Monday, June 21, 2010

Evolve: Juicy June/July

Fitness Fact: So you want to do a Burpee?
A burpee is a full body movement that works your chest, arms, core and legs. It combines a squat, push-up, and jump into one move. Basically, it the skill is many of functional movements all jammed into one move. Because this move encompasses so many muscle groups, it taxes the muscular system and cardiovascular system when performed. This combination yields an intense and efficient workout, when performing consecutive burpees. Burpees are awesome to improve coordination, power, endurance, and strength in the entire body.

There are 3 types of burpees: 4-count, 6-count, and 8-count
  • 4 Count (Beginners): Stand, squat, shoot-out, stand or jump
  • 6 Count (Intermediate): Stand, squat, shoot-out, push-up, squat, jump
  • 8 Count (Advance): Stand, squat, shoot-out, push-up, squat, jump, lunge right, lunge left
How to incorporate these:
You can add burpees to pretty much any workout routine that you desire to keep the heart rate elevated. Some examples are:
  1. Perform 5-10 reps between sets of a different exercise
  2. Perform 5 before running a 100 meter dash
  3. Perform them by themselves. I like the WOD (workout of the day) that includes 150 burpees as fast as possible... a REAL challenge
Here are two of the positions:

Squat:
Bend all the way down to the grass



Shoot Out: When doing the burpee it is important the your body remain in neutral spine during this sequence, especially if incorporating the push up. Your core must be engaged in order to prevent a sway-back. Think of your body as a "board".



--> Food For Use
Bump Up Your Protein and Fat to Gain Nutrition and Satiation

  1. Nuts: All kinds offer a good source of omega-6 and omega-3 oils. Almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pine nuts are great choices.
  2. Hardboiled eggs: Bump up the texture and protein content by slicing up a couple eggs in your salad. This addition offers a good source of fats and protein.
  3. Avocado: Create a wonderful texture with this ingredient, while providing. Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit. Also, avocados offer 3 grams, pre-serving, of monounsaturated fats, which are very healthy.
Recipe Box: Lemony Garlicky Pan-Roasted Chicken-$2/per person
No matter what your budget is, this affordable and restaurant quality chicken dish is sure to make your taste buds run wild!

Ingredients:
1/2 Whole Rotisserie Chicken
1 slice bacon cooked, rendered (we need the fat only)
1 whole lemon, juiced
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 clove garlic clove
1 tsp. chicken gravy mix
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
1/4 chicken broth or 1/2 cup if not using wine
1 T. butter
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper

Directions:
1. Season the chicken with a rub of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. All sides.
2. Heat a skillet covered in olive oil, until really hot. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
3. When skillet is hot, add chicken skin-side down, cook about 5 minutes. Flip and cook f
or 3 more minutes. Transfer skillet to oven. Cook for about 25 min. or until chicken is done.
4. Pull chicken out of the oven and transfer to a cutting board and let stand while you prepare the sauce. Remove all but one tablespoon oil from skillet. Add 1 tablespoon of rend
ered bacon fat. Under a medium flame, heat the oils and add wine (will steam) scrape pan with a wooden spoon. Cook about 1 minute. Add garlic. Cook for about 1 minute. Add chicken broth. Cook 1 minute. Turn heat off. Add butter, stir until melted. Add lemon juice.
5. Cut chicken into 4 pieces (wing, breast, thigh, leg). Serve the chicken with a spoonful of sauce on top. This dish goes fantastically with cauliflower "mash-potatoes". Refer to post for recipe:December 26, 2009.


The Learning Corner
What does "Paleo" mean?

The phrases "Paleo-diet" and "Paleo-lifestyle" get thrown around frequently and some of you might be wondering what these terms really mean. "Paleo" makes reference to our Paleolithic ancestors who roamed the planet about 50,000 years ago. No, these people were not ape-like or Neanderthals... they looked like you and me and they were made up of the same genes that we all share today. The biggest difference between our Paleolithic ancestors and us is the environment. Paleolithic peoples hunted and gathered, meaning their diets contained all natural plant foods and animal proteins. Basically, any food they ate either originated from the ground or had a mother to produce it. There was no such thing as vegetable oil, soy beans, flour, or OREOS. The closest method of "processing" may have been cooking over a fire, dehydrating in the sun, or mashing foods with a rock.

Because we are our ancestors genetics, we must still maintain those types of dietary standards in order to live and function to our fullest. Unfortunatly, we can already see the negative impacts agriculture* and industrialization (over the past 200 years) have had on our society and our current diet is a huge reason for this decline in our health (obesity, heart disease, cancer, low energy, depression, etc.).

We cannot be in denial any longer about the way we are suppose to eat. It is time that to shop like a modern-day hunter and gather in our supermarkets and cook like one too. That means whole fresh ingredients, cooked once, and enjoyed. Recipes that I post will typically always be "paleo-friendly". Lastly, great advice when shopping in the supermarket is to buy a bulk of foods from the perimeter... this is where fresh foods pre-dominantly lie.

*Even though agriculture began in the middle east about 10,000 years ago, it did not become widespread until about 2-3 thousand years ago.

Goals to Reach
Mid-Year Goal: CHECKPOINT

So it is that time of the year.. our half way goal-check up. It is really important to always keep track of your goals during the year. Remember there are long term and short term goals. Our long-term goals tend to be ones that take 6+ months to complete. However, when we set goals its great to be ambitious, but goals can be modified and re-evaluated frequently. It important that you strive towards your goals, but also to be realistic. For example, if a goal is to lose 50 pounds in a year and, at your half-way point, you have lost 10lbs maybe it is time to look at your methods and see what you need improve or make a more realistic goal that you can attain in the time frame. This is not failure because you have made strives and attempted to make progress towards that goal. As John Wooden would say, "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

Here is what you must do at this point:


1. Look over goals. If there are some that you have not even made progress towards, devise a plan to work on them.
2. Re-evaluate goals that you have been progressing towards. If they seem a little out of reach in the time period you have allotted for them, either change the goal or modify the end-time.
3. Check off completed goals and set new ones.

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