20 Rep squat challenge - go 5# heavier than last time
last week= Dot- 75#, Linda- 95#, Su- 95#, Mo - 85#, Jan - 80#
Conditioning WOD: 4 Rounds
12 Deadlift (heavy)
21 wall ball
Run 200
12 Thrusters (heavy)
21 ball slams
Run 200
* continued from yesterday.....
More Tips For Weight Loss:
21. Drink a full glass of water before each meal
You will feel full faster and eat less as a result.
22. Eat your protein before your carbs and fat
Protein is very satiating and will fill you up fast.
23. Eat a bit of healthy fat 15 minutes before each meal
Fat curbs appetite and triggers the release of hormones that let you know that you are full. You can kickstart these hormones by nibbling on some nuts or dark chocolate before the your meals.
24. Eat hot and hearty soups and stews
Soups and stews are filling. Eat them HOT and slow (prevents overeating).
25. Sprint
Fast, intense, full-body exercise like sprinting has insane thermogenic and
EPOC effects on the body. Basically, it turns your body into a calorie-burning furnace. Sprinting also builds massive muscle (compare a pic of a sprinter to a marathon runner…
scary).
26. Make things difficult for yourself (on purpose)
Why would you ever do this? So you can move more, DUH! Moving burns calories!
27. Buy some Chuck Taylors or ReeBok Olys
You will lift more. The more weight you move, the more calories you burn and more muscle you build.
28. Drink green tea
Full of antioxidants and a bit of caffeine, both good for fat burning.
29. Chew a few extra chews each mouthful
Chewing has been linked to improvement in digestion and breakdown of food through the release of the saliva enzymes amylase (starch breakdown) and lipase (fat breakdown).
30. Drink black coffee (in moderation)
Coffee offers many benefits to the body, one of which is fat burning, but there are some caveats. You should drink black and organic if possible (or try
Bulletproof coffee, it’s amazing). Only buy the best Coffee beans, they are one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world.
31. Take a digestive enzyme, probiotic, and/or eat fermented food regularly
These products improve gut health and digestion. The better you digest your food the better it is utilized in the body and the less likely it is to be converted into adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is FAT ladies and gentlemen, the jiggley, cellulitely, unpleasant kind of fat.
32. Perform heavy, complex, functional movements
Anything that trains the body as a whole is going to eat up calories for fuel. If you are stuck in isolation-land, I implore you to start picking up, carrying, and moving heavy shit on a regular basis. Go big and compound or go home.
33. Avoid liquid food
And yes, that includes protein shakes. You should avoid liquid calories in any form if you are trying to lose weight. We know that drinking calories produce a large insulin shake. We also know that insulin is a storage hormone that signals our body to store calories. Well, do you know where calories get stored? Yup, fat cells.
Disclaimer: if you drink a shake in lieu of eating a meal, then I say it’s not that bad as long as you keep it simple and low-carb. Avoid those 500-calorie oat, peanut butter, and fruit smoothie concoctions (those are for weight gain). If it keeps you from eating shit and you want to drink a shake, then stick with water/whey and drink them slow..
34. Skip the condiments
How did I lose 10 pounds and finally carve out my abs after 2 years of frustration? Dropping ketchup (I also nixed milk). I used to drown my chicken breasts in ketchup; they were swimming. Eliminating this single product allowed me to bust through a stubborn plateau.
Store bought condiments are filled with sugar and other processed crap. There is no reason include them in your diet, especially considering how easy it is to substitute with homemade or organic options. These seemingly small changes are what separates those that have abs and those who don’t.
35. Drink lots of water
You don’t need to drink as much water as the pundits would have you believe, but for reducing cravings and making us feel full more often, water can be useful. Listen to your thirst; it’s there for a reason.
36. Think hard – Use your brain
Your brain’s primary fuel source is glucose, so obviously it is beneficial to use up as much of it as possible so there isn’t any leftover to be stored as fat.
37. Perform Tabata intervals
A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Pick a movement (Air squat for example) and start a timer. Perform as many air squats in 20 seconds as possible, then rest. Go again after 10 seconds of rest. Repeat until 4 minutes is up and 8 rounds have been completed. The Tabata Interval is a brutal, effective, and simple exercise.
38. Replace soda, juice, sweet tea with a soda water and lime (sparkling and seltzer also work)
This is how my sister and I weaned off soda (a long time ago mind you). It allowed us satisfy that craving for carbonation without the calories or sugar. You can even fake it at the club with a soda water and lime—you will still look super-cool and no one will know you are sipping carbonated water.
39. Do NOTHING
Relieve stress by turning off your brain and laying around like a fat-lazy
Jabba the Hutt. This is something some of us do well (or too much) and others do terribly (never relax).
Examples of doing nothing include: watching mindless TV, movies, people watching, lying on the beach, napping.
40. Take naps
Sleep is one of the top 5 techniques to living a healthy life. Naps consist of sleep. Thus naps do a body good (milk does not).
41. Get social
Humans are social animals and have thrived as a species by staying together. The benefits of enjoying time with friends and family are enormous. Anything that improves happiness can also help you lose weight by reducing stress.
42. Fast before you train and/or after you train
The longer you go without food in your body the more you will burn stored fat. Training increases your body’s need for fuel and as a result it will utilize stored fat calories if there is a lack of glucose in your blood stream. Fasting helps with this. You should also fast after training from time to time; mix it up between a post-workout shake and a regular meal with plenty of starchy carbs.
43. Watch your carb intake
This includes sugar, rice, potatoes, fruit, and grains (hopefully no grains). Even good carbs can become bad if you eat too much of them.
44. Take ZMA before bed (Zinc, Magnesium & Vitamin B-6)
ZMA is hands down my favorite supplement. Not only does magnesium aid in weight loss and a host of other body functions, but it improves sleep as well. You will sleep deeper, fuller, and longer. This should be a standard supplement in everyone’s program.
45. Do Crossfit
Seriously, everyone can and should do some form of Crossfit. You can do more WODs, Less WODs, strength-bias, endurance-bias, gymnastics-bias, powerlifting-bias, etc. It is great for GPP (general Physical Preparedness), and it results in a sexy bod.
46. Utilize active-rest days
Those days where you can barely walk and your back feels like a giant bruise (I heart that feeling) are days that you should avoid training. This is the perfect time for an active rest day.
An active rest day can look like: work mobility, do some light rowing and jogging, work on Oly technique with an empty barbell, foam roll, stretch, etc.
Go at a slow and easy, yet deliberate, pace. This will improve recovery, reduce stress on your body, help recover your CNS, and get your body moving. This also improves fat burning and muscle building.
47. Opt for gluten-free hard cider over gluten-filled beer and opt for liquor+soda water over sugar-filled mix drinks
Beer and mixed drinks are the Antichrist to your abs. A long island ice tea has 780 calories and about 40 grams of sugar. I used to drink those [Smacks forehead].
48. Avoid artificial sweeteners
This includes Splenda, aspartame, and other ‘naturally flavored’ sweeteners. Sweeteners spike your insulin levels because your brain can’t tell the difference between them and sugar. Thus the body response ends up being the same. They also might cause cancer. It just makes sense to avoid them. *Stevia is ok but I would still go light with it.
49. Don’t overtrain
Avoid overtraining at all costs. It saps weight-loss efforts and promotes fat-gain via the huge amounts of cortisol release that causes havoc in your body. Read
“8 Signs You Are Overtraining”
50. Plan ahead/pack a lunch
The best way to avoid falling off the wagon and eating junk is to be prepared. Always have something healthy with you. One-pot, crockpot, and large roasts are great for making a bunch of meals for the week.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Case in point: French's 100% Natural Classic Yellow Mustard. The ingredients of French's mustard are refreshingly simple:
