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Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

I have a friend who has dignosed himself as “borderline obese” based on his BMI. I look at him and see a thriving person who eats well and likes to lift. The fact that his classification is technically correct is the result of an inadequate definition.

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Sometimes I think being such a food-lover makes my cooking more complicated than it needs to be. I’ll always think those cookies would have a little more depth if I browned the butter, or those tacos would be even better if I pickled the onions. Sometimes I think about making lasagna, but then I’d have to make fresh pasta, homemade sauce, a bechamel … ack, nevermind.

But if there’s one dish I’ve kept simple, it’s roast chicken. I forgo most of the advice commonly passed around on the subject and never feel like I’m missing a thing. It’s one of the few dinners that’s just as great for what I didn’t do as what I did do.

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Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/

Today is a really cool day for me and Team Nerd Fitness, as I get to make two massive announcements.

This first announcement is about our flagship program, the Nerd Fitness Academy. 

For those who don’t know, The Academy is an online, self-paced course and fitness “quest” tracking system with over 20,000 students from every corner of the globe. We’re proud of it!

For the past six months, we’ve been diligently working on our 3rd massive Nerd Fitness Academy overhaul, and I’m fired up to tell you all about it. Our previous update brought a questing system (so you can level up by completing fitness missions) and an uber supportive private community.

This new update is even bigger! Here are some of the recent things people have said:

The new updates were a lot of energy and effort – but these posts make it all worth it! We’re excited to see current members digging in and using the updates to get results.

*****

NOTE: This is the final week to get the Nerd Fitness Academy at its initial low price. This Friday at 11:59pm EST, we are increasing the price from $99 to $179.

So if you are on the fence, join this week to save 45%. The Academy is a one-time payment which grants access for life.

*****

I was so excited to share the new changes with you – I did something a little silly.

I sat down and recorded myself talking about the updates (and making nerdy jokes) inside my apartment in NYC. I then proceeded to spend a good 15 hours editing this myself, while just laughing maniacally the whole time. (It’s healthy to laugh at your own jokes, right?)

Click the image below to see me make a fool of myself, while walking through every single section of the NEW Nerd Fitness Academy.

(By the way If you’re already a NF Academy member, make sure you log into your account – you have received all these updates already completely free. Woot!)

Anyways, since launching the Nerd Fitness Academy in 2013, we’ve helped 20,000+ members change their lives, build a healthier relationship with food, find an amazing support group, get stronger, and look in the mirror with pride.

The support of NF Academy Members with each other is nothing short of amazing. This is also the third time we’ve overhauled and updated the Academy (with all updates free to all previous students).

We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for those in the Rebellion, and we heard two major questions from students over and over:

• What workout should I start with?
• How do I know when I should level up to the next workout?

Although we provided people with a ton of workout plans, the questions were valid – if we couldn’t tell you specifically what to do and when to do it, there could be room for confusion. So we set out to fix that.

Thus, we made four MAJOR changes to the NF Academy:

1. We added all-new workout routines designed by Jim Bathurst, NF’s Master of the Fitness Universe, and 10 boss battles that let you know when you’re able to level up from one routine to the next. Yes, our boss battles involve names like Overlord Thundersquat and Captain Jacked Sparrow. These workouts have all been designed with NF ideals in mind by our resident fitness expert Jim Bathurst (more details about our new guru below).
2. 87 new multi-angle, high-definition videos demonstrating each movement. If you’ve ever wondered how to do a movement, Jim talks you through the movement and gives you pointers to remember while Staci demonstrates how to modify a movement to make it easier or more challenging.
3. The Academy Benchmark Test: If you have ever wondered which workout to start with or what you should be doing, simply follow the instructions on our workout calibration test and it’ll tell you exactly what workout to start with! No thinking – just doing!
4. A vastly improved mobile experience. We’ve redesigned the NF Academy’s mobile experience. If you’re somebody who wants to quickly access information or a workout from your phone at the gym, it’s easier now than ever before.

While we have thousands of testimonials and Rebel stories from around the world of The Academy changing people’s life – we don’t want to sit back and take anything for granted.

We don’t charge existing Academy members a dime for all these updates or new workouts, videos, benchmark tests, boss battles, and new navigation… instead we gladly give it to everyone for free to help them level up even easier (and in many cases having a lot more fun!).

If you aren’t a member of the Nerd Fitness Academy, it’s available for a single payment (or 3 monthly payments), with lifetime access for everything.

We’re so proud of what we built and I am confident that these workouts, the advice, and the amazing support group will be enough to help you get the lifelong results you want, permanently. No quick fixes, no 30-day rushes…

Just a healthier, stronger, and leveled up life.

With the NF Academy being upgraded fully three times, we’ll be raising the price this Friday, June 10th, at 11:59pm EST. The price is nearly doubling this week, so don’t wait too long if you want to check it out.

Click here to check out the new and improved Academy – with brand new workouts and boss battles.

If you haven’t already joined us, give it a try and let’s talk about this on the other side (inside the academy!). There’s a 100% 60-day money-back guarantee if you don’t immediately get into action and see improvements.

The Rebellion is Growing all over!

Whether or not you join the 20,000 rebels inside the Nerd Fitness Academy, there are a ton of things to look forward to here at Nerd Fitness. In case you haven’t got a chance to meet Jim Bathurst at Camp Nerd Fitness, where’s he’s been our head trainer the past two years, he’s now the Master of the Fitness Universe on Team Nerd Fitness:

Jim has 10 years experience in Personal Training and CrossFit, where he was voted Best Personal Trainer in DC, was Director of CrossFit Foggy Bottom which was voted best CrossFit Gym in DC, and internationally requested to give gymnastic seminars due to his gymnastic tutorial site BeastSkills.com. He’s competed in both Powerlifting and Olympic Lifting competitions and used to flip through hoops of fire on the University of Maryland’s Gymkana troupe.

In addition to more planned updates coming to the NF Academy, we have a ton of new free updates coming to NerdFitness.com and the same goofy, informative content you’ve come to expect. We’ll be bringing some updates to all members of the Rebellion in the future that I can’t wait to share with you, including free quests for your NF character!

I hope to see you in the new Nerd Fitness Academy, and I can’t wait to hear your success story. Nothing makes me happier than sharing stories like these:

Thank you for being part of the Rebellion, and thanks for reading this far. I’m excited to see what other awesome tools we can build for you to give you a power-up on your journey to a healthier life.

For the Rebellion!!!!

-Steve Kamb and Team NF

PS: In case you just skip to the bottom of these things because I get too wordy (guilty), go check out all of the new kick-ass stuff in the Nerd Fitness Academy, our flagship course that has 20,000+ members leveling up their lives and completing quests!

If you want to join us soon, do so before Friday at 11:59pm EST when we’ll be increasing the price from $99 to $179.

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For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions from readers. First concerns an alternative form of a food I’ve always urged people to consume: small dried whole fish. Are the omega-3s still viable after the drying process? Next, pullups are a fantastic exercise that everyone with the ability should perform, but not everyone has access to a pullup bar. What other exercises can you do to approximate, if not altogether replace, the humble pullup? And finally, in previous posts I’ve mentioned the potential health benefits of regular blood donation for men. Does the same apply to women? After all, they already “donate” blood on a regular basis through menstruation. What about post-menopausal women?

Let’s go:

Hello Mr. Sisson,

I live in Japan and have ample access to a wide variety of fish. The problem is that a lot of it is farm-raised, and I want to stick with smaller fish that have fewer heavy metals in them. I can find a lot of dried smaller fish, like infant sardines, with no added ingredients. Just boiled in salt water and dried. And I like eating the whole fish because of the calcium and other nutrients from the bones. My question is — do these dried fish provide any of the beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids that their fresh counterparts do? Thank you.

There’s probably going to be some degradation of the fats, as happens with any form of processing, whether it’s cooking, canning, smoking, even freezing. Let’s look at what happens to the omega-3s in dried, smoked salmon—one of the more studied fish. This should give us a decent idea of how the omega-3s in small dried fish should respond.

A 2009 study found that smoking salmon at 95 degrees Celsius made the fish fats even more oxidatively stable than fresh salmon, with a lower peroxide value, fewer TBARS, and fewer free fatty acids.

Separating a food into its constituent parts increases each part’s susceptibility to degradation. Olive oil is less stable than whole olives, for example. That your dried fish are whole is a huge positive. The omega-3s in whole dried fish are protected by “nature’s packaging.” The salmon from above were filets rather than whole fish, and their omega-3s still remained whole. I’m confident the omega-3s in your dried sardines will be just fine.

But small dried fish without added ingredients are an incredible source of other nutrients, not just the omega-3s. Take whole dried smelt, another small fatty fish low on the food chain. They’re full of vitamin B12, iron, magnesium, protein, calcium, and selenium. It’s a great thing to eat, and sardines should be very similar.

Whenever you can eat the whole animal, do it. You’re not just eating this piece of tissue or that organ or this cross section of muscle. You’re eating the entire thing. However small it is, eating an entire animal provides a wider range of nutrients. Always say yes to the whole animal, whether it’s a freezer full of dismembered cow or an oyster.

I don’t have a pull-up/chin-up bar. Is there anything else I can do to substitute this area of your exercises?

Oh, yes.

Grab a set of gymnastics rings. You can string them up over anything that will hold your weight. Support beam running across your ceiling that’s too high to grab for pullups but reachable with a ladder? Throw the rings up and do pullups on those.

Do bodyweight rows underneath a table. Pullups are incredible, but the real key is pulling. You don’t have to do vertical pulling. Horizontal pulls are just as useful. And I bet you have a table. Just make sure it’s sturdy enough to support your pulling. Put your legs up on a chair to increase the difficulty; keep them on the ground to make it easier.

Fingertip pullups. If you can find a couple inches of ledge overhead, you can do pullups. It won’t be easy. You won’t be able to do as many as you can on a bar. But your fingers will get strong right alongside your lats, biceps, and torso. After a few months of fingertip pullups, standard-issue pullups will be a breeze.

Inverted hand plank. Some folks call this the bicep plank. It’s exactly what it sounds like: get in the plank position with hands flat on the floor, only turn them so that your fingers are pointing toward your feet and the inside of your wrists face in front of you.

Band pulls. Attach the band to a sturdy support about waist height. Bend over at the hips until your torso is parallel to the ground. Clutch the band overhead and pull toward your body. Sort of a sideways pullup.

None of these will totally replace the pullup, though. Do your best to get your hands on a horizontal overhead bar.

Mark! Hi there. I’ll get right to it. I have read that giving blood a couple of times per year is good for the body for a number of reasons. Do you agree? Can you expound on this? Is it the same for women and men since we bleed every month and you guys don’t? Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom and experience!

Lauren C.

Before menopause, you don’t need to give blood for health reasons. Men have no real way to shed excess iron, but menstruating women do.  You can still donate blood for humanitarian reasons, of course. Just make sure to get regular tests to monitor your iron levels. Anemia is a real thing, and studies indicate that women experience more adverse reactions to blood donation than men.

Once menopause rolls around, all bets are off. You’re no longer shedding iron each month. Like men, you’re accumulating it. Some researchers have proposed. The drop in estrogen gets the most attention and blame for menopause symptoms, but estrogen has a concurrent and inverse relationship to iron in post-menopausal women. As estrogen declines, iron goes up. Is this a problem? Probably:

Menopause increases the storage of iron in skin, likely accelerating its aging and wrinkling, and perhaps responsible for the increased incidence of dermatosis.

Elevated iron levels may increase the risk of atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome in post-menopausal women, but not in pre-menopausal women.

Excess iron accelerates bone loss in middle-aged men and post-menopausal women.

I was unable to find any trials testing the health effects of blood donation in post-menopausal women, but it’s quite beneficial for men. Might be worth a shot if your iron levels are elevated.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading!

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Gnocchi Skillet with Chicken Sausage & Tomatoes

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Summer produce is in full swing, and we couldn’t be happier. Even if we don’t want to spend a ton of time over a hot stove when it’s warm out, we still want to make the most of the season’s bounty. Plus, we’re always happy to fire up the grill when it’s nice outside. These 22 recipes are like a master class in tomatoes, sweet corn, berries, stone fruits, and more. Time to get cooking.

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Don’t think pineapple is the only fruit that gets to have all the fun when it comes to upside-down cakes. Here, a sparkling combination of inky sweet blackberries and tender nectarines gives a classic yellow cake a jewel-toned finish. If you’re due to bring a summery dessert to an office party or barbecue, you’ll want to save this recipe for just that.

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From Apartment Therapy → 5 Things You Need to Get Rid Of in Your First Grown-Up Apartment

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A staple at practically every summer barbecue, potato salad is a safe bet if you’re looking to bring a simple side dish. But if you want to lighten things up a bit, you should make this twist on the starchy classic. Can you guess what the star ingredient is? Hint: It’s not potato.

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This month marks the beginning of berry season, which may be our very favorite time of year. First come strawberries, which we’re popping like candy, slicing up and putting on top of our morning yogurt, or layering with whipped cream and cake for a towering dessert that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Cherries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries are on their way and we’re anticipating their arrival with berry-hued plates, cups, and serving pieces. They’re the perfect way to add a splash of color to your dinner table. Plus, they look great with plain white dinnerware, too. And while berry season is fleeting, these pieces are good year-round.

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