20-30 minutes.
• Weight Training: Whenever you lift weights or do body weight exercises, often times in a cyclical nature.

There have been hundreds and hundreds of studies done on this stuff (yay for science), and it’s certainly something that I’ve put considerable time into researching as well as it’s my job to figure out how to get in shape most efficiently.  I will have a decision for you by the end of the battle.  However, before we get there, there’s ONE thing that needs to be made crystal-clear:

If you are interested in getting in shape, the MOST important thing you can do for yourself is adjusting your diet.

Your diet is responsible for 80-90% of your successes or failures.  As I’ve said previously, even if you spend ten hours a week exercising, that still leaves 168 hours for you to mess things up.  Doh.  If all you care about is losing weight, thefastest path to success is with a freaking kick-butt diet.  Keep your total number of calories under control, cut out the junk food, give up soda, and start eating REAL FOODS: veggies, fruits, and lean meats.

Got it? Good.

So you’re on board with the whole “eating right” thing (w00t), but you still want to exercise to burn more fat.  Let’s break down each competitor:

Cardio

Cardio is the most basic thing you can do when it comes to burning calories. Let’s talk science: if you burn more calories than you consume in a day, you will lose weight.  Step on a treadmill, run three miles, and you’ll burn around 300 calories.  You don’t need any special weights, have extensive knowledge of any difficult exercises, just a pair of shoes and your legs.  This is why the majority of people who start exercising do so by just running a treadmill or elliptical for hours: it’s tough to mess up, and it’s pretty mindless.

Now, here’s my problem with cardio: it can be really boring!  Running outside is a different story, but I’d rather punch myself in the crotch than spend two hours on a treadmill.  Secondly, in terms of getting in shape, it’s definitely not the most efficient form of exercise.  Lastly, although it trains your heart to be in shape by remaining at a higher level of operation while exercising, it doesn’t train your heart to prepare for moments of extreme stress because it never really has to deal with rapid changes (explained in the next section).

So why isn’t cardio efficient when it comes to burning calories? There’s very little Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) with cardio, which means you only burn calories when running; not much happens afterwards.  If you want to read about how cardio doesn’t really burn any extra calories, you can read this fascinating article from NYT which is loaded with studies and references on the subject at hand.

What IS good about cardio? The thing about cardio that makes it better for almost everybody, other than it’s easy learning curve, is that it’s very low impact – your body can go for hours and hours, day after day, and not get worn out.  If you have the desire and willpower, you can burn calories all day long, like the guys in Born to Run.

High-Intensity Interval Training

When it comes to efficiency in burning calories, high-intensity training is leaps and bounds ahead of cardio.  Why is that?  EPOC, dude, EPOC!  That stuff I was talking about before.  Essentially, when you do high-intensity interval training (HIIT), your body and metabolism function at a higher rate of burned calories for hours and hours afterwards.  What does that mean? It means you’re burning calories while sitting on your butt playing Modern Warfare 2 or re-watching Lost Season 5.

So, how the heck does that work exactly?

HIIT constantly forces your heart to adjust to changing conditions: sprints, jogging, sprints, jogging, up hills, down hills, etc.  Your heart learns to operate outside of its norm, and your body learns to adapt to these changes.  All of this changing and sprinting kicks your metabolism into high gear for hours after you finish exercising.  

A study (PDF) from the University of New South Wales followed the fitness and body composition changes in 45 overweight women in a 15-week period. The women were divided into two groups and assigned interval or continuous cycling routines. The interval “sprint” cycling group performed twenty minutes of exercise, which repeated eight seconds of “all out” cycling and then twelve seconds of light exercise. The continuous group exercised for 40 minutes at a consistent rate. At the end of the study, the women in the interval group had lost three times the body fat as the women in the continuous exercise group. (An interesting note: the interval group’s loss in body fat came mostly from the legs and buttocks area.)

Three times the amount of fat loss and half of the exercise time? Sounds good to me.  If you sift through the rest of Mark’s article, you’ll find reference after reference discussing the benefits of varying your speed and intensity over straight normal cardio.  Now, the bad thing about HIIT is that it takes your body quite a bit of time to recover, and you can really only do it for 20-30 minutes at a time before you get too exhausted to continue.  The other bad thing about HIIT?  Your body will hate you after just 20 minutes.

Weight Training

So if cardio is decent for burning calories while you exercise, and high intensity interval training is more effective because it burns calories both during and after exercise, where does weight training come in?  Alwyn Cosgrove, a fitness expert whose opinion I highly respect, wrote a great article discussing the Hierarchy of Weight Loss loaded with numerous studies highlighting the benefits of weight training in comparison to cardio.  This is the best part:

Overweight subjects were assigned to three groups: diet-only, diet plus aerobics, diet plus aerobics plus weights. The diet group lost 14.6 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. The aerobic group lost only one more pound (15.6 pounds) than the diet group (training was three times a week starting at 30 minutes and progressing to 50 minutes over the 12 weeks).

The weight training group lost 21.1 pounds of fat (44% and 35% more than diet and aerobic only groups respectively). Basically, the addition of aerobic training didn’t result in any real world significant fat loss over dieting alone.

Thirty-six sessions of up to 50 minutes is a lot of work for one additional pound of fat loss. However, the addition of resistance training greatly accelerated fat loss results.

These are the lessons I’d take from this: what you eat is the most important thing when it comes to weight loss, aerobic training helps but not nearly as much as you’d think, and weight training when combined with the two is the most effective method to dropping pounds.

Now, what kind of exercises are best suited for this type of weight training for weight loss?  According to Alwyn, exercises that recruit the largest number of muscles (squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, squat thrusts, burpees, inverted rows, pull ups, and push ups).  Do any of these exercises sound familiar? (cough, NF beginner body weight workout and NF advanced body weight workout, cough).  By doing these exercises in a circuit without stopping, keeping your rep ranges in the 8-12 range, your body will get a super workout, you will build muscle, and you’ll burn calories at an accelerated rate for reportedly up to 38 HOURS after your exercise.

Warm Quinoa Salad with Edamame & Tarragon

Quinoa, a super food from South America, is packed with protein and fiber. Toasting it gives it a slightly nutty taste, a complement to the walnuts and a foil to the lemony tarragon dressing. Try this salad over greens of any sort: fresh arugula, Boston lettuce leaves or wilted spinach.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup  quinoa, (see Note)

2 cups  vegetable broth

2 cups  frozen shelled edamame, thawed (10 ounces)

1 tablespoon  freshly grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons  lemon juice

2 tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons  chopped fresh tarragon or 2 teaspoons dried

1/2 teaspoon  salt

1/2 cup  drained and diced jarred roasted red peppers, (3 ounces)

1/4 cup  chopped walnuts, preferably toasted (see Cooking Tip)

DIRECTIONS

1. Toast quinoa in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until it becomes aromatic and begins to crackle, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly.

2. Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the quinoaand return to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook gently for 8 minutes. Remove the lid and, without disturbing the quinoa, add edamame. Cover and continue to cook until the edamame and quinoa are tender, 7 to 8 minutes longer. Drain any remaining water, if necessary.

3. Whisk lemon zest and juice, oil, tarragon and salt in a large bowl. Add peppers and thequinoa mixture. Toss to combine. Divide among 4 plates and top with walnuts.

Tips:
Note: Quinoa is a delicately flavored grain that was a staple in the ancient Incas' diet. It is available in most natural-foods stores and the natural-foods sections of many supermarkets. Toasting the grain before cooking enhances its flavor and rinsing removes any residue of saponin, quinoa's natural, bitter protective covering.

Cooking Tip: To toast walnuts: Cook in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes.

MAKE AHEAD TIP: Prepare through Step 3. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

I work in food services as a caterer at my local Community College and we started making a similar salad to this one and it is a hit. We constantly sell out and there are countless complements on it throughout the week. Feel free to experiment and add your favorite herbs and spices. We don't have nuts in ours or tarragon. We use italian parsley and sesame seeds. And for color we incorporate colored couscous and use red quinoa. 

NUTRITION FACTS

Calories 404, Total Fat 18 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Monounsaturated Fat 6 g, Sodium 645 mg, Carbohydrate 46 g, Fiber 16 g, Protein 17 g, Potassium 319 mg. Daily Values: Vitamin A 20%, Vitamin C 20%, Iron 25%. Exchanges: Starch 3, Lean Meat 1, Fat 3.
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

For more recipes similar to this one comment here or follow on Facebook.
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KIDS NEED EXERCISE TOO.

When most adults think about exercise, they imagine working out in the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights.

But for kids, exercise means playing and being physically active. Kids exercise when they have gym class at school, during recess, at dance class or soccer practice, while riding bikes, or when playing tag.

The Many Benefits of Exercise

Everyone can benefit from regular exercise. Kids who are active will:

• have stronger muscles and bones
• have a leaner body because exercise helps control body fat
• be less likely to become overweight
• decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
• possibly lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels
• have a better outlook on life

Besides enjoying the health benefits of regular exercise, kids who are physically fit sleep better and are better able to handle physical and emotional challenges — from running to catch a bus to studying for a test.

The Three Elements of Fitness

If you've ever watched kids on a playground, you've seen the three elements of fitness in action when they:

1. run away from the kid who's "it" (endurance)
2. cross the monkey bars (strength)
3. bend down to tie their shoes (flexibility)

Parents should encourage their kids to do a variety of activities so that they can work on all three elements.

Endurance is developed when kids regularly engage in aerobic activity. During aerobic exercise, the heart beats faster and a person breathes harder. When done regularly and for extended periods of time, aerobic activity strengthens the heart and improves the body's ability to deliver oxygen to all its cells.

Aerobic exercise can be fun for both adults and kids. Examples of aerobic activities include:

• basketball
• bicycling
• ice-skating
• inline skating
• soccer
• swimming
• tennis
• walking
• jogging
• running

Improving strength doesn't have to mean lifting weights. Although some kids benefit from weightlifting, it should be done under the supervision of an experienced adult who works with them.

But most kids don't need a formal weight-training program to be strong. Push-ups, stomach crunches, pull-ups, and other exercises help tone and strengthen muscles. Kids also incorporate strength activities in their play when they climb, do a handstand, or wrestle.

Stretching exercises help improve flexibility, allowing muscles and joints to bend and move easily through their full range of motion. Kids look for opportunities every day to stretch when they try to get a toy just out of reach, practice a split, or do a cartwheel.

The Sedentary Problem

The percentage of overweight and obese kids and teens has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Although many factors contribute to this epidemic, children are becoming more sedentary. In other words, they're sitting around a lot more than they used to.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 8- to 18-year-olds watch about 4.5 hours of television a day. And the average kid spends 7 hours on all screen media combined (TV, videos, and DVDs, computer time outside of schoolwork, and video games).

One of the best ways to get kids to be more active is to limit the amount of time spent in sedentary activities, especially watching TV or playing video games. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends these limits on screen time:

• kids under age 2 should watch no TV at all
• kids older than 2 should be restricted to just 1-2 hours a day ofquality programming

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

Parents should make sure that their kids get enough exercise. So, how much is enough? Kids and teens get 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily.

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) offers these activity guidelines for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers:

Age	Minimum Daily Activity	Comments
Infant	No specific requirements	Physical activity should encourage motor development
Toddler	1½ hours	30 minutes planned physical activity AND 60 minutes unstructured physical activity (free play)
Preschooler	2 hours	60 minutes planned physical activity AND 60 minutes unstructured physical activity (free play)
School age	1 hour or more	Break up into bouts of 15 minutes or more

Infants and young children should not be inactive for prolonged periods of time — no more than 1 hour unless they're sleeping. And school-age children should not be inactive for periods longer than 2 hours.

Raising Fit Kids

Combining regular physical activity with a healthy diet is the key to a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some tips for raising fit kids:

• Help your kids participate in a variety of age-appropriate activities.
• Establish a regular schedule for physical activity.
• Incorporate activity into daily routines, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Embrace a healthier lifestyle yourself, so you'll be a positive role model for your family.
• Keep it fun, so you can count on your kids to come back for more.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Plant Based Diet

This morning I started myself on a plant based diet. Plant based does not mean vegetarian, at least to me it doesn't. I love meat and will never be full blown turtle. I guess you could say I will be 95% plant based, I will still be eating eggs, and my whey powder is the watery by product from milk in the cheese making process. 

I have been hearing a lot about the benefits of a plant based diet on podcast and blogs so I decided to try it for a month. What interested me the most was hearing UFC Fighter James (Lighting) Wilks speak on the Rich Roll podcast. James is a very educated athlete and shared a number of interesting things in his interview. He told a story about his transition to a plant based diet and the gains he made in his training. He claimed that after just two weeks on a plant based diet his dumbbell press went from 105lbs in each hand to 115lbs. Also he said he noticed a significant boost in endurance while training. 

I am by no means saying this is not possible. 

I'am doing this because I find it challenging, and highly educational for myself to try a plant based diet and see how it works for me. For some people this might be a difficult transition, I on the other hand consume a significant amount plants already. I will be documenting my results in the weight room and will share them one month from now.

For more information on plant based diets visit these sites.

http://www.plantathlete.com
http://www.richroll.com
http://www.forksoverknives.com

Have a Heart Healthy Valentines Dinner

 One of the latest superfoods to be touted by celebrity trainers and the like is quinoa.

 

What makes "keen-wah" so nutritious? We’ve got the scoop on quinoa nutrition facts.

 

Most people who have heard of quinoa think it’s a grain, and judging by how it’s pronounced, some assume it’s from the Orient.

 

But technically, quinoa is a seed, not a grain and it’s grown high in the Andes Mountains of South America.

 

Quinoa plants have been cultivated at altitudes of well over 10,000 feet and have been considered a superfood for at least a few millennia — in fact, the Incas cherished it as a superfood of their own.

 

Here in the U.S., quinoa has been discovered as a nutritious asset and enjoyed culinary popularity within only the last few years. Here’s why…

 

Eat one cup of quinoa (a single serving size), and you’ll consume:

• 220 calories (70 percent carbs, 15 percent fat, 15 percent protein)
• 40 grams of carbohydrates (13 percent daily value)
• 8 grams of protein (16 percent of daily value)
• 3.5 grams of fat (5 percent daily value with no saturated fat)
• A glycemic load (blood sugar spike) of only 18 out of 250
• 5 grams of fiber (20 percent of daily value)
• 20 percent of daily value of folate (various forms of Vitamin B)
• 30 percent of magnesium daily value (beneficial for people with migraine headaches); 28 percent daily value of phosphorous; iron (15 percent); copper (18 percent); and manganese (almost 60 percent)

Quinoa is stocked with life-sustaining nutrients all across the board, including all eight essential amino acids. There are other highly beneficial compounds, vitamins and minerals in this food that the Incas reverently called "chisaya mama" (mother of all grains).

 

Vegetarians would do well to incorporate quinoa into their diet often. It’s difficult for vegetarians to get all eight essential amino acids and an adequate source of protein from one food source. Usually, vegetarians and vegans need to combine foods like beans and rice to acquire all the essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

 

Those with gluten sensitivities or wheat allergies can rejoice in eating quinoa as it contains no gluten or wheat. (Spanish conquistadors during the South American conquest suppressed quinoa production, as it was associated with what the Spaniards perceived as non-Christian, indigenous, ceremonial backwardness. Thus, wheat was cultivated in the Andes region.)

 

Quinoa cooks very easily, in about 15 minutes. Like cooking rice in a stove top pot, you’ll want almost 2 cups of water per one part quinoa but be careful not to pour too much water in the pot, otherwise it will take even longer.

 

Cook quinoa at a high setting until it starts boiling and then cover and simmer for about 12-15 minutes. When you see the ring-shaped sprouts popping out, you’ll know the quinoa is almost ready. Stir the quinoa so all the water gets absorbed.

 

Quinoa by itself tastes rather bland. Add some coconut or olive oil or ghee butter (clarified butter) to add flavor and consistency. Add any spices or herbs you like and perhaps some crushed almonds or walnuts. In the last two minutes before it's ready to serve, toss a handful of spinach and stir until the spinach withers a little bit but not too much.

 

Enjoy this food that the Incas valued as much as gold.

Know your muscle fibers

The Three Main Muscle Fiber Types

Although there are further micro variations in muscle fiber types, the three main ones are:
Type I: Slow Twitch Fibers.
Type IIa: Fast Twitch Fibers.
Type IIb: Fast Twitch Fibers

Each one has its own characteristics and is suited to a particular type of movement.

Type 1 fibers are slow to contract (hence, slow twitch), and can sustain muscular contractions for an extended period of time. This makes them ideal for endurance type of events where one is exercising for a longer duration. They also contain large and numerous mitochondria which aid in their oxidative metabolism (the use of oxygen). These types of fibers are fatigue resistant but are only able to produce a relatively low level of force output.

Type IIa muscle fibers are, as the name would suggest, fast twitch fibers (FTF's). However they are in the middle of the muscle fiber spectrum, as they are less fatigue resistance, produce more muscular force, and contract at a faster speed than slow twitch fibers, but not quite as much as type IIb fibers.

The type IIb fibers are the most easily fatigued out of all the fibers but also generate the most power. These are most heavily recruited for activities that require an all out burst of power over a very short period of time.

How To Train Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers

There are a number of proven methods that target the fast twitch muscle fibers FTF. By following these guidelines you will ensure that your muscles are provided with the right type of training stimulus for developing your vertical jump.

• In the weight room try to lift in excess of 60% of your 1RM.
Generally speaking, the heavier you lift the greater the recruitment of FTF's. The exception to this is if you are doing ballistic weighted exercises such as barbell jump squats. In these instances it is ok to use a lower % of your 1RM - see the next point.


• Aim for maximum speed on all your movements.
Whether it is lifting a weight, skipping, jumping, bounding, or throwing, try and do it flat out. Short burst (10 seconds or less) of very high intensity work will cause the type of positive muscular adaptations you are after.


• Train eccentrically.
Eccentric training refers to emphasizing the work done as you lower a weight or descend in a jump. For weighted work this would be done using bands to accelerate gravity, or using drop and catch motions such as reactive squats. For jumping exercises the eccentric portion is emphasized in movements such as the various types of depth jump and altitude landings (see next point).


• Plyometrics.
Plyometrics involves the activation of the stretch-shorten reflexive response to create more powerful contractions. These contractions are primarily the domain of the fast twitch muscle fibers so doing this type of training will really stimulate those type II's.


• Contrast Load Training.
This is one of our favorite training techniques and real jump improver. To use contrast load training you might perform a very heavy set of squats, say 75-95% of your 1RM, rest 1-2 minutes, and then perform a lighter more explosive movement such as unweighted jump squats. The initial heavy set fires up a process known as potentiation that triggers higher recruitment of fast twitch fibers in the subsequent exercise.


• Over-speed Training.
Overspeed training is where you add some form of assistance such as having a partner pull you along, using bands to pull you along, or simply running down a slight hill. This trains your body to move faster than it otherwise would have by forcibly recruiting the FTF's for the extra speed, and it reinforces to your brain how to send those messages that fire up the FTF's.


• Mental Training.
If you have ever seen an Olympic lifter before a lift you will know what a psyche up is. This is part of mental training. Those lifters are essentially getting into a frame of mind that tells their bodies to literally fire up the fast twitch fibers. It works equally in your jumping and training. Spend 20 seconds before a jump mentally preparing for the effort and you will jump higher than if you just go and do it. Why does this work? Because the psyche up is a method of getting your brain ready to send the signals to the fast twitch muscles that they are about to do some maximum effort work.

Female cancer survivor completes coast-to-coast run in Northeast Florida

93-day, 2,520-mile run ends at Atlantic Beach with jump into the ocean

Heart Healthy Valentines

Treat your Valentine to a creative Valentines day salad.

Why you should eat breakfast

Growing up we have all heard our parents say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Right? So why do so many people skip something that is so important? 

Some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose weight, but the practice is more likely to cause weight gain than weight loss. Skipping breakfast is strongly linked to the development of obesity. Studies show that overweight and obese children, adolescents, and adults are less likely to break the fast each morning than their thinner counterparts. According to research, skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger. Several studies suggest that people tend to accumulate more body fat when they eat fewer, larger meals than when they eat the same number of calories in smaller, more frequent meals. To teens, especially teenage girls, skipping breakfast may seem like a perfectly logical way to cut down on calories and lose weight. It's important for moms to educate their kids about the importance of the morning meal and the role it plays in maintaining good health and preventing obesity.

It is especially important to eat breakfast if your normal time to train is in the morning. Training on an empty stomach is like driving a car that is running on fumes, your forward progress could stop at any time. Just like a car your body needs fuel for it to function. Now the question is, what fuel is best? Lets go ahead and eliminate all the fruity toots puff berries that are diabetes in a box of silly rabbits and whimsical leprechauns. Also if you can stay in your car while ordering your breakfast your fuel is going to be full of saturated fats, calories, and carbs that could be found in something more wholesome. Here is my favorite breakfast is quick and easy. Plain oatmeal is a great way to start your day, and you can add anything you want to make it appealing to you. I usually mix 1 cup of plain oatmeal with a 1/4 cup of cranberries, and 1/4 cup of almonds. Then for flavor I will add a teaspoon of honey and a half scoop of whey powder. I train 5 days a week at 9:30 sharp for 2-3 hours a day. This oatmeal recipe with two hardboiled eggs at 8:00 provides me with the fuel I need to get through my high intensity workouts and should you also.