Fitness Family

Here a quick idea that I do with my fiancé and our puppy. (no the puppy doesn't actually do anything) This can be modified to fit any interval style workout.

Before I get started, this post isn't because I think it's a highly original idea or anything like that. The point is really to help people realize that just because you have real jobs, a wife, kids, and pets, doesn't mean you can't exercise. When in reality you can workout and bond with your loved ones in the process.

Since our puppy is still too young for strenuous activity, we do interval style workouts where one person holds him while the other person runs a lap, or a set of stairs, or an exercise...depending on the workout.

The latest one we did was that simple. It was a stair workout. She held the pup while I ran a set, and I held the pup while she ran a set. We had a great time and it was in a public place so the puppy enjoyed ever second of it as he got smothered with attention.

If one of you is in much better shape than the other, then during you "rest," spend it doing an exercise like pushups, or bodyweight squats.

Eating Healthy: Quick Tip

Just a quick little piece of advice to any readers who are attempting to eat healthier.

Try to avoid processed sugars.

You'll be surprised by how differently you eat when you take the time to read labels and avoid these sugars. Most people have no idea how unhealthy they eat. "But I bought it in the organic section at the grocery store." "But it's tea."

But, but nothin. Take the time to read the labels. Put an honest 100% effort into eating foods with no processed sugar for one week. You're mind just might be blown. It's everywhere!

New to Exercise and Fitness? Where to Start

Lately I've been falling short in my fitness endeavors. Missing workouts and slacking when I do work out. While I am by no means new to the fitness game, these recent weeks (dare I say months) have given me more insight to being a beginner than ever before.

I'm not going to pretend like I understand the psychological struggles of trying to get into fitness for the first time in your life, or in a very long time. But I have learned quite a bit about approaching fitness once taking a considerable amount of time off.

Recently, I've made the frustrating error of returning to lifting with the same thought process as I left it. Unfortunately my body wasn't in the same kind of shape I thought it was, and now I'm limited by "injuries" or aches. That being said my first piece of advice for someone getting into fitness is to start slow....and I mean VERY slow. Physically you might be able to push up more weight in your squats, but when starting out, take it slow and increase your repetitions. Get used to being in a squat (for example) and stretch out those muscles for a couple weeks before pushing for weight.

This is a great time I your life to discover what is going to work best for you. Perhaps lifting isn't your thing. Maybe it's swimming. Maybe it's running, or climbing, or any number of sports. Take your time and experiment with different sports and through this adventure you'll find yourself living a more active lifestyle, which is really going to help, no matter where you are headed.

This will also help you not get burned out too fast. Variety is a great thing, and I personally have experienced get benefits of being involved with different sports. For example, currently, my right quad hurts when I engage it with much more than my bodyweight, but thankfully I don't only lift, and this is a great opportunity to focus on my climbing while my legs heal.

For most people this is all very redundant. But if you are actually reading this with a true interest in getting into fitness...my only real advice is to get out there and try things.

Momma Doesn't Always Know Best

As of late the pressure of life has prevented me from posting much of anything on this blog. That being said, I have a list of things I've been thinking about day after day as I listen to the people around me.

Common trend provoking this post: You just don't know bro!

I hear things almost every day regarding diet and exercise that drive me crazy! Why? Because people just don't how unhealthy their habits are, despite attempting to be healthy. I'll try to skim over my current pet-peeves for now and save the rest for later posts, but the main point of this post is to remind people that a little research goes a long way.

Which brings me to my first point...
       Just because your momma said it was healthy don't make it so. Ideas about health have evolved drastically over the years and thankfully old trends are dying. Case in point, people from our parents generation (born in the 50's-70's) knew very little about nutrition compared to what we know now. Credit that likely falls to the internet and the current health and fitness boom we are currently entering due to the availability of knowledge. So, you think you know something about health? Seriously, for your own good, go online and do some research regarding you current fitness goals and form your own opinion.

Current pet-peeve:

• Health isn't based around calories! 100 calories of Oreo's will never be healthy, I don't care who you ask. Calorie counting should be well calculated around your fitness goals. For the average person, avoiding excessive consumption and eating a well balanced diet will more than suffice.

Better Food

A few days ago I was very happy to see that Fred Meyer (Kroger) started carrying organic GRASS FED beef!! Fantastic step in the right direction.

If you haven't already seen it, I highly encourage people to watch Food, Inc. It's on Netflix instant watch. More about it here. http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/film

This documentary will teach you a lot about where food comes from. It's filled with great facts, but as an animal lover I was most interested in the livestock parts. They aren't supposed to eat corn people!

Anyways, go check it out. Well worth your time. "every food purchase is a vote for what you want"  be the change

Beginner Rock Climbing Training

Lots of people ask me how to get good at rock climbing. It's actually kind of a weird question and it has a million different answers that are all correct. Here's the thing, if you're just starting out, lets say 5 months or less, the best real advice I can give is to be patient. Like anything, with time comes improvement. If you climb on a regular basis, the first year you're doing it will hands down, be your biggest spike in improvement.

Just about every climber out there has had someone at some point say something to them like, "I could never do that!" or "I don't have the upper body for climbing." Untrue. Absolutely anyone can climb. It might feel impossible at first, but that's just because you are doing something that your body is completely not used to. Get to the gym, or outside, about 2-3 times a week when you are starting out. Depending on how long each session is, 4 days a week is fine as well. You body will quickly adjust to the new sport and you'll be climbing 5.10 or V3 before you know it.

Start out Bouldering or Top Rope?
To be honest it doesn't matter. At the early stages in your climbing career your main goal is to just spend time on the wall, whichever way you prefer. I will say that if you expect to improve to that V3 5.10 range and up, it is important to spend a decent amount of time bouldering. Bouldering will add valuable weapons, or moves, to your arsenal that you will need to draw on later. Bouldering will also give you valuable time spent learning how to read rocks to see the best possible route.

Monthly Goals

Alright. Been a while since I put up a new post and I can't claim this one my own either. It's actually my girlfriends idea, but it fit perfectly with what I talk about a lot, and that is setting goals. Goals are an important part of staying motivated and in previous posted I mentioned setting S.M.A.R.T goals. Now, since working out has been less than plentiful in the month of April my girlfriend decided it would be smart to set "monthly" goals. Goals to follow for just one month, four weeks. It would make sticking to them that much easier. "Workout four days a week for four weeks...it's just four weeks, I can do that easy." That's the idea.

This can be for workouts, nutrition, both, whatever you want. Try it out and let me know how it works for you. Comments always welcome below.

What do you want to know?

Wow! This blog just passed 7,000 views and I've been off my game for a while. As a reminder to my readers...feel free to send me thoughts, comments, questions, or suggestions via the email address located in the "comments" tab.

I'm excited to hear what's on your mind.


What I've been up to:
Now completely moved in and living with my lovely girlfriend in Portland Oregon, I have been on the job hunt since mid January. Curse this economy! On the plus side I've had plenty of time to stay in shape, and no excuse for not writing...

As a first time big city person my sympathy is growing for people living in big cities trying to stay in shape. Thankfully I live next to park, but holy smokes I still don't like going out for runs around here. Me I need a back country road or an empty forest trail. But...My inability to get off the couch and go running has, I think, helped with my bulking goals.

Till next time...

Setting Goals: S.M.A.R.T

Whether it's for working out, losing weight, your career, school, or your everyday life, setting goals is a crucial part of progression and most of us do it without even realizing it. But, seeing as how this is a fitness blog, let's talk about setting goals for your fitness objectives. These goals are going to help keep you motivated and honest about your workout routines.

First off, you need to think about what it is that you want. Do you want to lose fat weight? All weight including muscle? Bulk up? Get cut? Whatever it is, before you start thinking about goals you need to know exactly what you are shooting for.

Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals:

S.M.A.R.T goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.

Specific: This is pretty straight forward but still important. While we will always want to be healthier, that is to broad. How will you be healthier, or stronger? Example: lose 20 pounds.

Measurable: To me, this is the most important and most often left out of peoples goals. Your goal should not simply be to lose weight, because there is no end to that not objective. In the example, lose 20lbs, there is a set destiation that you can measure along the way.

Achievable: Achievable goals are very important, if you don't set a goal that is within reach, you'll know that you will never get there and thus never truely put in the effort. So instead of saying, I'm going to lose 20lbs in 3 days, say, I'm going to lose 20lbs in two months. 3 day...impossible, 2 months, very doable.

Relevant: This seems obvious, but still important. Whatever your goal is, it needs to be relevant to your overall objective. You want to lose weight? Maybe your goal is that you will workout 4 days a week for the next two months.

Timely: Set an end date to your goal. A date to beat. A point where when you get there you either completed your goal or you did not.

While lots of these seem obvious it's still important to go through each letter of S.M.A.R.T when setting goals to help keep you motivated.

It Sucks the Right Amount...

Got to be straight with the readers and general fitness pursuers. There is no easy way. There is, and never will be a get fit quick trick. The only "trick" out there is to find something that sucks just the right amount. Not so bad that you quit, and not bad enough that nothing changes. It has to suck just the right amount. You find something like that and all your left with is hard work. Not saying that those DVDs Beachbody comes out with won't work, they will if you do them. But there is no trick to what they do. They just tell you it works, you believe them, and all of a sudden your losing weight because you're actually doing something for an hour each day. But that's the point, you found something that sucks just the right amount. So if that's what it takes to get you working out on a regular basis then do it!

Whatever you do, do it right, and push yourself. Hard work is the only real trick.

My forearm after a hangboard workout. Climb on.

Know Your Kitchen + One Great Dinner

Want to be healthy? Get to know your kitchen! Your relationship with the kitchen shouldn't be like one of those "friends" you only see when you have to and might be a little scared of because you never know what they'll do next....we all know someone like that. And it's not a pit stop on your way to the TV. Nope, none of that. The kitchen should be your best friend, always there for you before work, the bright sunshine in your morning, and even a cold floor to sit on after a bad breakup. You and your kitchen deserve to take care of each other.

That being said, healthy starts in the kitchen! Workout all week, great, but in the end of the day, the thing that is going to keep you healthy till you're old and grey is your kitchen.

Rethink your kitchen. First off, and a probably the most problematic device to ever enter the kitchen is your microwave. The microwave should be used for two things, warming up leftovers and defrosting meats. It is not for heating up instant meals or, and despite what I thought as a child, not for standing in front of for long periods of time in hopes of gaining superpowers via the minuscule amounts of radiation pumping into my face.....

.....anyways.

Personally, it has taken some time for me to truly understand my kitchen, how to cook, and what to cook. And I'm still learning, always will be. The best way to learn how to cook, and to best understand your kitchen, is to simply get in there and try new things. Open a cookbook, pick a page, and try it out. Do this once a week and you'll be confident home chef in no time.

Here's a little something my girlfriend and I whipped up about a week ago out of my newest cookbook: The Feed Zone... http://feedzonecookbook.com/

This was an Orange Chicken marmalade dish with a Roasted Beets and Greens salad. Hannah also added popped Quinoa to the salad which I think added a great flavor and a necessary crunch to the recipe.

 

 

Hangboard Workout

Been a while since I put up a post for my climber friends. So here it is. Currently I'm in a bit of a rehab phase in my climbing career, trying to get back in the swing of things, get the fingers strong and in shape. Can't afford a gym membership at the time, but that being the case I've been doing lots of light hangboard workouts so that when I get into the gym I don't spend the whole time worried about my fingers.

Last night I go the idea to put a medicine ball on the chair I use to take weight off while working my fingers. Turns out it was a great idea, hence why I'm writing this post.

Here it is:
As seen in the pictures, place a chair about 1-3ft in front of your hangboard and put a medicine ball on top of it. During the course of your workout this is where you'll be putting your feet. The medicine ball is great because it takes weight off while still forcing you to activate your core for stability. It's one of the most realistic workouts I've ever done for climbing.

From here on out you can do any variation of finger exercises. For my workout I start by getting a good warm-up and continuing that into the workout by spending 20 sec on the crimps and slopers, avoid the jugs. Move your hands around as much or as little as you like and try not to use the jugs unless you absolutely must. I do the same thing for 30 sec. and then again for 1min. Take a break and stretch out your fingers and forearms.

From here on out add 30sec to each round. 1min 30sec, 2min, 2min 30sec, 3min....and so on. Continue this workout until you are forced to use the jugs for a rest. At that point do at least one additionally round at whatever time you made it to.

Remember to keep you feet on the ball at all times and feel free to move it around as much as you like just don't let your feet come off.

Don't Count On Calories

It's time we had this talk.

Let me guess, you're trying to lose weight so you're counting calories? I've got some bad news for you. No matter how you break it down, your 100 calorie pack of Oreo's will never be good for you. But get this, if you eat food that is actually healthy, you can eat more of it, still lose weight, and never be hungry. Fact.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't the end all be all solution to fitness, but it is a must. If you aren't putting the right foods in you body, it will catch up with you. Even people that are naturally skinny but shovel cookies and french-fries into their face all day will eventually see the consequences to what they have been eating. Not necessarily by gaining weight, but in other ways...less fun ways.

Exercising frequently and living an active lifestyle are still must do's. We aren't stagnant creatures. We are humans, primates, animals, however you want to break it down, but we have to move, it's in our nature.

All Core

Todays core crushing workout was and has been a favorite of mine for some time now. So far, this is the one core exercise that I can really feel hitting all parts of my core.

This can be done your arms bent at 90 degrees or with bar straps to decrease the difficulty.

 

 

This is essentially just leg lifts, but instead of lifting your legs directly out in front of you, lift and twist them to a point off to one side activating your oblique's. Keep your shoulders square (as seen in picture), this is a core workout not an upper body workout.

 

A lot of people have trouble keeping their legs straight due to a lack in flexibly strength. Don't cheat the workout, just lift your legs as high as you can.

 

An alternative for anyone that needs to easy up this exercise a little is start with bend knees. Lift your knees up to 90 degrees and try to straighten them out and touch a point on the right and left sides. 

At Home Favorite

I always thought I was good at coming up with "at home" workouts. Then I hit unemployment. All of a sudden I can't afford a gym membership and that fitness creativity got pushed to a whole new level. After only a week in the new apartment, I'm starting to think that gym memberships, like most things, really are a massive luxury.

I will of course get a gym membership as soon as I have money and I recommend that you do the same, but when you can't afford it, or just can't make it one night, that's no reason not to workout. You have a surface to stand on and that's all you need with a little creativity and personal drive.

My current "at home" favorite workout: One leg, weighted, box squats.

This isn't just a leg workout. This exercise works your legs, butt, shoulders, abs, back, biceps.....yeah, pretty much everything.

As seen in the picture above. Hold weights (I use 25lb dumbbells) with elbows at 90 degrees. Do one legged squats down to a surface (chair) at, or just above, knee height. Touch down to the chair but do not fully weight it, keep the tension in your leg.

These should be slow and controlled all the way through. Do not put your non-active leg on the ground for stability at any time. Use your core for stability.

What I do:
Warm-up by doing two sets of 20 bodyweight squats, slow and controlled. Then get your chair and do 5 one legged squats to the chair on each leg.

Rest.

Now do 10 reps per leg.

Next, grab one 25lb dumbbell (more or less is fine) and do 5 reps per leg.

Rest.

Next, do 10 reps per leg with the 25lb dumbbell.

Rest.

Now get both dumbbells (50lbs total) and go back to 5 reps per leg.

End with both dumbbells and 10 reps per leg.

***Remember to hold the dumbbells at 90 degrees***

New Year, New Goals, New YOU

Welcome to 2014!

Heading into the new year I'm sure all of you are set some fantastic new year resolutions. Regardless this is a reminder that if you want to kickin beach bod by May you need to start now. Here are a few goals to start you off in the right direction.

1. Eat NO processed sugars for at least one month.
              Read ingredients and try your best to stick to this. Doing so will not only make you look and feel better, but while being a stickler about ingredients you'll learn a lot about what is in the food you eat.

2. Workout 4 times a week.
              Four or more. No matter what make sure you get at least four workouts in a week. If your feeling good one day and already crushed the gym that morning, there is nothing wrong with working out again that night. If you lifted in the A.M. do some cardio at night.

3. Average 8hrs of sleep a night.
             No more, no less. Getting the right amount of sleep with keep your energy levels up, making other goals easier.

4. Cardio twice a week.
             Even if your a lifter, it is important for your overall health to keep your lungs in shape. Not to mention, it will help you lean and cut up for the desired fitness model like body.

5. Healthy Food Monday through Friday
            Sometimes trying to dedicate to a 100% clean diet is just too much. An easier version of your classic diet, eat only healthy foods Monday through Friday. On the weekends you can still satisfy those old, by dying, urges. If you can cut out sugars and processed foods Monday through Friday you'll find yourself not ever enjoying those cheat meals on the weekend.

There you go! Just a few simple goals to get your 2014 off to the right start.