Invent

Low Carb Peanut Butter Fudge

So… this is kind of a silly question but…

How many of you like peanut butter fudge?

How many of you also like to see your abs (or at least an OUTLINE of them? ;-D)  Yeah… me too.

 

I was searching around the other day for delicious low carb recipes and stumbled upon one for peanut butter fudge and I couldn’t believe my eyes!  Then… I made some… and I couldn’t believe my MOUTH!  It was ridiculous.  So… without further ado, here is the amazing peanut butter fudge recipe THAT IS NOT MINE (but I did adapt it slightly):

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granular Xylitol (they recommended Splenda or Stevia… I like Xylitol WAY better!  That’s my adaptation of the recipe)
1 cup vanilla protein powder (I used Jay Robb, which is sweetened with Stevia)

Directions

****Microwave the butter and peanut butter together for a minute, stir to combine, return to microwave for another 30 seconds or until melted; whisk well. Stir in the cream cheese until well blended and smooth. Whisk in the sweetener, then the whey protein powder until everything is thoroughly combined. Line a baking dish with foil, and use oil, melted butter, or cooking spray to grease it. Spread the mixture evenly over the pan and freeze for 2-3 hours, until set.

 

***I prefer to cook mine over very low heat on the stove.  I don’t like microwaves.  If you do this, make sure you remove it from the heat or turn the stove off and just let it sit on the burner while it cools down.

**** Also make sure the sweetener is THOROUGHLY mixed into the butter/pb/cream cheese before adding the protein powder.  I made that mistake and it ended up grainy.  Still good… but grainy.

****Keep in mind, high quality products will yield better tasting fudge.  If you use crappy protein that’s $10 for 5 lbs… it probably won’t taste good or mix well.

Recipe makes 20 squares; store in refrigerator or freezer.

 

In case you're curious, a serving = 25 grams or ~1 oz. YUM!

 

Nutritional Information per Square

Calories: 103
Fat: 8g
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 2.5g

(assuming you use full-fat cream cheese, and protein powder with approx. 25 grams of protein/serving)

 

P.S.  I got the recipe here: http://oliciouslife.com/guiltfree-peanut-butter-fudge/

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Priority Shifts…

“Action expresses priorities.”  - Mahatma Gandhi

“Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” –  James W Frick

“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” – George Lorimer

“Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

Where do YOUR priorities lie?  What if I told you that you were fooling yourself?  Would you believe me?  Read on to find out if your priorities are what you think they.

Even at the ripe, young age of 27, I believe I’ve realized what’s important in life: time with people I care about and helping others.  Sounds pretty noble, right?  Of course you need money to be able to do those things, and luckily my occupation (i.e. Coach and Trainer) allows me to help people and make money at the same time, which I love.

So yes, I’m a wonderful person who has life all figured out, and I want to help people, make money, spend time with loved ones, kiss babies, save the whales, fight world hunger, and blah blah blah (you can go throw up now).  But the big question is: Do I REALLY want those things?  Sure I would like to believe that I want those things — but what do I truly value?  Like the quotes above say, you can tell someone’s priorities by where they spend their time and money; so it seems the only way to discover what I truly value is to find out where I spend MY time and money.

How do you manage your time? What about your money? What's at the top of your priority list?

 

In order find out exactly how I spend my time, I kept a 2 week time log of my exact activities in 10 minute increments.  I already keep a money log of sorts, so I didn’t need to re-record my expenditures, but I did take a close look at my spending and categorized it.  The results?  In general, my time and money has been spent pretty well, but I have a lot of room for improvement.  That’s hard to admit, but I believe that time and money expenditures don’t lie.  My money log is private, but I realized I need to donate/tithe more, be more mindful of useless auto-draft fees, and shop around more for health, auto insurance, and cell phones providers.  The real wake-up call came when I reviewed my time log.  Here it is:

For ease of evaluation, I used the following categories:

  1. Time with loved ones (friends, family, boyfriend): 17.2%
  2. Leisure time (naps, movies, TV, internet leisure time): 8.4%
  3. Social media time/networking: 3.4%
  4. Life maintenance (housework, errands, food prep, paying bills, showering, etc.): 20.1%
  5. Eating (important enough for its own category!):  4.3%
  6. Gym/Lifting: 4.2%
  7. Work (things that currently make $$$ including writing programs, coaching clients, etc.): 21%
  8. Work (things/projects that WILL make me money in the future): 9.2%
  9. Personal growth (reading books, goal-setting, meditation):  1.4%
  10. Commuting (Grrrr…): 8%
  11. Relaxation/Recovery (massages, acupuncture, epsom salt baths, etc.): 2.8%
  12. Sleep (didn’t include in breakdown): 8-9 hours/night

This breakdown is not perfect, and some of these activities span several categories.  For example, when doing Girls Gone Strong stuff on Facebook, am I working? Networking? Enjoying leisure time?  When I’m out to dinner with my boyfriend, is that eating? Time with loved ones? Leisure time?  Either way, it doesn’t matter.  You get the point.  Here is it. Right in front of me, in black and white. My priorities.

 

My Evaluation of My Log

I compared the breakdown above with my current goals.  Here is where I’m falling short:

1. Personal growth – How can I expect to get better if I’m not spending more time on personal growth?  Sure I read articles, but I’m definitely not reading enough books, and not spending enough time goal-setting and evaluating my actions to determine if they are helping me reach those goals.

2. Life maintenance – This is a time-suck!  There is a lot of “stuff” to get done each day to maintain our lives.  I could definitely do a better job streamlining this “stuff” by setting up systems, automating “stuff,” etc.  It just takes time to organize the “stuff” that helps you do the “stuff” you need to do.  Makes me crazy just thinking about it!

3. Time with loved ones – While not reflected in the time log, I know is that the QUALITY of time I spend with loved ones often suffers.  I have a habit of not being able to shut my brain off.  I can’t help it.  I love what I do so I’m constantly interacting with clients and colleagues, and thinking about ways to help people and grow my businesses.  Having recently lost someone VERY close to me (my beloved Dad) I can tell you this: I NEVER look back on the time he and I spent together and wished that I spent more of it mindlessly scrolling my Facebook feed or tweeting with a colleague.  In fact, I wish I spent more time giving him my absolute, undivided attention.  I wish I spent more time holding his hand, listening to his stories, telling him about my day, asking him for advice, and telling him I loved him.

 

I would give anything for one more day with him… and I need to treat my loved ones who are still here, the same way.

 

4. Work – Again, while not reflected in my log, I must learn to be more effective when working.  Because of my crazy-ADD brain, and because my work involves social networking, reading fitness articles, and the like, it’s easy to get distracted and not be effective.  Notice I’m saying EFFECTIVE, not EFFICIENT.  You can be EFFICIENT without being EFFECTIVE and EFFECTIVE is what I want.  Being more effective allows me to do more work in less time, and will improve the quality of my work as well.

 

The Action Plan

1. Prioritize personal growth.

I will spend 30 minutes, 5 days a week focused on goal-setting, organizing my priority lists, and reading personal growth books.  All of the successful people I know write their goals down and review them regularly.  If you want to be successful, you mimic the actions of successful people.  I would like to spend more time doing this, but setting an attainable goal and setting myself up for success is key.  I can increase the amount of time I spend on this down the road if I want.

2. Outsource life maintenance stuff.

Once the business takes off a bit more, I will acquire a part-time personal assistant.  Several friends/colleagues of mine hire personal assistants for $10-20/hour.  Anytime you can hire someone to do things you don’t enjoy, for less than you make per hour, it’s a no-brainer.  You’re buying your valuable time for less than you sell your valuable time for.  This = more money and time = more awesome.  Things I can’t outsource, I will make more effective.  For example, folding laundry while returning phone calls, or listening to books on tape while running errands.  This equals getting more things done, freeing up more time, or both.

3. Increase the quality of time I spend with loved ones and be more “present. “

This will be tough, but by completing what I outline below, I’ll be more effective at my job, get more done, and will have less to worry/think/brainstorm about when spending time with loved ones.  I will also take temporary “black-out” periods from my phone and computer.  I will start with a 3-4 hour hiatus on Sundays.  Yes, it sounds ridiculous that I have to PLAN a 3-4 hour hiatus from my phone and computer.  That’s because it IS ridiculous.  I have a serious problem.  I will eventually work up to more time away from my phone and computer and focus on being present.  This will be more pleasant for everyone and looking back, I won’t regret missing quality time with loved ones.

4. Be more effective when working.

This action is vague, so the first step is to decide what that means.  A great starting point is choosing an assignment, setting a goal of what will get done in “x” amount of time, and doing it.  Sounds easy enough, but nope!  I get distracted by Facebook, my phone ringing, the dryer buzzing, Tony Gentilcore constantly calling and texting me (it’s getting a little awkward Tony.  No means no. ;-D)

Where does the time go? It will slip through your fingers if you're not careful…

Seriously, it’s easy to get up to grab water and see that I need to put dishes in the dishwasher.  Then realize the dishwasher is full and clean.  Crap.  I gotta unload it.  While unloading the dishwasher, my Mom calls.  I know we’ll chat for 15 minutes so I organize my desktop while chatting.  I start doing that and I find cute pictures from my friend’s wedding, so I email them to my best friend.  Then I see a time-sensitive email that’s 2 days old that needs taking care of.  Uh-oh! I start doing that, and realize I have to use the bathroom.  On my way to the bathroom I see the bed’s not made and that drives my boyfriend crazy, so I make it quickly.  Once I use the bathroom, and sit back down at my computer, I realize I have to call my business partner for an answer before I can reply to the email.  I call him and he doesn’t answer, BUT I see that it’s my turn in my words with friend game.  After 5 minutes I find a killer word and ZING! 88 points! Boo-yah!  But oh no! What about the email?  What about whatever I was doing before I got the water?  ACK!  An hour wasted and nothing done.  Ad nauseum.

To avoid the above, I will have everything I need with me, set a timer for myself, and make sure I don’t move until my assignment is done.  I will also follow the advice of my friend Pat Rigsby: “Write down 3 things to do each day that will move you closer to your goal, and do them.  It’s that’s simple.”  This will make me more effective and improve the quality of my work.

As you can see, I have some major work to do before my desired priorities are in line with my actual priorities.  I am going to give myself 30-60 days to see what positive effects happen from making these changes in my life.  I will update you all so you know how it’s going.   

 

What about you?  If you compare what you THINK your goals and priorities are to how you spend your time and money — how do YOU stack up?  Are you close?  Are you so far off you can’t believe it?  Do you have room for improvement?  Let me know below!

 

 

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EliteFTS Learn to Train 4 Recap – Part 5

DON’T READ THIS ARTICLE!  I repeat… Do NOT read this article.  Unless you want to get really freaking strong that is.  

Josh Bryant of JoshStrength.com works with elite-level powerlifters, figure competitors, Olympic athletes, NCAA champsions and much more.  And he is not only a world-class Coach, but an amazing lifter himself boasting a 620 lb RAW bench, and an 810 lb RAW deadlift.  Yowza!  I had the pleasure of listening to him speak about accessory work for the raw powerlifter at the EliteFTS Learn to Train Seminar a couple of weekends ago, and I learned a ton!  As a raw lifter myself (no squat suit, bench shirt, etc.) there are certain exercises that are more beneficial for me as opposed to someone who lifts in gear… and Josh covered over a dozen of them!  Check them out below!

Strong, lean, conditioned, get results. Yeah, I'd keep reading too if I were you!

Raw Powerlifting Accessory Work 
Squats
1. Walkouts - There are overload benefits to this exercise.  Walk the weight out and hold it for a 10 count.  This exercise has huge psychological benefits because when you go to walk out the weight you’ll be using it feel “light” compared to this weight. Go about 10% over what you hope to squat.
2. Olympic (close stance) pause squats – These can also be used as an accessory movement for DL.
3. Dead squats/Anderson squats – Eliminates the stretch-shortening cycle.  Do these for singles only.  Look more at rest periods and sets.  Builds power right above parallel.  Builds more neuromuscular efficiency.  Good for building starting strength. Can use bands and chains (only 10-25% of bar weight in bands and chains).

4. Dip belt squats - Great for physique enhancement.  Also great as they un-load the spine.  Should be done for higher reps.  Also great for de-loading.
5. Squats against band or chains - Bands speed up the eccentric portion of the movement and they build explosive power.  However, dependency on bands eliminates bottom end power. Chains bridge the gap between bands and straight weight.
6. Reverse band Squats - Huge psychological benefits to these as you are handling more weight than you would normally be able to.   There are also overload benefits.  These should be done for singles if powerlifting.  You can use more reps for physique benefits.  You also get accommodated resistance benefits.

 

Bench Press
1. Dead bench press/bench press from a dead stop - Builds starting strength.  There is no stretch shortening cycle.  Should be done with singles only.  Like the dead squats, look at rest periods and number of sets.  Helps build acceleration.  Short limbed lifters can do much more.
2. Rack lockout overloads - Great for overloads. Use a very short range of motion. Stick with the 1-3 rep range, less transfer of training.
3. Wide grip paused bench press - Stay in the 6-10 rep range, and pause one second. Go ~1.5 inches wider than normal. Long-limbed thinner lifters be cautious.

4. Cambered bar bench press -Use boards to create a slight deficit, but only an inch maximum.  You don’t want to be in too much of a deficit.  Use paused reps, work in a 6 rep range. If you have long arms, avoid this movement.

5. Deep DB bench press - This movement is a little more joint/shoulder friendly bc you’re not in a fixed range of motion. Builds starting strength. Use a 6-10 rep range and pause at the bottom.  These are safer than using a barbell, but there is not as much of a benefit.

6. Dips - Great transfer to overhead press. Builds strength through entire range of motion. Becomes more difficult the stronger you get because of the set up. Been used often by really great benchers.
7. Bottom end drives - Builds power out of the bottom.  Lockout last rep. Use a 5-6 rep range.  Favorite of Bill Kazmaier aka Kaz.

8. Reverse bands/accommodated resistance - Great for overload and complements strength curve.  Bands speed up the eccentric portion of the movement.  Chains bridge the gap between bands and straight weight.  These are a great way to build lockout strength with full range of motion and transitions.

9. Board Presses - These can benefit the raw lifter.  Make sure you vary rep ranges. Can be used to attack sticking points, great for overloads, accommodated resistance can be used.

Deadlifts 

1. Lightning deadlifts - Adds eccentric overload. (40-60% bar weight, 10-25% chains weight).  Doubles for 4-6 sets. Builds speed in speed-less lifters. Eliminates sticking points. Great close to meet time.  CAUTION: MUST HAVE VERY COMPETENT TRAINING PARTNERS!

2. Deficit deadlifts - Use a 1-4 inch range for the deficit.  Not a good choice for those of great girth or those who lack mobility (people who have a hard time getting down to the bar). Extreme deficits don’t transfer as it drastically changes your set-up.

3. Box pulls - plates rest on box.  Similar to rack pulls or pin pulls, but better because the bar isn’t resting on the pins so it doesn’t bend.

 

There you have it!  18 accessory movements that will help raw lifters get as strong as possible!  A couple of things to remember:  this fancy stuff is extremely cool and will get you very strong, but you MUST master the basics first.  For beginners and low level intermediates, variety is not nearly as important as PRACTICE, remember? Also, this re-cap is no substitute for hearing Josh speak live and explain all of the exercises.  So if you missed this past Learn to Train Seminar, don’t miss the next one! =)

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EliteFTS Learn To Train 4 – Part 4

Hey guys!  Hope everyone is having a great week!  If so, awesome.  If not, well… the weekend is right around the corner.  So hopefully you can relax, recharge, and have a great next week!

If you’ve been following along with my EliteFTS Learn to Train series, you would’ve seen knowledge bombs from guys like Jeremy Frey, John Meadows, and Steve Pulcinella so far.  Today I am going to bring you knowledge bombs from the one and only Chad Wesley Smith. of Juggernaut Training Systems.  Not only is CWS an absolutely amazing lifter (he holds the American Record in the squat with 905 RAW!  Yes, RAW!  Complete insanity!)  but he is a brilliant strength coach as well (aaaaannd he may just have the most twinkly blue eyes you’ve ever seen!)

I learned a ton from him at the LTT seminar, and in fact, it was my favorite presentation (shhh!!! don’t tell the other guys!  I think they’re great too… I just got a lot out of this presentation).  So without further ado, here is what I learned from Mr. Smith.

Please note:  Chad’s main clientele is athletes from junior high to professional.  While a lot of this information is applicable to the general population as well, this presentation was geared towards training athletes and preparing them to play their absolute best.


All of the training Chad’s athletes do is based on 4 things: 
Sprinting
Jumping
Throwing
Lifting

Their lifting is based on 4 main movements:
Push/pull/squat/hip extension

27  Incredible Knowledge Bombs from Chad:

1. Practice is the most important and exercise selection is secondary.

2.  What athletes do in the weight room/practice should enhance what they do on the field.  Don’t get so caught up in numbers like many Coaches do simply because they are easy to measure.  Make sure you’re actually helping them get better at their sport through training.

3.  Evaluating your client is so important.  What’s their training age? Whats their GPP (general physical preparedness) like? Where are they in competition calendar? What’s their mobility/durability like?

4.  At JTS, they use a high/low philosophy meaning they separate movements/exercises into high intensity CNS stressors and low intensity CNS stressors.  Examples of high intensity stressors would be lifting, jumping, throwing, sprinting.  Example of low intensity stressors would be accessory work, lower intensity cardio, mobility.

5. It’s important to consolidate your intensive stressors to allow for more recovery. You can’t keep adding more intensive work.

6.  The main movements they use at JTS are: box squat, front squat, back squat, bench press, 2 board press, floor press.  However, remember that exercise selection is not nearly as important as practice.

Chad me after he helped coach me to a 275 squat PR. And after several hours in 100 degree heat!

 

7.  If you get a kid hurt in the weight room, especially an athlete…You suck at your job.

8. Pick what your athletes do well.  It sets them up for success.

9. Frequency is important for a younger/weaker athlete. It teaches technique and because they aren’t very strong, they can handle more frequency.

10.  Building special work capacity vs. general work capacity is important.  General work capacity would be everything from walking to pushing the prowler.  Special work capacity involves actually performing your sport or something similar.

11.  A good way to build special work capacity is to perform an exercise for several sets of low rep with short rest periods (i.e. Squats for 10 sets of 4 reps with 1 min rest).  Not only does this build special work capacity but it keeps form from breaking down.  If you did 5 sets of 10 reps for example, your last several reps end up looking like crap.

12. The stronger you get, the more of a premium you have to put on recovery.

13.  When starting with an athlete, assuming they are pretty far out from their season starting, they start with 6 medium intensity days.  As the season draws closer, they move to 4 high intensity and 2 low intensity, then to 3 high intensity 3 low intensity, and finally to 2 high intensity 2 medium intensity and 2 low intensity as their season is about to start.  Again, this is aimed at consolidating their CNS stressors to allow them to have enough time to recover.

14.  On a medium day they will still sprint, but they would sprint up a hill or with a sled because they can’t go as fast.  This allows for a huge demand on their muscular system, but not on their central nervous system.

15.  Early in the year, set yourself up to have a lot of flexibility.  Start with super high volume so you always have something to take away.

16.  Don’t use a ton of exercise variations because the athletes need to practice. Having them do the same movements over and over helps them to master technique, and keeps them from being sore which is a huge benefit.

17.  Understand the stimulus that sprints, jumps, and throws have on the body.  Sprinters are putting 6-7x their body weight on each foot at maximal speed.

18.  Weights follow sprints. If they PR in sprints, they may not need to squat (or may need to do 60%).

19.  You cannot increase the capacity of your CNS. It’s like a cup.  Everything that stresses the CNS, fills the cup to some extent.  This includes life stress, marriage stress, financial stress, etc.

20.  Lifestyle needs to be taken into account as well.  Getting your athletes to sleep and eat good food will help them so much in terms of results.

21.  Adjust the weight room work after they do what matters to them/their sport (sprints, etc.). Like mentioned above, if they PR in sprints, they make be tanked and their weight training may need to be adjusted.

22.  Use special strength exercises. For example a Prowler explosion is similar to what an athlete might do on the field. Therefore you shouldn’t change it by adding weights, bands, etc.

23.  Do these similar movements/special strength exercises as far away from season as possible because you don’t want to compete with their technical skill practice.

24. Someone with high special work capacity can also have low general work capacity.  A powerlifter who can do 10 sets of 4 reps on squat with 1 minute rest may get winded walking up the stairs.  Work capacity/conditioning has to be defined and improved based on specific goals.

25.  Alactic capacity is the overwhelming majority of what athletes need to do.

26. People do too much lactic capacity work with people who will never do lactic capacity work in their sport.

27.  Creating an annual plan for your athletes is so important.  Remember, in the beginning – do a lot.  Do a lot of medium intensity work and spread it out. As time goes on, consolidate the stressors.

 

Well there you have it.  Honestly, each of these points is so important, I wish I could have spread this out into a 4 or 5 part series to give you time to marinate on each of them… but I think my LTT recap had dragged on long enough!  And remember, reading one of these recaps is NOTHING like attending the actual seminar.  So keep your eyes peeled and make sure you attend the next one!  Thanks for checking this out and let me know what you think below!

 

Agree with Chad? Disagree? Want to arm wrestle him?  Let me know below!  Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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There Are Times to “Push It” and Times to… Not?

As you all can probably tell from my some of my training sessions and some of my YouTube videos… I am NOT afraid of hard work.  I am NOT afraid to push myself to the limit and bust my ass to reach my goals.  In fact, check out some of my crazier videos here:

 


275 lb Squat

 


155 lbs Deadlift for 54 reps in 2 minutes

 


165 lb Bench Press

 


Bret Contreras’ Sexy Challenge

 


315 lb Hip Thrusts for 12 reps

 

Are you Bankrupt? 

Like I said above, I am obviously not afraid of hard work, but the point of  my post is not to show how hardcore I am.  In fact, quite the opposite.  The point of this post is to explain that you CANNOT push yourself hard every day.  In fact, pushing it hard on a regular basis without replensishing yourself can actually prevent you from reaching your goals and leave you “bankrupt.”  Literally.  You see, I like to think of my body like a bank account… stay with me here… I am not crazy (well, OK maybe I am… but not about this!)  You see, if you continually take more out of your bank account than you put back in, you will be bankrupt, right?  And we all know that once you’ve gone bankrupt, it’s way harder to get back on your feet again.  Same thing with your body.  If you continually push yourself past your limits without doing what you need to do to rest and recover, you’ll end up in the same boat.

 

Putting Money in Your Account

Here are some things that “put money in your account:”

Sleep

Good nutrition

Recovery work (foam rolling, contrast showers, epsom salt baths, etc)

Massage work

Acupuncture

Proper supplementation

Meditation

Healthy social interaction with friends/loves ones

Light recovery workouts

Walking

Etc, etc, etc.

 

Taking Money Out

Below are some of the thing that “take money out of your account:”

Lack of sleep

Work stress

Financial stress

Family stress

Excessive exercise and/or the wrong types of exercise

Super intense exercise (especially CNS-intensive exercise)

Poor nutrition

Unhealthy social interaction (fighting, drama)

Negative self-talk

Etc, etc, etc.

 

As you can see, it’s not just exercise and nutrition that put money in or take money out… in fact, it can be mostly what you do outside the gym that counts.  My business partner Jim Laird put a sign on our door as you walk out of the gym that says, “The Real Work Begins Now.”  And it’s true… we may only see our clients 2-3 times a week for 50 minutes.  It’s what they do the rest of the time that will really affect their long-term results.

In case anyone was wondering, yes, this post was inpsired by my Facebook status from Saturday afternoon as I soaked up a little sun and relaxed.  Here is what it said:

“Didn’t really feel like getting in a hardcore workout today… So I just did some breathing drills, my PRI (pelvic/hip rehab), a little rolling, and a few sets of pulldowns. Just because you don’t have much time or don’t feel like getting your butt kicked, doesn’t mean you can’t still do a few things that will bring you closer to your goals. Every little bit helps and it’s often neglecting the small things that can keep you from reaching your goals and/or keep you injured/in pain.

Listen to your body… There are times to push it and times to reign it in and rest. Today is one of those days for me!”

 

An example of my pelvic/hip rehab exercises… not exactly exciting, but super beneficial!

 

See?  I do listen to my own advice (most of the time! ;-D)  The times when I don’t want to take my own advice..? Well, that’s what my Coaches are for!

What are your favorite ways to relax, recharge, and “put money in your account?”

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EliteFTS Learn to Train 4 – Part 3

For the 3rd installment in my re-cap of the Learn to Train 4 Seminar, I am supposed to be re-capping Steve Pulcinella’s presentation.  If you don’t know Steve, he is the owner of Iron Sport Gym in Philadelphia, Pa.  He has competed in powerlifting, strongman, and still competes in the Highland Games as a masters competitor… basically, he is strong as hell!   (Oh, and he also has a cult following with his face on these t-shirts!  he is famous!)

So… here I am trying to regurgitate the amazing presentation given my Stevie P.  The problem with me doing this is 3-fold:

1. I am not nearly as funny as him

2. I am not nearly as attractive as him (see picture below)

3. I had to go to the bathroom REALLY badly at one point during his presentation and then I got stuck talking to someone and I missed a big chunk of it.  =(

Sooo… I am sorry Steve.  But I am not going to be able to do your presentation justice whatsoever (I don’t really feel that badly… because Steve forgot to mention me in his LTT re-cap on Elite until I called him out on it.  I guess he made up for it… but Pssshhht!  That was NOT cool! ;-D)

 

This man is one tough son-of-a-gun! I wouldn't mess with him!

 

From what I WAS able to watch, this is what I gathered:

1.  An intense training atmosphere makes you stronger. There is a reason people hit PR’s when they train at EliteFTS or Westside Barbell or Iron Sport gym… the atmosphere is a huge reason for that.

2. Competition among training partners is a wonderful and healthy thing.  You want to train with people who are stronger than you at least at something.  If you’re the strongest guy/gal in every lift within your group of training partners, you need to find new training partners.

3. Yoke walks can help. (No clue what he was referring to here.  That’s all I wrote down. Oops.)

4.  If you start your own company… Be ready to bust your ass.  Most people have a super glamorous vision of what it will be like to own their own business.  That vision usually doesn’t include cleaning toilets.  But owning your own business usually does involved cleaning toilets at some point.  Especially if you own a gym.

5.  Common question:  Is there any way to train for the Highland Games? No.  Not in the gym.  You must practice the events specifically, although getting stronger in the gym can help.

6.  Don’t get a philly cheesesteak in Philly.  Get a roast pork sandwich from Tony Luke’s in South Philly.  You’re welcome.

7.  Charge what you’re worth.  At one point, Steve raised his gym prices quite a bit and it actually did the business a lot of good because it showed more value.  He didn’t get any more volume with a lower price.

8.  Triangle of Domination – Hard Training, Good Nutrition, Good Attitude.  These are the keys to success when it comes to training.  So many people try to do a bunch of super complicated stuff and end up getting nowhere.  Sure, once you’re an advanced lifters, more advanced techniques can be helpful… but for most beginner and intermediate trainees – a simple and basic routine that is done with intensity, coupled with sound nutrition, and a good attitude, will get the majority of people where they want to be.  So keep it simple, stupid! =)

 

Talking about the Triangle of Domination!

Well folks, that’s all I have from Stevie P!  I wish I was able to listen to the whole presentation.  Besides dropping knowledge bombs (and F bombs) he is freaking hilarious!  I wish we could have chatted more!

 

So what do you think?  Do beginner trainees complicated things too much?  Is owning your own business glamorous or not?  Philly cheesesteak or roast pork sandwich?  Let me know what you think below!

 

 

 

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EliteFTS Learn to Train 4 Lectures – Part 2

As you’re probably sick of hearing by now, I was lucky enough to attend the EliteFTS Learn to Train Seminar the other weekend as a Coach for their mobility/rehab station.  Yes, I went there under the premise of coaching the attendees…but having been to one of these before, I knew that I would end up learning a ton as well!!  If you’ve never been to one of these seminars, you MUST go (assuming you care anything about strength, conditioning, muscle gain, fat loss, coaching clients, lifting weights, or just being awesome.  And if you’re reading my blog… I am assuming at LEAST one of those things interests you!)  Not only is it 2-3 days of listening, learning, doing, networking, being coached, and getting to spend time in one of the greatest training facilities ever built… but you are supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation as well, which is super cool.  So… there’s my sales pitch.  Come to the next LTT!  You won’t be sorry you did.

 

Now, for the main event.  The second speaker of the first day is one of my friends and favorite people ever…John Meadows aka Mountain Dog.  If you don’t know who John Meadows is… where the hell have you been hiding?  John has been featured in the hottest health and fitness magazines, he write for sites like T-Nation and EliteFTS, and the biggest names in the biz are clamoring to have him do their nutrition and/or training.  Oh, and best of all, he interviews REALLY cool people for his site.  Ahem…click here to see his interview with yours truly. ;-) Not only is he one of the smartest guys in the nutrition and training game… he walks the walk himself.  He is an absolute BEAST and having him training in the monolift next to me last Sunday was one of the huge reasons I hit my 275 squat PRthat day.  So motivating. Seriously… John Meadows is an absolute monster in the best possible way.  Check it out:

(now you can see why I turned him down on his offer to train legs the other weekend. YIKES!)

 

As you can imagine, many people contact John for help with their training and nutrition, especially when it comes to maximizing muscle growth.  And that’s what John spoke about at the EliteFTS LTT a couple of weekends ago… nutrition for maximum muscle growth and strength.

John giving his presentation. (No worries…the guys in the front row are taking notes on their phones!)

 

During his presentation John discussed some very sophisticated concepts and did a great job of making them relatively easy to understand.  That being said, I tended to just jot down the key points of his presentation instead of complete thoughts. Without further ado, here are 13 golden nuggets of information John Meadows dropped on everyone at LTT:

***1. Mtor – John described mtor as “starting the car.”  Without mtor, no muscle building can take place, no matter what else happens.  Driving mtor - mechanical tension, Leucine, Insulin helps

2. That being said, endurance training shuts down mtor.  If you’re trying to build muscle, do NOT do post-workout cardio.

3. You don’t have to rush down and drink a post-workout shake within minutes. You have about an hour.

***4. If maximum muscle growth is your goal, before a workout, consume a moderate amount of carbs and a small amount of fat to start a steady insulin rise.  During a workout you want to consume liquid carbs and hydrolysate as they are fast acting.

***5. Shortly after your workout you want more carbs and protein (liquid is best) then solid food shortly after that (animal protein with a fast digesting carb like white rice would be great) or another pulse of casein hydro. Again, this doesn’t have to be done immediately, within 30-60 minutes post workout is fine.  However, if you didn’t consume protein and carbs during your workout, then you need them more quickly.

6. BCAAs are basically only good because of leucine.

7. Leucine alone is better than BCAAs.

8. Don’t be afraid of carbs before bed.  The seretonin release can help with sleep.

9. “I have never seen anyone get fat pounding carbs PWO.” – John Meadows

10. If your training has less volume then you need less overall protein and carbs (less pre workout, less post workout, less during workout).

11. Avoid oil high in omega-6 fatty acids because they increase inflammation.

12. The body is not good at converting flax oil to DHA.  Fish oil is a much better choice.

13. Make sure you eat veggies with fat so you can absorb them (many of the vitamins and minerals in vegetables are fat soluble).

***Small tweaks made per John’s instructions***

Obviously these are just key points of his presentation.  If you’re interested in more in-depth explanations of John’s methods, he has plenty of articles on T-Nation you might enjoy, OR you can join his members only website for $9.95 or less per month, which has tons of exclusive content and just great information.

 

So what do you think?  Agree with what John had to say? Disagree?  Have questions about any of the statements he made?  As always, thanks for reading and et me know what you think!

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