Sunday, June 7, 2009
Porous with Travel Fever: Eating on the Road - what do you do?
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Many of us travel for business - whether frequently or infrequently. And many of us have strategies to deal with the anticipated Crappy Food at the Destination. Or sometimes worse: crappy food on the plane (or in the airport).
Here's an example: 8am breakie at the meeting will be bagels and cream cheese, with some fruit (if lucky). And i'll be honest with you - i only had the sauce for a ten minute body weight workout so not actually burning up the carbs in my system to require a carb reload, as per one of the nutrition habits of Precision Nutrition: starchy carbs after a workout only. (If you're not familiar with the Habit based approach to Nutrion that is PN, you can check it out here.)
Lunch will be more sandwiches. Now if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there may be wraps. "um, what's the protein for the vegheads?" "Oh, there isn't any; vegans don't eat protein" oh my. So there's veggies in the wrap but no protein.
Get back to the hotel after long day in a business district. THere is no green grocer in site and beyond that, do i (or you) have the vim and vigour to forage at what the body thinks is 3am? No, my friends, i in any case do not.
Coping Strategies
One thing i have found truly helpful is traveling with
a) protein powder
b) bcaa's
c) creatine
d) some kind of carb thing like malto/dextrose or cytomax - tho this isn't essential
e) flax seeds (there's often a fridge in the hotel room)
f) greens+ (again, fridge in hotel room)
g) shaker cup.
h) vitamins like a multi, a big fat d and algae/fish oil, maybe zma to help stay asleep
All of the above can fit into wee glad bags stuffed into the shaker cup, stuffed into a carry on. Fab. This set of fixers is great i find particularly later at night or before sleep if i'm getting hungry.
If you do have yogurt offered at breakie and can secret some of it up to your room fridge for the next day or later that day, stirring in some greens and flax see is kinda nice
It's grand to pack a lunch for a flight, but what to do going back? On long flights, raisins, nuts and Lindt chocolate can help for munchies and sometimes there are wraps available in airports - not always. Sometimes, it seems, one just has to suck it up and Eat a Sandwhich (sometimes in lieu of the disgusting in flight meal)
What do YOU do for food when you travel?
Those are some of my Travel Nutrition Survival Strategies.
What, b2d readers, are yours?
mc
en route from NY from one meeting to London for another, about to weep having forgotten the bag of nuts, raisins and critically, lindt 85% bar. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Many of us travel for business - whether frequently or infrequently. And many of us have strategies to deal with the anticipated Crappy Food at the Destination. Or sometimes worse: crappy food on the plane (or in the airport).Here's an example: 8am breakie at the meeting will be bagels and cream cheese, with some fruit (if lucky). And i'll be honest with you - i only had the sauce for a ten minute body weight workout so not actually burning up the carbs in my system to require a carb reload, as per one of the nutrition habits of Precision Nutrition: starchy carbs after a workout only. (If you're not familiar with the Habit based approach to Nutrion that is PN, you can check it out here.)
Lunch will be more sandwiches. Now if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there may be wraps. "um, what's the protein for the vegheads?" "Oh, there isn't any; vegans don't eat protein" oh my. So there's veggies in the wrap but no protein.
Get back to the hotel after long day in a business district. THere is no green grocer in site and beyond that, do i (or you) have the vim and vigour to forage at what the body thinks is 3am? No, my friends, i in any case do not.
Coping StrategiesOne thing i have found truly helpful is traveling with
a) protein powder
b) bcaa's
c) creatine
d) some kind of carb thing like malto/dextrose or cytomax - tho this isn't essential
e) flax seeds (there's often a fridge in the hotel room)
f) greens+ (again, fridge in hotel room)
g) shaker cup.
h) vitamins like a multi, a big fat d and algae/fish oil, maybe zma to help stay asleep
All of the above can fit into wee glad bags stuffed into the shaker cup, stuffed into a carry on. Fab. This set of fixers is great i find particularly later at night or before sleep if i'm getting hungry.
If you do have yogurt offered at breakie and can secret some of it up to your room fridge for the next day or later that day, stirring in some greens and flax see is kinda nice
It's grand to pack a lunch for a flight, but what to do going back? On long flights, raisins, nuts and Lindt chocolate can help for munchies and sometimes there are wraps available in airports - not always. Sometimes, it seems, one just has to suck it up and Eat a Sandwhich (sometimes in lieu of the disgusting in flight meal)
What do YOU do for food when you travel?
Those are some of my Travel Nutrition Survival Strategies.
What, b2d readers, are yours?
mc
en route from NY from one meeting to London for another, about to weep having forgotten the bag of nuts, raisins and critically, lindt 85% bar. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Renegade Row: dynamic strength and balance
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An exercise complex that has recently become a favorite of mine is the renegade row (with push up).
Why? Rows in general are great upper body workouts. Stuart McGill has recently done an article on rows comparing inverted, standing bent over and one arm cable rows for back activation patterns. They are powerful core workouts.
The renegade row is likely closest to the standing bent over row with a few differences - a biggie being balance/control of the weight.
The renegade row, is shown above with Power Blocks. For added strength/stability challenge, put your feet only shoulder width apart, and get out a couple of kettlebells. Why kb's? It takes a bit of extra coordination (ie muscles firing) to keep them steady. That means you're adding a wee bit of balance to the workload.
mc's Renegade Row Sequence
Just to review, here's how i do a renegade row sequence - it may vary from yours.
Pull Part
Push Part:
Now, other variants of this row are, pull left, push up, pull right. Personally, i find it more effective to focus on the pulls, L/R and then the pushes. Your mileage may vary.
Sequencing:
I like to EDT the renegade rows into a set with some lower body work. Somedays its goblet squats, or double KB front squats, or romanian single leg dl's or yesterday it was double kb single leg deadlifts for the lower body work. EDT means going for max sets of each pattern within 15 mins, using a 10RM weight going for only five reps.
Muscles Worked: why i love this excersise.
I love how this sequence makes me feel for the next few days:
A bit of Stability; A bit of Form; a bit of kalos sthenos (beautiful movement)
I also like the momentary loaded, dynamic balance / strength aspect of
Mr. mahler, pictured above, has his feet nice and close - shoulder width at most. He seems, however, to be torquing to the side here. I'd suggest stay more in the level plank and get the hand right up to the waist. You'll note the guy in the vid at the top of this story above doesn't torque but his feet are quite spread.
Get both these parts together and you'll be very pleased with yourself. For instance, take a look at this version: nice level trunk; feet only shoulder width apart; neutral neck position; no torquing on the up.
Now some folks what don't know better may say these are "sissy weights" pirctured, but they may want to reserve that appellation if they can't hold this form with their KB of choice themselves.
As you can see if you have given this sequence a go, it's not easy to get in this kind of dynamic upper body/trunk work, and the RR is way cool.
Practice staying tight (as pavel might say) in the core. You may want to practice doing planks first, or getting used to balancing in form on the bells and just bringing your hand up to your side while maintaining your plank form while one side is off the bell.
Challenging form: balance
I mention that we're working to hold balance when using the KB's rather than the very stable powerblocks. And for me that little bit of stabilization required is just right: not too much instability. What do i mean by "too much"?
Some times you'll see folks using medballs for their pushups - i'm not crazy for that much of a stability challenge - i personally don't test stronger after that; with kb's i do.
By "test stronger" - i mean something zhealth teaches: if you're wondering if a particular
form of an exercise is working for you, do a muscle test (you may need a partner for this) before the test; do the excercise; retest. If you're weaker, there may have been something saying to your nervous system that's not a happy thing.
Ok. what's a muscle test, since there are different ways this term is used. Here, it's pretty straight ahead: it's simply a test to see if your muscles are functioning properly. If you hold your arm up, and your wrist out in extension, i shouldn't readily be able to pull your hand down if everything is firing properly.
Another good example - testing hamstring strength: all's well, you standing with your hands on the wall, looking straight ahead, bent knee, i should have some good resistance pushing down on your calf. Indeed i shouldn't really be able to press a big guy's leg to the ground (as per me here, pushing on Kenneth Jay's calf as Mike Cheatham kindly plays "the wall" for this muscle test at the Denmark09 RKC). I've written before about this kind of thing with the arthrokinetic reflex.
So once you do this test, you may find that you test a little more weakly (muscle is overcome) in a test than before doing pushups on wobbly surface. This is going to get onto a whole jag about instability training, but why jump on a wobbly surface if, say, we have trouble keeping balance with one foot off the ground and we then turn our head sharply? give it a go - how'd you do? Try a few other sports positions and then turn your head (as you might in real life or in a sport); try them with your eyes closed and a good head turn.
Here's a great one: one foot in front of the other, toe touching heel. Stable, or surfer dude? Now close your eyes. More stable or more surfer?
That's our proprioceptive system working really hard since our balance comes from vision, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioception (the nerves in our joints ligaments and muscles saying where in space we are). Apparently 80% of that VVP load comes from the eyes. Take those away, you can give yourself a whole LOT of balance training very quickly.
So why not get good at that, in motion (we move in real life) before going for that wobble board or med ball or swiss ball?
So if you want to work balance, fabulous. get on one leg, turn your head. One leg, close your eyes, turn your head. When you're awesome at moving and balancing, go a bit squishier. Remember, the idea is not to be stable on a wobble board, but stable in motion.
A lot of studies about wobble board adaptations don't demonstrate translation OFF the board into real activities (note, we are NOT talking about swiss ball work in the context of rehab, but regularly fit folk doing their workouts on unstable surfaces.) Here's a great example: this is a super article at the sports injury bulletin on the relationship of the proprioceptive system's mix with the visual and vestibular for balance work. Once you finish the intro though, here comes the wobble stuff. Does it translate off the board?
McGill was one of the first to show that sitting on swiss balls doesn't actually help strengthen the low back. Likeiwise, this is eric cressey's beef with unstable surface training and athetics. All this bosu ball stuff - so what you can balance on one of these - what happens when you get off them? From the actual research Cressey's done, the answer is not alot to less than nothing. A fast muscle test pre and post will tell you the same thing.
At least the recommendations at the end of that sports injury bulletin article is to start balance training on stable surfaces; master that before adding any kind of load - and load can be doing sums while balancing - it doesn't have to be a wobble board (aside: these concepts are all very much part of the z health i phase certification, so if you're looking for a trainer sensitive to improving your atheltic performance in the real world, look for a zhealth trainer with I in the list of their certs).
Summary: Renegade Rows Rock.
Hmm. well. didn't expect a description of the renegade row to become a treatise on the evils of the bosu. The intent was to say, if you're looking for something new to challenge your workouts, the renegade row with its pull and push, done with kettlebells, and especially as part of an EDT upper/lower body set workout, can be simply awesome.
You'll love all the places you're aware of your muscles over the next few days. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Why? Rows in general are great upper body workouts. Stuart McGill has recently done an article on rows comparing inverted, standing bent over and one arm cable rows for back activation patterns. They are powerful core workouts.
The renegade row is likely closest to the standing bent over row with a few differences - a biggie being balance/control of the weight.
The renegade row, is shown above with Power Blocks. For added strength/stability challenge, put your feet only shoulder width apart, and get out a couple of kettlebells. Why kb's? It takes a bit of extra coordination (ie muscles firing) to keep them steady. That means you're adding a wee bit of balance to the workload.
mc's Renegade Row Sequence
Just to review, here's how i do a renegade row sequence - it may vary from yours.
Pull Part
- pull up one bell to belt line and belt height
- put it down
- pull up opposite side put it down
- repeat 5 times.
Push Part:
- follow the pull sets with 5 perfectly level push ups on the bell handles.
Now, other variants of this row are, pull left, push up, pull right. Personally, i find it more effective to focus on the pulls, L/R and then the pushes. Your mileage may vary.
Sequencing:
I like to EDT the renegade rows into a set with some lower body work. Somedays its goblet squats, or double KB front squats, or romanian single leg dl's or yesterday it was double kb single leg deadlifts for the lower body work. EDT means going for max sets of each pattern within 15 mins, using a 10RM weight going for only five reps.
Muscles Worked: why i love this excersise.
I love how this sequence makes me feel for the next few days:
- it hits the abs, but the obliques it seems in particular
- Lats are loved
- pecs can be quite buzzed
- traps and rhomboids of course get some attention.
- well it's the whole core, holding that plank, isn't it? (word doc about up/low core) - tall, neutral spine throughout.
A bit of Stability; A bit of Form; a bit of kalos sthenos (beautiful movement)
I also like the momentary loaded, dynamic balance / strength aspect of
- just staying stable with both hands on the bells - i think Mike Mahler who's Aggressive Strength hybrid EDT routines introduced me to this fab move once said don't do this with anything smaller than a 16k bell cuz the base of support is too small. Ha! i say. i use 12s.
- staying level in the trunk while pulling up on the bell - muscle control to stay planked and again keep stable on the balance hand/bell combo.
Mr. mahler, pictured above, has his feet nice and close - shoulder width at most. He seems, however, to be torquing to the side here. I'd suggest stay more in the level plank and get the hand right up to the waist. You'll note the guy in the vid at the top of this story above doesn't torque but his feet are quite spread.Get both these parts together and you'll be very pleased with yourself. For instance, take a look at this version: nice level trunk; feet only shoulder width apart; neutral neck position; no torquing on the up.
Now some folks what don't know better may say these are "sissy weights" pirctured, but they may want to reserve that appellation if they can't hold this form with their KB of choice themselves.As you can see if you have given this sequence a go, it's not easy to get in this kind of dynamic upper body/trunk work, and the RR is way cool.
Practice staying tight (as pavel might say) in the core. You may want to practice doing planks first, or getting used to balancing in form on the bells and just bringing your hand up to your side while maintaining your plank form while one side is off the bell.
Challenging form: balance
I mention that we're working to hold balance when using the KB's rather than the very stable powerblocks. And for me that little bit of stabilization required is just right: not too much instability. What do i mean by "too much"?
Some times you'll see folks using medballs for their pushups - i'm not crazy for that much of a stability challenge - i personally don't test stronger after that; with kb's i do.
By "test stronger" - i mean something zhealth teaches: if you're wondering if a particular
form of an exercise is working for you, do a muscle test (you may need a partner for this) before the test; do the excercise; retest. If you're weaker, there may have been something saying to your nervous system that's not a happy thing.Ok. what's a muscle test, since there are different ways this term is used. Here, it's pretty straight ahead: it's simply a test to see if your muscles are functioning properly. If you hold your arm up, and your wrist out in extension, i shouldn't readily be able to pull your hand down if everything is firing properly.
Another good example - testing hamstring strength: all's well, you standing with your hands on the wall, looking straight ahead, bent knee, i should have some good resistance pushing down on your calf. Indeed i shouldn't really be able to press a big guy's leg to the ground (as per me here, pushing on Kenneth Jay's calf as Mike Cheatham kindly plays "the wall" for this muscle test at the Denmark09 RKC). I've written before about this kind of thing with the arthrokinetic reflex.
So once you do this test, you may find that you test a little more weakly (muscle is overcome) in a test than before doing pushups on wobbly surface. This is going to get onto a whole jag about instability training, but why jump on a wobbly surface if, say, we have trouble keeping balance with one foot off the ground and we then turn our head sharply? give it a go - how'd you do? Try a few other sports positions and then turn your head (as you might in real life or in a sport); try them with your eyes closed and a good head turn.Here's a great one: one foot in front of the other, toe touching heel. Stable, or surfer dude? Now close your eyes. More stable or more surfer?
That's our proprioceptive system working really hard since our balance comes from vision, vestibular (inner ear) and proprioception (the nerves in our joints ligaments and muscles saying where in space we are). Apparently 80% of that VVP load comes from the eyes. Take those away, you can give yourself a whole LOT of balance training very quickly.
So why not get good at that, in motion (we move in real life) before going for that wobble board or med ball or swiss ball?
So if you want to work balance, fabulous. get on one leg, turn your head. One leg, close your eyes, turn your head. When you're awesome at moving and balancing, go a bit squishier. Remember, the idea is not to be stable on a wobble board, but stable in motion.
A lot of studies about wobble board adaptations don't demonstrate translation OFF the board into real activities (note, we are NOT talking about swiss ball work in the context of rehab, but regularly fit folk doing their workouts on unstable surfaces.) Here's a great example: this is a super article at the sports injury bulletin on the relationship of the proprioceptive system's mix with the visual and vestibular for balance work. Once you finish the intro though, here comes the wobble stuff. Does it translate off the board?
McGill was one of the first to show that sitting on swiss balls doesn't actually help strengthen the low back. Likeiwise, this is eric cressey's beef with unstable surface training and athetics. All this bosu ball stuff - so what you can balance on one of these - what happens when you get off them? From the actual research Cressey's done, the answer is not alot to less than nothing. A fast muscle test pre and post will tell you the same thing.
At least the recommendations at the end of that sports injury bulletin article is to start balance training on stable surfaces; master that before adding any kind of load - and load can be doing sums while balancing - it doesn't have to be a wobble board (aside: these concepts are all very much part of the z health i phase certification, so if you're looking for a trainer sensitive to improving your atheltic performance in the real world, look for a zhealth trainer with I in the list of their certs).
Summary: Renegade Rows Rock.
Hmm. well. didn't expect a description of the renegade row to become a treatise on the evils of the bosu. The intent was to say, if you're looking for something new to challenge your workouts, the renegade row with its pull and push, done with kettlebells, and especially as part of an EDT upper/lower body set workout, can be simply awesome.
You'll love all the places you're aware of your muscles over the next few days. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Vibram Five Fingers Free Foot Massage
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This weekend, found another asset to wearing Vibram Five Fingers. I've written about how in my experience, they, along with z health, improve gait and are great for getting through airport security without shoe removal. This weekend i also discovered another bonus: foot massage when walking on gravel.
That's right: VFF's afford a great foot massage when walking on stones.
There was a pile of stones/gravel around where i was working this weekend, and just standing, walking around IN the stones felt FABULOUS. It was like a free foot massage. I've started looking out for gravel pathways for the experience, and figuring out optimal stone types for the best foot work.
I felt pretty lucky, actually: all these folks where i was walking around the same stuff and likely missing the benefits of connecting foot to path.
It reminded me again how much fun it is to explore with one's feet, and how close, when doing so, off the beaten path can be.
Added Bonus:
For some great inspiring photos and tales of VFF, please check out Justin Owings beuatifully designed birthdayshoes.com site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
That's right: VFF's afford a great foot massage when walking on stones.
There was a pile of stones/gravel around where i was working this weekend, and just standing, walking around IN the stones felt FABULOUS. It was like a free foot massage. I've started looking out for gravel pathways for the experience, and figuring out optimal stone types for the best foot work.
I felt pretty lucky, actually: all these folks where i was walking around the same stuff and likely missing the benefits of connecting foot to path.
It reminded me again how much fun it is to explore with one's feet, and how close, when doing so, off the beaten path can be.
Added Bonus:
For some great inspiring photos and tales of VFF, please check out Justin Owings beuatifully designed birthdayshoes.com site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Monday, May 18, 2009
10K Lean Eating Challenge with Precision Nutrition.
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Folks who read b2d may know i'm a fan/adherent of Precision Nutrition (see reviews listed to the right of this post) - along with folks here i respect a lot: RD Georgie Fea and Z Master Trainer Mike T Nelson.
Just FYI: 10k Prize for sensible eating transformation?
Well, ok, i'm not much of a contest person, but goals can be powerful motivation. So John Berardi of PN is running his body transformation challenge again via a special coaching program called Lean Eating. The new lean eating program will open May 26.
if you're interested in leaning up, possibly winning 10k from a *sensible* body transformation, and getting some one on one time with Berardi's lean eating team, signing up for the new Lean Eating Challenge, *may* be the most cost effective way to get that Work with a Trainer's edge to move towards your goal.
For more info, here's a video explaining the challenge
Worst case, 6 months of super nutrition training and support - customized for you.
I mention this because last year, the program actually sold out pretty much the moment it was announced, so this time, they're taking names for the program on i think a first come first served basis.
So if you're interested in this kind of hands on help, by all means put in your name while you consider further, but especially if you know someone you think may benefit from some support and training, well thar ya go.
again, just fyi...
all the best,
mc
in yet another airport lounge... Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Just FYI: 10k Prize for sensible eating transformation?
Well, ok, i'm not much of a contest person, but goals can be powerful motivation. So John Berardi of PN is running his body transformation challenge again via a special coaching program called Lean Eating. The new lean eating program will open May 26.
if you're interested in leaning up, possibly winning 10k from a *sensible* body transformation, and getting some one on one time with Berardi's lean eating team, signing up for the new Lean Eating Challenge, *may* be the most cost effective way to get that Work with a Trainer's edge to move towards your goal.
For more info, here's a video explaining the challenge
Worst case, 6 months of super nutrition training and support - customized for you.
I mention this because last year, the program actually sold out pretty much the moment it was announced, so this time, they're taking names for the program on i think a first come first served basis.
So if you're interested in this kind of hands on help, by all means put in your name while you consider further, but especially if you know someone you think may benefit from some support and training, well thar ya go.
again, just fyi...
all the best,
mc
in yet another airport lounge... Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Myth Busting: Women are afraid of "bulking up" in working out - not!
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After reading a variety of posts on forums asserting that women are afraid of bulking up, i've been running a survey this past week of gals who do workout in whatever form they define "workout" to see if actual women hold these views - or if this assertion is just one more urban legend.
(update 1, below)
so far there have been 28 respondents to the following 3 positions:
1. i adjust my workouts deliberately to avoid muscular "bulk"
2. i adjust my workouts at least some of the time deliberately to achieve some "bulk"
3. i don't think about "bulk" at all when i do my workouts
Responses
1. only 1 person
2. 11 gals
3. 16 gals
So, 40% picked that they DO go for bulk deliberately at least some of the time, while a whopping 57% (who also commented that they lift heavy) don't think about bulk one way or the other when they design their programs they "just want to get strong," or fast, and only 3% said they are concerned to make sure they won't induce bulk from their workouts.
That's a pretty significant inversion of the assumptions that have been expressed like some kind of truth about women's attitudes towards working out.
I'll update after another week if the numbers start to change, but i hope from this tiny sample at least some assumptions about "women" and their views of working out might get updated in folks' heads.
UPDATE 1:
response so far from a few of the gentlemen of good will who have seen this:
Update 2: (may 31, 09)
Since the results haven't changed for a week, here's the latest numbers on the the straw poll survey: of 52 respondents, 88% either don't care or from time to time deliberately do try to "bulk"
Fascinating again.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
(update 1, below)
so far there have been 28 respondents to the following 3 positions:
1. i adjust my workouts deliberately to avoid muscular "bulk"
2. i adjust my workouts at least some of the time deliberately to achieve some "bulk"
3. i don't think about "bulk" at all when i do my workouts
Responses
1. only 1 person
2. 11 gals
3. 16 gals
So, 40% picked that they DO go for bulk deliberately at least some of the time, while a whopping 57% (who also commented that they lift heavy) don't think about bulk one way or the other when they design their programs they "just want to get strong," or fast, and only 3% said they are concerned to make sure they won't induce bulk from their workouts.That's a pretty significant inversion of the assumptions that have been expressed like some kind of truth about women's attitudes towards working out.
I'll update after another week if the numbers start to change, but i hope from this tiny sample at least some assumptions about "women" and their views of working out might get updated in folks' heads.
UPDATE 1:
response so far from a few of the gentlemen of good will who have seen this:
- must be a special group of women i surveyed, like just uni athletes or "women who know better" or "non advanced women athletes" or not the women a fellow sees in the gym who aren't "working out to their potential."
- These fellers make general statements about "women" of some class/group/category despite citing resources - but a sort of implicit reference to "common knowledge" which seems to be more persuasive than the actual data presented here (and by their own female peers).
- They resonate with the other 97% of women who participated in the survey - they either don't care themselves about adding visible muscle or not, or are into getting some muscle mass.
- These women have not generalized to knowledge of other women or "women" as a general class beyond knowledge of themselves or peers with whom they've deliberately discussed the matter.
Update 2: (may 31, 09)
Since the results haven't changed for a week, here's the latest numbers on the the straw poll survey: of 52 respondents, 88% either don't care or from time to time deliberately do try to "bulk"
Fascinating again.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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