ROD 050912

May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Wednesday, 09May12

 Tabata Couplet

8 rounds of 20 seconds work /10 seconds rest at each couplet

One minute rest between rounds.

  • Jumping Pull-ups
  • Battling ropes

 

  • Wall-ball
  • Ball Slams

 

  • Lateral Hops
  • Renegade Rows

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What Food Cravings Mean and How To Control Them

We’ve all been there. You have a sudden, intense urge to eat something sweet or salty. It’s never broccoli. It’s probably not a salad. It’s nearly always chocolate. Or ice cream. Or pretzels. Potato chips. You name it…if it’s unhealthy, there’s probably been a time when you just had to have it. Where do these cravings come from and how can you keep them at bay without devouring the entire pumpkin pie?

It’s What You Crave

The big thing to note about a craving is that it’s not just a desire to eat. It’s not mere hunger. A craving is for a very specific food and nothing else will satisfy your need. When your stomach is growling and you’re famished, any food will do. When your brain is saying “I NEED THIS!,” only that particular food will work. Or will it?

A sharp, intense craving typically means that your body is lacking in some essential nutrient. It may be a particular vitamin or mineral or if you’re having a hypoglycemic response to a high-sugar meal, it may be glucose that your body demands. Here’s a list of commonly craved foods, many you may crave at some point in time, and what they may be saying about your nutritional status. Even better, here are much more healthful foods that will shore up those nutritional deficiencies.

[TABLE=6]

The complete list is here at 2nd Wind Body Science. What you’ll notice by looking over the list is that the very foods that serve as healthful stand-ins for the craved foods are invariably Real Foods. Organ meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seafood, red meat, legumes, and a couple mentions of grain (which I’ll let slide). Nearly everything on the list that you should be eating is unprocessed.

Controlling Your Cravings

It’s funny, I no longer find myself having cravings for sweet and salty snacks for the most part (unless I have a couple drinks too many, then it’s anybody’s game). In fact, if I eat too much junk, I find myself going “I just want a big ol’ salad to get back on track.” As evidenced by the list above, a big part of controlling food cravings is eating a nutrient-rich, Real Foods diet. As we’ve seen, cravings are often the result of the body’s desire for specific vitamins and minerals. So it follows logically that a diet full of the necessary vitamins and minerals is going to knock down most cravings.

Here’s a trick that has been proven in a study to improve willpower: take a picture. This article by Douglas Robb of Health Habits shows that dieters taking pictures are less likely to overeat.

One volunteer told the researchers: ‘I had to think more carefully about what I was going to eat because I had to take a picture of it. ‘I was less likely to have a jumbo bag of M&Ms. It curbed my choices. It didn’t alter them completely but who wants to take a photo of a jumbo bag of M&Ms?’ Another volunteer said the photo diaries actually improved the quality of his diet.

Personally, I’ll stick with just eating a high-quality diet that keeps me from needing to worry much about willpower. But the photo trick is interesting nonetheless.

Do you have specific foods that you crave? How do you deal with your cravings?

Filed Under: Article, Couplets, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

ROD 042112

April 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Saturday, 21Apr12

 

Insanity Saturday

15 seconds work/15 seconds rest for 8 minutes at each couplet. Alternate between each exercise of each couplet. Rest 1 minute between each couplet.

Lower body work

  • Kettlebell Deadlifts
  • Dynamic KB Goblet Squats

Upper body work

  • Kettlebell Rows (alternating L/R side between sets)
  • Push ups

Core work

  • Med Ball Alternating V-ups
  • Med Ball Russian Twists

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Athlete ROD

This is a 30 second work/ 15 second rest  with a 1 minute rest every 3 rounds for 9 rounds:

  • Burpee Box Jumps
  • Thrusters
  • Split jumps

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Top 10 Inflammatory Foods to Avoid Like the Plague

Stay clear of these inflammation-causing foods to instantly upgrade your health

According to the statistics from the World Health Organization, about 12.9 million people worldwide died from some form of cardiovascular disease in 2004. And each year, the World Cancer Research Fund estimated that some eight million people died from cancer. Heart disease and cancer, the deadly manifestation of chronic inflammation, are expected to remain as the leading causes of death in developed countries for many years to come.

But study after study shows that the risk of heart disease and cancer are modifiable by our lifestyle choices which include the food we choose to eat each day. With every bite that we take, we’re either balancing the pro- and anti-inflammatory compounds in the body, or tipping the scale to one end.

To shift the balance to your favor, other than incorporating more natural anti-inflammatory foods in your diet, it’s also equally important to avoid or cut down on foods which are known to promote inflammation. Here, we look at the top ten foods which set the stage for inflammatory diseases:

 

1. Sugars

  • Refined Sugar

    Pro-inflammatory Agent: Excessive sugar intake causes tooth decay and has been linked to increased risks of obesity, inflammation and chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Recently, it has also finally been proven that sugar, as well as dairy, are the causes of acne.

    Find them in: Sugar-sweetened beverages like soft drinks, fruit drinks and punches are one of the major sources of dietary sugars that many have overlooked. Do you know that drinking a can of Coke is as good as sucking ten sugar cubes? Other obvious sugar-loaded foods to avoid or at least limit include pastries, desserts, candies and snacks. And when you’re looking out for sugar in the ingredients list, note that sugar has many names: corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, golden syrup, maltose, sorghum syrup and sucrose are some of the creative names used.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Got a sweet tooth? Opt for natural sweeteners like stevia, honey, or blackstrap molasses to flavor your beverages and foods modestly. Natural sugars found in fresh or dried fruits and fruit preserves with no added sugar are also great choices. Not only do they give you the sweetness you crave for, fruits also supply you with vitamins, antioxidants and fibers that you won’t find in sugary foods and drinks. Dates, figs, persimmons, kiwis, tangerines and various types of berries are but some of the natural healthy snacks you can sink your teeth into.

2. Common Cooking Oils

  • Common Cooking OilsPro-inflammatory Agent: Common vegetable cooking oils used in many homes and restaurants have very high omega-6 fatty acids and dismally low omega-3 fats. A diet consisting of highly imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio promotes inflammation and breeds inflammatory diseases like heart disease and cancer.

    Find them in: Polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as grape seed, cottonseed, safflower, corn and sunflower oils. These industrial vegetable oils are also commonly used to prepare most processed foods and takeaways.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Replace your omega-6-saturated cooking oils with macadamia oil, extra virgin olive oil, or other edible oils with a saner omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids ratio. Macadamia oil, for instance, has an almost one to one ratio of omega-6:3 fats, and it’s also rich in oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acid.

3. Trans Fats

  • Trans FatsPro-inflammatory Agent: Trans fatty acids are notorious for their double whammy effect: they increase the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, while lowering levels of the ‘good’ cholesterol. But that’s not all they can do. They have also been found to promote inflammation, obesity and resistance to insulin, laying the ground for degenerative illnesses to take place.

    Find them in: Deep fried foods, fast foods, commercial baked goods and those prepared with partially hydrogenated oil, margarine and vegetable shortening. Note that items that list 0g trans fats on the label may still contain some amount of this toxic fats. This is because in the US, the government allows items containing less than 0.5g of trans fats to be declared as trans-fat free. Commercially prepared peanut butter is one good example. Your best bet is to read the ingredients list and make sure partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening is not used.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Look for alternative products that contain no trans fats, or don’t have partially hydrogenated oil or vegetable shortening in the ingredients list. When in doubt, assume that all commercially prepared foods contain trans fats unless stated otherwise.

4. Dairy Products

  • Dairy ProductsPro-inflammatory Agent: As much as 60% of the world’s population can’t digest milk. In fact, researchers think that being able to digest milk beyond infancy is abnormal, rather than the other way round. Milk is also a common allergen that can trigger inflammatory responses, such as stomach distress, constipation, diarrhea, skin rashes, acne, hives and breathing difficulties, in susceptible people.

    Find them in: Milk and dairy products are as pervasive as foods containing partially hydrogenated oil or omega-3-deficient vegetable oil. Apart from obvious milk products like butter and cheese, foods with hidden dairy content include breads, cookies, crackers, cakes, cream sauces and boxed cereals. Scanning the ingredients list is still the safest way to suss out milk.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Kefir and unsweetened yogurt are acceptable in moderation for those who are not allergic to milk. They are easier on the stomach as the lactose and proteins in the milk have been broken down by beneficial bacteria and/or yeasts.

5. Feedlot-Raised Meat

  • Feedlot-Raised MeatPro-inflammatory Agent: Commercially produced meats are feed with grains like soy beans and corns, a diet that’s high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids but low in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats. Due to the small and tight living environment, these animals also gain excess fat and end up with high saturated fats. Worse, to make them grow faster and prevent them from getting sick, they are also injected with hormones and fed with antibiotics. The result is one piece of meat which you and I shouldn’t be eating.

    Find them in: Unless otherwise stated, most, if not all, beef, pork and poultry you can find in the supermarkets and restaurants come from feedlot farms.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Organic, free-range animalsthat fed on their natural diet like grasses instead of grains and hormones contain more omega-3 fats. Having more room to roam freely, they are also leaner and contain less saturated fats.

6. Red Meat & Processed Meat

  • Red Meat and Processed MeatPro-inflammatory Agent: Researchers at theUniversity of California San Diego School of Medicinefound that red meat contains a molecule that humans don’t naturally produce called Neu5Gc. After ingesting this compound, the body develops anti-Neu5Gc antibodies – an immune response that may trigger chronic inflammatory response. And low-grade simmering inflammation that won’t go away has been linked to cancer and heart disease.

    The link between processed meat consumption and cancer is even stronger. In the 2007 report by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, processed meat has been stated as a convincing cause of cancers of the colon and rectum, and possibly esophagus and lung cancer too. Processed meat includes animal product that has been smoked, cured, salted or chemically preserved.

    Find them in: Common red meats are beef, lamb and pork, while processed meat include hams, sausages and salami.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: You don’t need to avoid red meat totally, though the same thing can’t be said for processed meat. No amount of processed meat is safe. Replace the bulk of your red meat with organic vegetables, poultry and fish, and relegate red meat to a weekly treat. When you do eat red meat, remember to choose lean cuts and preferably, that of grass-fed animals.

7. Alcohol

  • AlcoholPro-inflammatory Agent: Regular high consumption of alcohol has been known to cause irritation and inflammation of the esophagus, larynx (voice box) and liver. Over time, the chronic inflammation promotes tumor to grow and gives rise to cancer at the sites of repeated irritation.

    Find them in: Beers, ciders, liquors, liqueurs, and wines.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: A refreshing and thirst-quenching glass of pure, filtered water, anyone? :) How about a cup of anti-aging and anti-inflammatory jasmine green tea? If you find the idea of swapping ethanol for water or tea implausible, at least limit your consumption to no more than one drink a day.

8. Refined Grains

  • Refined GrainsPro-inflammatory Agent: A lot of the grains we eat nowadays are refined. They are devoid of fiber and vitamin B compared to unpolished and unrefined grains that still have the bran, germ and the aleurone layer intact. This makes refined grains as good as refined sugars, which are practically empty calories. And like refined sugars, refined grains have a higher glycemic index than unprocessed grains and when they are consistently consumed, can hasten the onset of degenerative diseases like cancer and coronary disease.

    Find them in: Refined grains and products made out of them are almost everywhere. The common ones are: white rice, white flour, white bread, noodles, pasta, biscuits and pastries. To make things worse, many products with refined grains undergo further processing to enhance their taste and look, and are often loaded with excess sugar, salt, artificial flavors and/or partially hydrogenated oil in the process. A prime example is boxed cereals which contain substantial amounts of added sugar and flavorings.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Go for minimally processed grains if you are not gluten intolerant or allergic to grains. If you’re an avid bread or pastry maker, invest in a grain mill to produce your own flour. It will be much fresher than the stale one found in stores. When buying cereals or other products made from grains, don’t take the words on the packaging for granted. Just because the box says whole grains, it doesn’t mean the grains inside are 100% intact. The problem is due to a lack of an internationally accepted definition for the word ‘whole grain’. When in doubt, if it doesn’t look close to its natural state, don’t buy.

9. Artificial Food Additives

  • Artificial Food AdditivesPro-inflammatory Agent: Some artificial food additives like aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) reportedly trigger inflammatory responses, especially in people who are already suffering from inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

    Find them in: Only packaged foods contain artificial food additives. If you need to buy them, read the labels carefully and weigh your risks. If you order Chinese takeaways, make sure you’ve the option to ask for no MSG. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: Besides limiting the consumption of processed foods, use anti-inflammatory herbs, spices or natural sweeteners to add flavor to your dishes instead of relying on food additives.

10. <Fill in the blank>

  • Allergic FoodPro-inflammatory Agent: Why is this blank? Because it is meant for you to fill in with the food that you’re sensitive to. Many people are sensitive to certain food but are totally unaware about it. Unlike food allergy in which symptoms usually come fast and fiery, symptoms caused by food intolerance take a longer time to manifest. And when they do appear, they are often brushed off as common minor ailments such as tiredness and headaches. But repeated, long-term exposure to food that irritates can cause inflammation and lead to chronic diseases.

    Find them in: Common food allergens are gluten, milk, nuts, eggs and nightshade vegetables. Contrary to common belief, it is possible to develop an allergy to the foods that you eat often.

    Inflammation-dousing Substitute: If you suspect that a particular food may be responsible for your food intolerant response, try avoiding it completely for about two weeks and monitor your reaction. At the end of the abstinence period, re-introduce the food back into your diet. If you’re in fact incompatible with it, you should be able to notice the difference in how you feel easily.

     

Filed Under: Athlete ROD, Conditioning, Couplets Tagged With: , ,

ROD 031412

March 14, 2012 By 1 Comment

ROD

Wednesday, 14Mar12

 

Over the Hump Wednesday

  • 30/30/30 work/work/rest
  • 25/25/25
  • 20/20/20
  • 15/15/15

Of the following movements:

  • Jumping Pullups / Ball Slams / rest
  • Wall Ball / Wall Passes to Squat Thrusts / rest
  • Rower / Rower / rest
  • KB Front Squats / Wall Squat holds Squeezing MB bet. knees / rest
  • Band Swimmers / MB Thrusters / rest

The timer will be set for 7 rounds total with 4 different settings.

____________________________________________________________________

Happiness: Taking the Bull by the Horns

By Bret Contreras, March 10, 2012

One of the best things that you can do for others is take good care of yourself. Chances are your loved-ones care deeply about your health and well-being, and therefore it pleases them to see you happy. When you realize that you are responsible for your actions, your thoughts, and your attitude, your pathway to happiness becomes evident. In this two-part series I’m going to teach you a little bit about happiness. Being happier will make you a better friend, family member, partner, teacher, coach, therapist, trainer, or lifting partner. Part I will focus on the research and quotes, and part II will discuss the specific steps that I’ve taken to reclaim my happiness.

What Does the Research Say About Happiness?

It’s a bit strange consulting the literature regarding happiness. Let’s be honest – anyone performing a search on PubMed for the term “happiness” probably isn’t very happy. Indeed, several months ago I came to the realization that I wasn’t very happy, and my first step was to learn a bit about happiness through PubMed. Below is a summary of my understanding of what is currently known in the research on the topic of happiness.

What are Happiness and Well-Being?

Well-being or happiness requires at least two crucial ingredients: positive affect or pleasure (hedonia) and a sense of meaningfulness or engagement in life (eudaimonia). Happiness is a composite of life satisfaction, coping resources, and positive emotions. Dr. Martin Seligman, one of the foremost experts on the topic of happiness, confesses that years back his definition of happiness was too narrow; resting primarily upon three legs – positive emotion, engagement, and meaning, with the overall goal as increased life-satisfaction. Now he believes that the overall goal is improved well-being, and has added positive relationships and accomplishment to the mix.

There are two primary aspects of well-being; emotional well-being and life-evaluation. Emotional well-being has to do with the emotional qualities involved in everyday life – the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, stress, sadness, anger, and affection that make someone’s life pleasant or unpleasant. Life evaluation has to do with the thoughts that people have about their lives when they think about it.

Hedonic Adaptation

A year after most lottery winners win the lottery, they’re right back to their previous level of happiness and no happier than ordinary people. For this reason researchers have proposed that we have a baseline level of happiness and that it’s difficult to permanently elevate it. Recent research elucidates the challenges of staying happier; the gains in well-being following a positive life change are typically eroded via two processes. First, a bottom-up process whereby individuals receive declining positive emotions from the positive life change over time, and second, a top-down process whereby individuals quickly aspire to gain even more positivity.

The U-Shaped Curve of Happiness over the Life-Cycle

For the most part, happiness follows a U-shaped curve over the life-cycle, with happiness reaching a minimum during middle age (30-40 yrs old) and being higher during adolescence and advanced years (peaks during teens and seventies). This is related to the stress involved in the responsibilities of marriage, child rearing, career decisions, and financial dilemmas. Moreover, the U-shape is more pronounced in males than it is in females. Probably related is the fact that marital happiness follows a similar U-shaped curve.

The Shifting Meaning of Happiness over a Lifetime

Younger people tend to associate happiness with excitement, but as they age, they tend to associate happiness with peacefulness. This change seems to be driven by a change in focus from the future to the present as people age. This has many effects such as purchasing behavior and methods utilized to increase one’s happiness.

Why are Happy People Happier than their Less-Happy Counterparts?

Happy people become more satisfied in life because they develop resources for living well, not simply because they feel better. They also experience more frequent positive “in the moment” emotions, which increases resiliency and life satisfaction. This suggests that experiencing frequent spikes of joy and satisfaction throughout the day is at least as beneficial as simply having a good outlook in life.

Improvers of Life Evaluation

Having sufficient income to meet your basic needs, maintain a suitable standard of living, and have ownership of conveniences increase one’s evaluation of his life, as does increasing one’s education. Material prosperity is much more related to life evaluation than it is to emotional well-being.

Improvers of Emotional Well-Being

Meeting psychological needs, being in good health, caring for others, experiencing adequate social interaction, learning, having autonomy, using one’s skills, receiving respect, and being able to count on others in an emergency improve positive feelings about one’s life. Psychosocial prosperity is much more related to well-being and positive thoughts than it is to life evaluation.

Can Money Buy Happiness?

This is a bit ambiguous in the research as the literature shows complex and conflicting results on money and happiness. Income appears play a role in happiness, but one study showed that there’s a ceiling at $75,000, meaning that increasing income past this level does not improve emotional well-being. Life-evaluation continues to rise with increased income well-over six-figure salaries, but increased income doesn’t lead to greater happiness, it doesn’t relieve unhappiness, and it doesn’t reduce stress.

Having low income has been shown to exacerbate the emotional pains associated with divorce, illness, and loneliness.  Affluent and disadvantaged populations do indeed experience greater symptoms of depression, but this isn’t solely related to low income as the relationships with poor health, physical disability, and social isolation factor in considerably as well. Low income is associated with both low life evaluation and low emotional well-being. But increased income isn’t the only solution as high income buys life satisfaction but not happiness.

Thinking about time rather than money improves happiness. When you focus on time, you end up spending more time with friends and family and less time working, which makes you happier. However, when you focus on money, you end up working more and socializing less, which does not improve happiness.

Wealthier individuals do not savor (the ability to enhance and prolong) positive emotional experiences and they receive less total enjoyment from various experiences, and this outweighs the positive effects of their increased income. Access to the best things in life may actually undercut one’s ability to enjoy life’s small pleasures.

In terms of employment, being paid by the hour increases happiness as it promotes an economic evaluation of time-use. Non-hourly working counterparts aren’t quite as happy. Rank income, not absolute income, plays a role in life satisfaction. This means that increasing your income won’t make you happier if everyone else’s income is raised proportionately – what will make you happier is if your increase in income places you at a higher rank amongst your peers.

Factors Important for Improved Quality of Life

Good relationships with both the close world (self, partners, friends) and the distant world are important for possessing a superior quality of life, as is having a good overall view of life. Possessions, money, status, and work aren’t important to global quality of life or self-assessed health. Self-perceived physical health, self-perceived mental health, and satisfaction with health are much more important for quality of life. What one sees, evaluates, and experiences what he has, his level of consciousness, and his attitude toward life and others; not what one actually has, are the factors that are truly important for improved quality of life.

A general perception exists that meaning in life and happiness are essential to the concept of a good life, with money being relatively unimportant.

Spending Money on Others is More Important for Happiness than Spending Money on One’s Self

Research shows that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn. Specifically, spending a greater percentage of one’s income on others leads to greater happiness and buying someone something increases happiness more so than buying something for yourself.

Consensus

We all have our moments of unhappiness, loneliness, sorrow, and depression. However certain people experience these feelings much less often than others. Moreover, certain people are simply happier and more fulfilled than others and this doesn’t appear to have much to do with material goods or high achievement, but rather a good outlook on life and high quality relationships. Past a certain point, money won’t buy you happiness. And though comfort is nice, it can make a person bored which is why we need to continue to challenge ourselves. Yet it’s important to understand that continuous conquests won’t make much of a difference in our happiness; we need to be content with what we have and appreciate our relationships.

There’s a definite genetic component to happiness, but happiness is also highly dependent on thoughts. Little things like smiling, mindless meditation, and noticing what you’re grateful for can make a big difference in your quality of life. Finally, no matter how hard it is, it is imperative that you forgive people.

When I learned that positive thinking and healthy thoughts cause structural changes in the brain (just like resistance training does in the muscles), and that money isn’t the secret to happiness, I started focusing on more fruitful aspects of happiness which allowed me to make excellent decisions related to my well-being. I’ll elaborate on this in Part II. I’ll conclude Part I by providing some quotes on happiness.

Happiness Quotes

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. ~ Aristotle

So much sadness exists in the world that we are all under obligation to contribute as much joy as lies within our powers. ~ John Sutherland Bonnell

Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get. ~ Dave Gardner

The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular reason for being so except that they are so. ~ William Ralph Inge

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca Reigler

The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach. ~ Lin Yutang

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes. ~ Charles R. Swindoll

 

Filed Under: Conditioning, Couplets, Kettlebell Tagged With: , ,

ROD 022912

February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Wednesday, 29Feb12

 

Leap Of Faith….

Trust us, if the following movements are performed with power and quickness you will need your Central Nervous Sytem (CNS) rebooted.

8 rounds of 20 seconds work /10 seconds rest at each couplet

One minute rest between rounds.

 

Couplet #1

  • Kettlebell high pulls
  • Ropes Gone Wild

Couplet #2

  • Box jumps
  • Dumbbell Push Press

Couplet#3

  • Shuttle run (“I said run not walk”)
  • KB Rows (alt l/r at each round)

_____________________________________________________________

A leap year consists of 366 days, as opposed to a common year, which has 365 days.

Why do we need Leap Years?

Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun.

It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year)– to circle once around the Sun.

How do we calculate Leap Years?

In the Gregorian calendar 3 criteria must be met to be a leap year:

?The year is evenly divisible by 4;

?If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;

?The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.

This means that 2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years.

The year 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world since the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar

Who invented Leap Years?

Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years in the Roman empire over 2000 years ago, but the Julian calendar had only one rule: any year evenly divisible by 4 would be a leap year. This lead to way too many leap years, but didn’t get corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar more than 1500 years later.

 

 

Filed Under: Couplets, Dumbbell Training, Kettlebell Tagged With:

ROD 021512

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Wednesday, 15Feb12

 

Concord Couplets

30 seconds on/30 seconds of rest of the 1st exercise, followed by the 2nd exercise in the section. Continue for 4 rounds then move to the next couplet until you are done!

Couplet 1

  • KB Swings
  • Mt Climbers

Couplet 2

  • Barbell push press
  • Battling ropes (member on each end kneeling)

Couplet 3

  • Jumping Pullups
  • Slam Ball

In couplet #2 these battling ropes are a true battle. There will be a member on each end of the rope in a kneeling position. They will make waves and battle each other for dominate waves. This should be good!! If there is an uneven amount of members, for the battle everyone will take turns at soloing.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Power to the Push-Ups

In an age where everyone cares greatly about their bench press, something very important has been forgotten. It’s a little minuscule workout that is everything—the push-up.

Last year, I worked with a high school football team, and I saw something very scary—kids who could bench 250–300 lbs but couldn’t perform a single push-up! The importance of push-ups has completely gone out the window, and I have no idea why or how. If you’re an athlete and you can’t hold your body in a plank position, yet you can bench 300 lbs, you aren’t strong at all. I would go as far as to say you’re a “weak bastard.” I don’t care how much you weigh. You should be able to do a single, perfect, push-up or get the hell out of my face with what you bench press. This is day one stuff!

I’m going to lay it out for you right here. You can practice in your backyards, garages, and living rooms so that you don’t embarrass yourself in public.

How a push-up should look
Your body should be tight and flat, not curved up or with your low back swayed down like an old horse. You should be in a straight line as if you were laying on the floor. You should be able to pinch a silver dollar between your butt cheeks. Tighten it up! (I know you’re a tight ass about your bench form, so do the same here big man!)

Your hands should grip the floor. Don’t push the floor away from you but hold on to it like you’re holding on to your last remaining shred of dignity. Keep your elbows tight to your sides. Save the chicken wings for the bar. You’ve failed when you can’t keep your body straight and tight. Here at NLP we like to do a variation that has worked for many. Lower yourself totally to the ground, in a controlled manner, don’t go totally limp, push off as a single unit, don’t peel yourself up from the ground, into the plank position, repeat. Very effective especially for you ladies who want to improve their upper body strength.

Here’s a simple progression:

Step 1: Grab a bench, chair, truck tail gate, or whatever. I don’t give a crap. Just get your shoulder elevated because you can’t support your body weight yet. Do three sets. The first two sets should be to submaximal effort (leave two or three in the tank). For the last set, perform as many as possible. Do this every other day or throw it in after your bench press on your upper body day(s).

Step 2: Congratulations! You can do 25 elevated push-ups now—in a row! So get rid of the elevation and start working on performing a push-up on a flat surface. Once you can get 25 in a row on a flat surface, take some of your bad ass bench chains, throw them around your neck, and weight your push-ups.

If you go flat and can’t get three repetitions, go to half of your old elevation. Wash, rinse, and repeat step one.

Step 3: Challenge your friends who can’t do push-ups and bury their asses. Impress the ladies! Ladies impress the men!

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Filed Under: Barbell Training, Conditioning, Couplets, High Intensity Interval Training, Kettlebell Tagged With: ,

ROD 120911

December 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Friday, 09Dec11

 

Kettlebell Couplets

Work / rest ratio 20/10 work for 6 minutes at each couplet with a 1 minute rest in between each set of couplets.

  • Battling ropes
  • KB cleans  1 round R / 1 round L

1 minute rest

  • KB goblet squats
  • H2H KB swings

1 minute rest

  • KB strict presses (3 rds R / 3 rds L)
  • KB high pulls

Go Heavy!!!

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Filed Under: Battling Ropes, Couplets Tagged With: ,

ROD 112811

November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Monday, 28Nov11

 

Funday Monday

40:20 ratio of work/rest with a 30 sec rest between the 4 rounds

  • Hanging runners
  • Floor DB chest presses
  • Dumbell thrusters
  • Dumbell rows (alt. between rounds)
  • KB deadlift jumps
  • Overhead dumbell presses in split stance

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Athlete’s ROD

20 work / 20 work / 20 rest for 8 rounds with a minute rest in between

  • Push ups / Mtn Climbers
  • Air Squats / Running in place
  • Burpees & a half / Tuck jumps
Filed Under: Bodyweight, Conditioning, Couplets, Deadlifts, Dumbbell Training, High Intensity Interval Training, Muscle Endurance Tagged With: , , , , ,

ROD 112311

November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Wednesday, 23Nov11

 ONLY ONE EVENING CLASS TONIGHT AT 7:30PM

 

Conditioning Couplets

20 seconds work/20 seconds work/20 seconds rest x 8 rounds

Couplets

  • Reclines/Ball Slams
  • Kettlebell swings/Mountain climbers
  • Kettlebell high pulls/ D-ball thrusters

Do 20 seconds of work at each movement in each couplet, take 20 seconds rest then move to the next couplet.

Complete all three couplets

Take 1 minute rest between. Do 8 rounds.

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I just started exercising…why am I gaining weight?

By Paige Waehner

Question: I just started exercising…why am I gaining weight?
Answer: If you’ve noticed your weight going up after starting an exercise program, don’t panic!  It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing anything wrong, nor does it mean you’re going in the wrong direction.  There can be some obvious and not-so-obvious reasons you’re gaining weight.Your first step is to determine if what you’re gaining is actually fat or muscle.  Muscle is more dense than fat, but it takes up less space…if you gain muscle, your scale weight may go up even as you’re slimming down.  Rather than just using a scale to measure your progress, you can get your body fat tested on a regular basis to get a better idea of what you’re gaining and/or losing.  If that isn’t an option, you can take measurements at different areas of the body…if you’re losing inches, you’re on the right track.If you’ve measured yourself in different ways and realized you are gaining fat, take some time to go through the following possibilities – you may need to make some small changes in your diet to see better results.

1.  Eating too many calories.  It may seem obvious, but eating more calories than you burn causes weight gain.  What some people don’t realize is that, after they start exercising, they may start eating more without being aware of it.  Most people think they’re eating a healthy, low-calorie diet but, unless you’re keeping a detailed food journal, you just don’t know how many calories you’re really eating.  Most people are surprised when they start keeping a journal and adding up the calories–it almost always turns out to be more than they thought.  Before you quit exercising, take a week to keep a food journal.  Add up your calories to get a sense of exactly what you’re eating…if it’s too much, you can start to make some changes in your diet to reduce your calories.  And try to avoid the mindset that says you can eat whatever you want since you’re doing all this great exercise…to lose weight, you still need to monitor your calories.

2.  Not eating enough calories. It may seem counterintuitive, but eating too little can actually stall your efforts to lose fat.  As Cathy Leman, a registered dietician and creator of NutriFit! says, “…if there is a severe restriction in calories, the body may counteract this reduction by slowing down its metabolism.”  Be sure you’re eating enough calories to sustain your body if you’ve increased your activity.

3.  Not giving your body time to respond.  Just because you start exercising doesn’t always mean your body will respond to that immediately.  As Cathy Leman puts it, “…in some instances the body needs to sort of “recalibrate”‘ itself. Increased activity and new eating habits (taking in more or  less calories) require the body to make adjustments.”  Cathy recommends that you give yourself several weeks or months for your body to respond to what you’re doing.

4.  Rule out any medical conditions. While thyroid problems are rare, they can definitely make weight loss difficult.  There can also be medications you’re taking that could affect your body’s ability to lose weight.  If you feel your food intake is reasonable and you’ve given your body enough time to see results and haven’t seen any (or are seeing unexplainable weight gain) see your doctor to rule any other causes.

5.  You’re gaining muscle faster than you’re losing fat.  If it seems that you’re getting bigger after you’ve started a weight training routine, it may be because you aren’t losing body fat as fast as you’re building muscle, which is a problem some people experience when they start exercising. Genetics could also be playing a role here…some people put on muscle more easily than others.  If that’s the case for you, don’t stop training!  Instead, you might simply adjust your program to make sure you’re getting enough cardio exercise to promote weight loss and focus your strength training workouts on muscular endurance by keeping the reps between 12-16.

Whatever the cause of your weight gain, don’t give up on exercise.  It’s not only your ticket to weight loss, it’s also important for your health.

 

Filed Under: Conditioning, Couplets, Kettlebell, Power & Strength Tagged With: , , ,

ROD 092711

September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Tuesday, 27Sept11

 

Conditioning Couplets

20 seconds work/20 seconds work/20 seconds rest x 8 rounds

Couplets

  • Jumping pullups/Burpees
  • Kettlebell swings/Mountain climbers
  • Kettlebell high pulls/ D-ball thrusters

Do 20 seconds of work at each movement in each couplet, take 20 seconds rest then move to the next couplet.

Complete all three couplets

Take 1 minute rest between. Do 8 rounds.

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What Causes Low Sperm Motility

Sperm motility basically means improving the quality of the sperm cells in the semen.  Due to the not so healthy lifestyles we lead in the 21st century, various different kinds of infertility issues plague men. Low sperm count is a fairly common condition, even among young men these days but it is by no means the only facet of men’s infertility. There are various aspects for which we use the blanket term ‘infertility disorders’ and low sperm motility is one of them.

What is Sperm Motility?

It is not enough to just have the required quantity of sperms or spermatozoa in the semen to have a successful pregnancy. In fact, the quality of the sperm matters just as much or may be more than the quantity. If you have plenty of sperm but they are all weak and immobile then they will all be useless when it comes to fertilizing the egg. If there are two things a sperm requires more than anything else then it is energy to undertake the difficult voyage in the female reproductive  tract and motility or the ability to ‘swim’ under unfavourable conditions.  So that is what we mean when we talk about increasing sperm motility.

Why is Sperm Motility in some men Low?

It has enough and more reasons.

·         Firstly our lifestyle which is hectic. Most of the young professionals today feel that they are overworked and don’t even have time to pay attention to their fitness and nutritional needs.

·         As we have little time and do little or no exercises at all, it is quite natural that we pile on fat by just sitting in front of the computer screens. To counter that problem, we go on crash diets and skip eating essential nutrients like to increase sperm motility.

·         Stress is the root of almost all our problems these days. Your mental and emotional health impacts your overall health and that includes sexual health too.

·         Steroids which are hormones given in the form of medicines can slow down the sperms by making them unhealthy. So if you have been prescribed steroid for any ailment in the recent past then you need to be aware of it. Always read the constitution of the medicines that you take because they have far reaching consequences on your body, often without your knowledge.

·         Tobacco has been proven to be a leading cause for men’s infertility issues particularly with respect to sperm motility. It has been found out from research that persistent use of tobacco gives birth to abnormally shaped sperms that cannot swim well and don’t stand a chance to mate with the egg.

Use these good health tips for men to understand what sperm motility means for your chances of becoming dad and make those necessary lifestyle changes to enjoy the bliss of father.

 

 

Filed Under: Couplets, Dumbbell Training, Fat Burner, High Intensity Interval Training, Muscle Endurance, Tabata Style Tagged With: , , ,

ROD 082211

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

ROD

Monday, 22Aug11

 

Kettlebell Couplets

Work / rest ratio 20/10 work for 6 minutes at each couplet with a 1 minute rest in between each set of couplets.

  • Figure 8 to a hold
  • KB Snatch 1 round R / 1 round L / beginners 2 handed overhead snatch

1 minute rest

  • Goblet squats
  • Alternating KB swings

1 minute rest

  • KB Thrusters (3 rds R / 3 rds L)
  • KB high pulls

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Running

Many people have tried Running, and many people have hated it. The roots of this displeasure can be traced to the running boom of the 1970?s, when running proponents, caught up in a near orgiastic buzz, loudly pronounced that the best approach to running was longer, faster, and harder, and they did exactly that – until succumbed to debilitating injuries.

But if you do it correctly – meaning, with moderation – running doesn’t have to mean pain and discomfort. More important, its potential for weight loss and fitness gains is impressive. For example, running at a sedate 12-minute-mile pace burns roughly 10 calories a minute. Kick that up to an 8-minute-mile, and you’ll burn 15 calories a minute. That’s 600 calories burned in a 40-minute run.

The most important concept is to stay below the threshold of fatigue and soreness. Running is great exercise, it’s a great fat burner, and it’s convenient . But you have to be smart about it.

Running in Moderation

Smart running means ignoring people who say that you won’t get any benefits unless you’re spitting your lungs up. Even the best runners intersperse hard training with plenty of slow running and outright time off to allow for recovery.

Running puts a lot of stress on your body. Each time your foot strikes the ground, it hits with a force equal to three to four times your body weight. Runners who ignore this fact and consistently push themselves to fatigue do so at their own peril.

Begin With Caution – If you’re out of shape, you’ll need to start slower than if you’re already active but not running. The really important thing is to monitor your soreness.

If you’re sore, you’re doing too much, and you need to back off.

Out of shape runners start with 30 minutes of walking, three times a week. When this starts feeling comfortable, kick up the pace, but still limit the walk to 30 minutes. Then add some jogs to that 30 minutes.

Add Time To Your Routine – A lot of people are already running, though not much. Typical is the runner who notches 2 to 3 miles in 15 to 30 minutes. That’s not a bad workout, but if you want to really burn some fat, you need to increase the time to a minimum of 45 minutes.

Follow The 10 Percent Rule – If your normal run is 20 minutes and one day you decide to go for 40, you’re going to get hurt, not fit. Stick to a more measured approach. Each week, boost your running time by 10 percent. By giving your legs (and lungs) time to adapt, you’ll find that you’re no more tired after a 45-minute run than when you were doing one half as long.

Break It Up With Walking – There isn’t a running cop out there who will bust you for changing pace when you start getting tired. A lot of runners, experienced and beginners alike, will alternate 5 minutes of running, with 5 minutes of walking. By allowing time to recover, you’ll find it’s easy to stay on the move for 45 minutes or more, and the run will be more comfortable.

Interspersing a run with walking may sound tame, but you lose little and gain much. For example, when you jog for 5 to 8 minutes, then walk a minute, you’ll burn 95 calories a mile. Jogging continuously will burn only an extra 5 calories. It might sound sedate, but a combination of walking and running will turn you into a fitness animal, and it’ll keep you at it.

Change Your Running Pace – Even if you’re beyond walking/running stage, it’s still smart to incorporate easy jogging into your hard runs. Advanced runners often take a slow jogging break every 10 minutes.

Don’t Skip The Preliminaries – In a perfect world every run would begin with 10 minutes of light jogging to warm up the muscles, followed by 10 minutes of stretching. But the real world is not that generous with time, and trying to cram a run plus stretching into a lunch break is impractical. A quick way to prepare your muscles for the run ahead is to jog very slowly for 10 minutes before running. If it is cold out or you’re unusually stiff, walk for 5 to 10 minutes before taking that easy jog.

Don’t forget to cool down when you’re done. Ending a run with a punishing sprint and a screeching halt will leave your muscles wallowing in lactic acid (a by-product of hard exertion), making you sore and stiffer. Ending your run with a 10-minute jog allows blood to flush lactic acid from the muscles.

Staying Comfortable

Running is a hard sport (if it weren’t, it wouldn’t burn many calories), and it’s crazy not to try to make it easier. Before setting out, here are a few things that you should keep in mind.

Think Soft Surfaces – As mentioned earlier, every time your feet hit the ground, they’re generating a tremendous amount of force. To reduce shock to your joints, seek out soft surfaces on which to run.

Cement and concrete are the worst. A better surface would be dirt or grass, or, if there’s one nearby, a running track. These are often made from spongy rubber surfaces such as Tartan, which are very forgiving on the feet.

Drink Often – This is obvious advise that runners all too often ignore. In fact, runners typically replace only 50 percent of the fluids lost during exercise. That’s why they’re continually confronting thirst, headaches, dizziness, and even vomiting, the various stages of dehydration.

It is possible to lose tremendous amounts of fluids when you run – up to 6 pints an hour during vigorous exercise in the heat. Neglect to replace those fluids, and you might find yourself bent double examining your shoes.

Drink 16 ounces of fluid 2 hours before a run. While you’re on the road, drink 5 to 10 ounces of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes.

Many runners swear by sports drinks. While these drinks do replenish carbohydrates and electrolytes, their most important ingredient is water. Water is the most commonly overlooked athletic aid.

Save Your Lungs – The key benefit of running is that it gets you breathing hard, but when you’re an urban dweller in a sea of bus exhaust, the equation seems a bit less straightforward.

You can’t avoid pollution entirely, but you can time your runs so that it’s a little less noxious. On sunny days – when car exhaust and sunlight combine to form ozone – it’s smart to run later in the day after the ozone has been depleted or early in the morning before it has a chance to form. Running on cloudy days is good. So is running after a thunder storm because rain flushes ozone from the air.

Having Fun

Running doesn’t have to be drudgery, though every day thousands of runners do their best to make it so. If you’re going to stick with running (or, for that matter, any exercise program), you have to shake things up now and then. Often we develop a sort of teeth-clenching, rigid approach to our exercise. We need to open our eyes, look around, and remember that we’re supposed to be enjoying this.

Change Course – Many of us run the same trail in the same direction and at the same time of day – day after day. Why not do things differently?

For example:

  • If you run the same loop every day, try running that loop in the opposite direction.
  • Rather than religiously keeping the same pace and distance, play with the numbers. Instead of running 5 miles, for example, make it 3 – but run a little faster. If you usually run 3 miles, make it 5 – but slow your pace to accommodate the extra effort.
  • Running in a new place is a great way to get your mind and body charged.

Run With Friends – It’s fun to have someone to run with. Plus, having a regular running companion means that there’s someone who will boost you out of bed on days when you would just as soon blow it off. They can give you a swift kick in the rear if you’re thinking about not getting out there.

Go Wild – Running off-road has lots of advantages. There’s no traffic, no yammering toy poodles, and few, if any, people. Plus, dirt and grass trails are more forgiving on your joints, and the terrain’s ups and downs offer a challenging workout.

 

 

Filed Under: Conditioning, Couplets, Fat Burner, Kettlebell, Tabata Style Tagged With: , , ,
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