A New Year

So it is a new year. A time for new beginnings and when everyone decides to get their lives back on track. For me this is no different. As I am sure many of you have noticed, I dropped off the face of the earth for a few months. I have been going through a lot of things but am happy to say that I am back and ready to get everything in my life headed back in the direction which I originally planned.

One thing that I would like to say is thank you. Thank you to all my close friends and family who have helped me get back on track and start taking control of my life again. I don't want to get into too many details but those of you who have been there for me, even just to listen, are greatly appreciated. I am feeling better and have made some good changes to my life that I feel will benefit both my physical and mental well being. So I am ready to get back to the necessary task at hand.

I start school on the 9th of January and I am really looking forward to it. I am going for a degree in Athletic Training which I feel is something that I am truly passionate about and that I will be happy doing. I will also be looking at the upcoming show schedules and seeing which ones I want to compete in again. It might take me a while to get back to where I was towards the end of last year as these last few months I have not been on point with diet or lifting and have let other things interfere. My decisions stand though and I am definitely looking to get back to the stage and rock it.

Once again though I just wanted to a huge thank you to my close friends and family who have helped guide me in the right direction to get me back to the person that they know I am and the one that I will become. Happy New Year and new beginnings to you all.

Train hard and stay safe!!

Advantages and Disadvantages to a Low Carb Diet

A huge fad for the last probably 10 years or so has been the low carb diet. This diet has been know to help people lose a lot of body fat in a short amount of time with just diet alone. If you add a high intensity weight training and low intensity cardio routine to it, you can burn even more. This diet is not for everyone, and while it can be run long term, most people simply do not possess the discipline or the drive to do it. I use this diet as my cutting diet to get ready for a show. Often times hard dieting starts at about 4-5 weeks out and over this time I manage to lose 20-25 lbs. Here is one thing that is key with the low carb diet, just like with any diet. If you want to keep the results you have to stick to the diet. I have heard to many people say that "yeah I lost X amount of weight on the diet but once I got off it all just came right back on"......Um duh! Once you switch back over to making poor choices about your food intake of course the weight is going to come back on. Now there is a big difference in all diets and all have their advantages and their disadvantages. Today we will look at the advantages and disadvantages to the low carb diet.

Advantages:

1. You drop body fat very quickly. This diet is designed to force your body to go to the stored fat in your body for energy. Since carbs are the main source of energy for the body by taking them away you force your body to start searching elsewhere for the fuel it needs. That is where the fat comes in. By forcing your body to use the stored fat for energy you are constantly burning that fat off.

2. Your energy levels will remain constant throughout the diet. There are other diets out there where your energy levels are basically on a roller coaster. I personally don't like this at all. I like knowing what I am working with as a constant instead of having to deal with the ups and downs and energy swings.

3. You will have a much easier time burning up glycogen stores when doing cardio. This kind of goes with advantage number one. One of the best things that I enjoy about running this type of diet is that I can get amazing results with low intensity cardio training. I do not have to run intervals or a high intensity cardio session to get my calories and my fat burned. A simple incline walk does the trick and helps save as much muscle as possible.

Disadvantages:

1. NO CARBS! Probably the biggest disadvantage there is. The thing is you probably donw even notice right now what you are putting into your body as far as carbs go. But once you pay attention things that you normally don't have cravings for all of a sudden show up in your dreams.

2. You have less variety of foods to chose from. The low carb diets stick to a high protein moderate fat levels. So yeas there are only certain foods that you can chose from and a lot of the time you just have to get creative. Trying different seasonings has worked for me to add a different flavor each night. Just be sure to check the labels on your seasonings to make sure there are not any hidden carbs or sugars in there.

3. You run a higher risk of dehydration. This is easily solved by just making sure that you intaking more water. Simple enough right. Your goal should be about a gallon of water a day.

The Low Carb Diet is not for everyone. If you are looking to get rid of a body fat and do it fast this might be the diet for you. I hope that these views can help you make a better informed decision.

Train hard and stay safe.

Great Low carb recipe

He is a great low Carb high protein recipe for you to try. It makes 6 servings so the entire family can eat healthy. Prep time is about 15 minutes and cook time is 45 minutes.



Ingredients:

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices ham
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.
2. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.

Nutritional Information

Chicken Cordon Bleu II

Servings Per Recipe: 6

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 584

• Total Fat: 40.9g
• Cholesterol: 195mg
• Sodium: 655mg
• Total Carbs: 7.7g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.3g
• Protein: 41.6g

Check your Ego at the Door!!

Ego, we all have it. Some of us worse than others but nevertheless we all possess it. In weight training one of the first rules that I try to instill in my clients is to check your ego at the door. IN the gym there is no time or place for ego. Save that for other places than the gym. When you are in there you are there to perform a task at hand. Whether it is building muscle or losing fat or a combination of the two, there is no room for your ego.

This is mainly for those people who are consistently trying to move weight that is to heavy for them or above their current level. So often I see too many people lifting weight that is too heavy for them. Watching a workout group on the bench press where each rep is actually being lifted by two people because the weight is too heavy. You are not accomplishing anything by doing this. While I definitely enjoy having a workout partner to help push me to the next level, to assist with that last rep that makes my muscles feel that they are about to burst, I typically workout alone. This helps me keep my ego in check. I do not lift a weight that I cannot maintain strict form on to gain the maximum effectiveness of the exercise. Otherwise it is just wasted energy. This is not a team sport, just because your lifting partner shares the load is not doing your body any good. You may feel better about yourself being able to say that you finally repped out 225lbs on bench press but if your partner was helping the entire time then what really did you do? Nothing except fill your head with false pretenses.

I see so often people curling dumbbells in the 50-65 lbs range and they feel great about it, they feel strong. Good for them, sad thing is, they still only have 13 inch arms. They are letting their ego get in the way of their progress. They look at what others are lifting and their competitive edge comes out and they feel they have to do the same thing. In the gym you have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself. If you want to make a transformation then get in there and make it for you. Don't give a damn about what other people are lifting.

Most people think I lift heavy, the only thing that I can honestly say that I can do heavy is squats and deadlifts. Even then I am nowhere near the weights that some others are doing. But yet my muscles grow more than the people who are throwing weight around like crazy. I know the weights that I need to move to stimulate muscle growth. I know what form needs to be used and I use that. So when you see these updates and think that in order to have 16.5" arms like I do that you need to curl heavier, let me tell you how wrong you are. The most I curl on a dumbbell is 35 or 40lbs. I concentrate on form and feeling the muscle working, not the weight.

So check your ego at the door, keep your form correct, and don't worry about the weight. Concentrate on the feeling and making those muscles grow. The weight will come in time.

Keep training hard and stay safe.

Road to Nationals- 30 Days out

OK, so here is the update. I have been dieting hard for the last 5 days and I feel it is showing pretty good. I am still trying to add some size to the key weak areas but I feel like they are coming along nicely. I know it is going to take a lot of time to get them where I want them to be but overall feeling really good. I have started my cardio routine but nothing too crazy right now. Just holding at 500 calories burned a day. It takes me roughly about 30 minutes so it is not too bad.

I am feeling really good about this upcoming show. I know that I am 30 days out still but the progress in just 5 days feels good. I might actually come in even better than the Heart of Dixie Show.

That is the goal anyways. So overall I am feeling great about my training. Still hitting it hard and feeling really confident. Thank for all the support and the well wishes. You guys definitely keep me motivated.

Train hard and stay safe

Eat More Lose More?

I know you are sitting there thinking wait a minute, can this be right? If I eat more then I can lose more weight? Well the answer is not a simple one but I am going to try and break it down to you without going into too many medical terms so that you do not feel like you are sitting in a college anatomy class.

OK, lets look at how the body functions in a basic sense. You take in food to fuel your body with energy and the right nutrients to repair it as needed. So lets say you are only eating three times a day, which for some people is a stretch due to their jobs and lifestyles. What happens is that your body takes in the food and starts to process it. It send the proteins to the muscles that need it for repair, and uses the carbs and fats to help provide energy to the body for your remaining activities of the day. Now with only eating three times a day your body knows this and starts storing the carbs and fats for energy until its next feeding.

By increasing the number of meals from 3 to 6 your body is in a sense rushed to process the food you are consuming. By doing this you don't give your body enough time to go into "storage" mode and store the excess because you are already giving it another job, to process and digest the food that you are consuming. So the excess carbs and fats don't get stored. This is why you see a lot of bodybuilders and fitness people eating anywhere from 6-8 meals a day. We keep the same amount of calories per day we just spread it out over the day and make them last longer, to keep our body working and not give it a chance to store fat. For example right now I am on a 1500 calorie a day diet. Instead of eating three meals at 500 calories a piece I split them up and average around 250 calories per meal.

So if you are only getting two or three meals in a day and can't figure out why you are having a problem getting rid of some body fat, try jump starting your metabolism and increasing your meals. Ideally you don't want them to be any more than 3-4 hours apart. A little trick that I do that helps keep me on track is setting a 3 hour timer on my phone. When it goes off I know it is time to eat. Another trick would be to eat at the same times each day. I have done this before as well, starting my meals at 9 am and then going every three hours. So the next meal would be at noon then 3pm then 6pm, 9pm then midnight. So give this a shot if you are stuck in your routine and need a little bit of a boost.

Keep training hard and stay safe.

Rest Rest Rest

Sleep does a body a good!! On this Sunday I wanted to take a quick minute to remind everyone training to get your rest. I of all people understand how it can be when you have the drive and motivation to make a change that so many of you have. You want to just keep training over and over again to get bigger, faster, and stronger. What some of you might not realize is the importance that rest actually plays in your training and muscle growth. So, here is just a quick little insight on how it is beneficial to let your body rest and recover.

When you are training you are actually tearing and breaking down muscle fibers. Once completed, your body goes to work starting to repair and build those fiber back up again, making them bigger and stronger. It uses the protein you ingest to assist in this growth and development. That is why it is always good to have a high protein-based meal or shake within 30 minutes after your workout. This way your body can get started immediately on repair. It typically takes the body about 3-4 days to help get the muscle almost fully recovered. Now lets think about this. Let's say I want bigger arms so I decide I am going to train my arms every other day for the next 4 weeks. So every other day I am tearing these muscle fibers down. My body is going through hell trying to repair and build them up to make them stronger but halfway through the process I tear it down again. What ends up happening? Nothing!! I get no growth or strength gain for the four weeks. Then I sit there and think that there is just no way that I will be able to make my arms grow. When all I was doing was sabotaging myself. I never gave my body the opportunity to do what it needed to do to fix all the trauma I caused.

So everyone should include a day of rest in their training. Trust me, I know how hard it can be for some of us to not go and workout. But without the proper rest we are just sabotaging ourselves and our progress. So while it is Sunday and football is on, RELAX!! Let your body heal itself from the torture you have put it through for the week. You have earned it.

Keep training hard and stay safe.