http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Confession: I am not one of those people who is obsessed with Chipotle. I sort of missed that moment when everyone learned the glories of a burrito bowl, but with the fast-casual chain scheduled for a four-hour nationwide shutdown today, I thought it might be time to catch up.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Skip the hustle for dinner reservations this Valentine’s Day and spend the night in making a delicious meal for the ones you love.
Whether it’s your spouse, significant other, best friend, group of friends, or just yourself, you can’t go wrong with any of these romantic recipes. And, of course, make sure there’s plenty of fancy wine.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
For today’s Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions. First, how often can a person sprint safely and effectively? There are many factors to consider when determining the amount of sprinting a person can handle each week, like stress levels, sleep, and other training, so it’s tough to give a specific number. Next, what are new parents supposed to do for physical play and exercise? Aren’t babies fragile, helpless things? No. As you’ll see, it’s possible and even desirable to expose your young children to intense (but fun) play and exercise and introduce elements of cautious risk-taking into your time with them. Finally, what’s the best nighttime snack alternative to nuts and dried fruit?
Let’s go:
Mark,
I currently sprint every 4 or 5 days (bike sprints, total time on bike 22-25 min, with 6-8 30 sec sprints). I also strength train twice a week. I know we only need to sprint every 7 to 10 days to maintain the health benefits, but I love sprinting. As a former chronic cardio Type A, I fear I’m going to increase my sprinting frequency until I’m doing it everyday which would clearly not be good for me. What’s the most frequent I can do them without it becoming detrimental to my health?
If you want to sprint more often, it usually comes out of the rest of your training.
Of course, many of the pro-sprinting/HIIT studies use multiple sessions per week and get great results. What gives? In order to exclude any confounding variables, they generally forbid participants from engaging in other exercises. So in a HIIT study, you’ll just do HIIT and nothing else on the side. You won’t lift weights, or go on hikes, or any other formal exercise. You’ll be focusing on HIIT and HIIT alone so as to isolate the effects of the experimental condition. The absence of other training coupled with the total dedication to the program allows adequate recovery.
If you weren’t doing anything else, I’d say you could get away with three or four sprinting or HIIT days a week. I think, though, that optimal fitness is achieved through a more well-rounded approach that includes lifting heavy things, play, lots of slow moving, and yes, sprinting (or HIIT). All those activities require recovery time. We can and do learn from fitness studies, but in reality we can’t just take what studies do wholesale. We would fail, or be required to sleep twelve hours a day, or eat 4000 calories, or go back to college and shirk our responsibilities.
You must also consider the subjects of these studies, which usually use students because they have a ton of free time and often need the money. More free time means more recovery time and being a student means less psychological stress (except for perhaps during finals), which can also impact your workout recovery. Worrying about getting laid or what to wear to the frat party on Friday is less stressful than worrying about bills, dealing with family issues, or having to commute an hour each way every day.
If I had to give you a figure—which I can’t really do given the paucity of information I have—I’d say you can probably get away with an extra sprint session per week given that you’re only lifting twice a week. However, if you’re truly going all out 6-8 times for 30 seconds on a bike each session, that’s like doing two Wingate tests, which researchers use to determine peak anaerobic power and capacity. People who’ve done the test (4 30-second all out bike sprints) often rate it as the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Puke buckets are a standard feature of the Wingate test. So ask yourself if you’re really going hard enough. If not, maybe drop it down to 4 30-second sprints and really go for it. Then see if you’re still interested in more sprinting.
Most people who want to sprint all the time aren’t really sprinting.
Although I walk and get sun everyday, I’m struggling to figure out the ‘play’ aspect of the 21 day challenge. I have a 7 month old baby girl that is truly a blessing, but anything I do…She needs to be able to come along! Please, any ideas? Thanks!
and…
Seconded! I have an 11 month old and I’m wishing so badly that I could climb trees and sprint (both things I used to thoroughly enjoy) while holding him.
There are tons of things you can do with your little ones.
You can still climb trees. Look, maybe your pediatrician wouldn’t recommend this. Maybe your mother-in-law (or wife or husband) will flip out on you. But as long as you’re careful, you can climb trees while holding your kid. Maybe not to the top, or even halfway, but you can certainly monkey around in trees while staying close to the ground. Get the kid used to being in a tree. Let the kids climb the tree themselves. Show them how to hold on to large branches and hang from smaller ones. Leave the kid at the bottom of the tree and see how quickly you can reach the top and get back down (unless dingos abound, no one’s going to steal your baby) before the cries start. Do this often enough and your kid will realize that being away from you for a minute or two isn’t the worst thing in the world and everything will actually be okay (you might learn something similar).
Sprinting? Yeah, you can sprint. One of my employees did extensive hill sprints while holding his sub-1 year old daughter on a regular basis. Clutch the kid like a football, hug them to your chest, keep a hand on their head to prevent flailing, and just go for it. Hills seem to work better, since you’re falling a shorter distance and there’s less of a jarring impact.
Once the kid can stay on your back and hold onto your shoulders/neck, take them for a ride. Crawl around with them on your back. Spin around 18o degrees while crawling, moving ever faster as they get better at holding on. Do some hops from a squat position, a la Darryl Edwards’ bunny hops. Kids love this, it builds their strength and confidence, and it’s great for your fitness.
Kids are great weights. They’re like medicine balls that get heavier as you get stronger. Swing them like a kettlebell (cradle the head/protect the neck/watch the splaying legs). Toss them. Squat down and push press them up into the air, catching them in a full squat. Single arm press them overhead. Do Turkish get-ups.
Roughhouse. Roughhousing is a lost art. Chances are your kids’ friends won’t be allowed to do it, so you may have to toss your kid around a bit to teach them. Do so lovingly and playfully. Here’s a nice example of daddy-daughter roughhousing from Rafe Kelley.
Wear your kid. You’d be surprised at how much you can do with a kid attached to your chest (or back).
What else can you think of? Be creative.
I am a big night snacker. Dried fruit and nuts have been my go too but I don’t want to over do it. Trying to find something to replace and then eventually get over the snacking.
Herbal tea jello.
Brew non-caffeinated tea of your choice. Maybe a chamomile or ginger tea.
Stir in powdered gelatin until it dissolves in the hot tea.
Add a touch of sweetener, like raw honey or stevia.
Refrigerate until solidified.
The gelatin (specifically the glycine content) will improve the quality of your sleep (and make you less groggy after sleep deprivation). You’ll get a fun treat before bed. Win-win. This also works with caffeinated liquid, too—coffee, green/black tea—if you want something earlier in the day.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers, you know. This year at The Kitchn, we wanted to celebrate female friendship and throw a delicious party with all our girlfriends. Get ready for a bunch of pink drinks, apple tarts that look just like roses (I swear!), and a few rounds of the 90s classic board game Electronic Dream Phone. Here’s our plan and menu for the whole shebang.
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
Hey, I’m Steve.
I’ve been running this site, Nerd Fitness, for about seven years now. Before that, I trained in a gym for six years trying to get in the best shape possible. But I struggled. Struggled to make consistent progress. Struggled because it always seemed like three steps forward, 2.9 (or 3.1) steps backwards, month after month, year after year.
Two years ago, my mentality changed. I stopped asking “when will I arrive?” and instead realized that I will never actually get there.
With this mindset I created a new strategy, and today I stand (well, sit) before you a changed person – physically and mentally. I’m 20+ pounds (of muscle) heavier, stronger and more resilient than ever, and believe that every day is an opportunity to set a new personal best.
I did it by refusing to focus on the “end.” In other words, I stopped worrying about “before and after.” Instead I just focused finding goals and quests that excited me each day.
In fact, I hadn’t noticed just how much I had changed until I looked at a video from Nerd Fitness from three years ago that made my jaw drop (picture above). It really hit home when I went to get fitted for a tux two weeks ago and the guy taking my measurements said “well, this won’t fit right because you’re built like Captain America.”
Alarm bells went off in my brain: “HOLY CRAP. I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear somebody tell me that. And it happened after I FORGOT about this very goal.”
I don’t think that was a coincidence.
Here’s how I stopped worrying about my after and live every day in the “during.”
I imagine that nearly everybody who stumbles across Nerd Fitness is here because they want to change their appearance. It’s certainly why I started exercising! And I have NO problem with that.
After all, as the Rules of the Rebellion state: “We don’t care where you came from, only where you’re going.”
As a skinny, weak person for most of my life, I wanted to feel comfortable and confident in my own skin. Thanks to the BS found in magazines and other marketing tricks, I was convinced in my early years of training that I was only 30-60 days away from transforming. I thought I could “sprint” from where I was to where I wanted to be, and then I could settle back into a less crazy routine. Because I was in such a hurry to change from the “before” to the “after,” I would go ALL-IN on training and eating for a short period of time.
Unsurprisingly, this resulted in me burnt out or injured. If the changes did come, they didn’t stick for any long period of time due to “life getting in the way.”
It was only until I started of thinking of progress in “years and years” instead of “weeks and months” that my mentality finally shifted.
This was a tough pill to swallow. I had to put my “after” goals on hold, and instead just did what needed to get done every day. I had to change my mentality: there is no after, only “during.”
I initially thought “Ugh, Years!?! That’s gonna take too long.” And then I thought back to how little sustainable progress I had made in the previous 10 years and knew things needed to change. Today I look back and can’t be more relieved that I made this choice.
In two, five, or ten years, what choice do you wish you’d have made now? The one that puts you on a “30 day diet” or workout plan? Or one that instills changes for the long term?
There’s a reason why a recent study suggests that we’re doomed to stay fat: temporary diet changes and temporary workout plans don’t work!
If you want to change your appearance in the long term, your normal life (how you live every day) has to change. Every day you are building a new normal: a sustainable way of eating, sleeping, and exercising that gets you a tiny bit closer to where you want to be.
Want to know how I was finally able to make progress and transform my appearance after 11 years of actively trying to change it?
By NOT focusing on it so damn much!
For the past two years, I have cared less about what the scale says or how I look in a mirror, and instead put my focus on one thing: am I stronger and more badass today than yesterday? Am I doing better this week than last week? Every week for the past two years, I have followed a workout plan that is incrementally more difficult in a tiny way than the previous week.
For example, here’s my last five weeks of work on overhead presses:
Look how boring that is! Each week, I’m increasing this lift by ONE total repetition. After reaching a certain level, I’m adding just ONE pound to the bar (I bought these fractional plates so I can lift just one pound more).
The same goes for my deadlifts. Every week, I’m adding just one pound to my lift, before going for a 1-rep max once per month. For somebody that has splondylothesis, I used to think I’d never deadlift heavy again. In fact, I’ve had to yell at myself throughout this process to be patient and be okay with this pace. I knew that when I tried it the other way, progress just didn’t stick.
So despite the seemingly snail’s pace of progress, I’m now stronger than ever and almost at my epic quest goal of a 405 deadlift (here I am in November lifting 385 lbs (I’ve since hit 390 lbs.):
My progress on other movements is even tougher to see, but I’m now doing some really crazy and fun things like gymnastic rings work to muscle ups to front lever practice.
You see, appearance is a consequence of fitness. I just put my focus on getting stronger, and eating in a way to permanently, accomplish that goal daily. That “stronger” might be the teeniest of tiniest increments, but when done consistently, sustainably, over a long period of time… big permanent changes can result.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention another crucial reason why I was able to make sustained progress over the past two years: I made my health a priority. I wrote about “why you need to be selfish sometimes” on Nerd Fitness before.
After years of starting and stopping, blaming it on Nerd Fitness getting too busy, or life being too hectic, I finally put my foot down. I made two crucial decisions:
1) I stopped trying to go it alone. That’s right. The guy who runs Nerd Fitness stopped planning my own workouts! I found that when I had to program my own workouts, I would often skip the last few exercises that I just didn’t feel like doing. After all, who would notice! However, over the past two years I’ve been following workouts that have been created by somebody else, and I have to check in with that person! Suddenly I can’t use my old tired excuses, and I just do the work – after all, that’s why I pay for it!
If I miss a workout or take a week off “because life got busy,” I have somebody to answer to. It sucks, it’s embarrassing, and oftentimes this gets me to go to the gym when I’m tired or busy, and all these other bullshit excuses.
I think it’s why we have found so many people have found success with The Nerd Fitness Academy or Nerd Fitness Yoga – you value things differently when you invest your hard-earned money in them, and you actually DO the stuff when somebody else is telling you to do them. If you’re struggling to stay in shape, do you have somebody keeping you accountable? Do you have a workout plan to follow? Those two steps alone have change my life. Hat tip to my friend Anthony for creating my workouts for me!
2) I prioritized my health and fitness. Mostly, I stopped accepting excuses from myself, and stopped relying on motivation. Instead, I manufactured discipline in my life. I ruthlessly removed unnecessary time-wasting activities from my life and got better at managing my time. Here’s what I did:
You might be reading this and saying to yourself, “Ugh, Steve. I need to feel better now! I can’t wait two years!” Ask yourself, where were you two years ago? How different are you now compared to then?
Remember, you never really “arrive.”
If you’re hoping that getting to a certain pant size or seeing your abs will suddenly make you happy, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s the fitness equivalent of “if I just had a bigger house, I’d be happy.”
All photos of Nerd Fitness success stories are “before and during” shots. My photos here are “during” shots. I’m never going to get to a magical moment where I “made it,” so I stopped worrying about that moment. Instead, I’m just focused on being stronger and fitter today than yesterday, and eating in a way that helps me make that happen.
I have no idea where I’ll be two years from now. My goals might change. My lifestyle might change. So I’m not worried about it. Instead, I’m just worried about being better and stronger today than I was yesterday.
I’d love to hear from you:
What’s a longstanding mentality you’ve had that will change to help you find permanent growth and progress with your health and fitness?
How can you remind yourself daily of this new “identity?”
-Steve
PS: Have you created your free Nerd Fitness Character yet? Pick your class, track your quests and start leveling up your life…literally! This is all part of my new book, Level Up Your Life, but the character stuff is free to all members of the Rebellion!
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
If you have been on Pinterest for any amount of time, you may have come across the trendy apple rose design seen on cupcakes, pies, tarts, and more. It’s not hard to see the appeal of it, but I wanted to know: Is it really all that easy to do?
Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
As strength and conditioning coaches, most of us found our passion in the gym and on the playing field. We are masters of our physical craft, and can articulate the most complex training methodologies to anyone and everyone.
Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss
You’re behind the wheel of the most powerful machine on the planet: the human body. Has anybody taught you how to use it most effectively? No matter your sport, movement matters. Today I want to share how you can upgrade your body’s hardware and software. Think of it as the blueprint for better movement.
If this machine is going to run smoothly, we need to make sure all of its systems are functioning. But before we do that, we need to answer a fundamental question: what is movement?
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
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