My Favorite Leg Workout

Your legs encompass the largest muscle groups in your entire body.  In order to have lower body fat you have to train your legs.  After a good leg workout you should feel incredibly sore and if you get into a lunge or squat position your legs should start to shake.  I have many favorite leg workouts but I am going to post one that I have done more recently.  I always lift with supersets.  A superset is when you do one exercise or lift and follow it with another exercise or lift and repeat. A will be one set and numbers will represent the different lifts for each set.  Example, A1 and A2 would be a super set of two different exercises.  Also, the tempo is extremely important.  Tempo is the pace you lift at.  There is the eccentric portion, on the way down for squats and bench, the concentric portion the way up for squats and bench, and isometric portion at the halfway point.  This not only requires good form but also increases your strength and muscle.  Example, 3010 is 3 seconds on the eccentric portion of the lift, which is with gravity, and 1 second at the concentric portion of your lift, which is going against gravity.  Another example 2012 would be 2 seconds eccentric, one second concentric, and 2 seconds isometric.  I hope you enjoy my workout!  Make sure to use weight you can lift with PROPER form and if it is too easy move your weight up.  Hard work should never be easy. 

Warm up- 5 minute cardio of your choice (tredmill walking, skipping, jogging, etc.)  5 minute dynamic stretches (not static!) 

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Tempo	Rest
A1: Back Squat	5	6-8	3010	75 sec
A2: Leg Curl	5	6	5011	75 sec
B1: Db Sumo Squat	4	12-15	3011	75 sec
B2: Romanian Dead lift	4	6-8	4011	75 sec
C1: DB lunges	3	12/each	3010	60 sec
C2: Seated Calf raises	3	10-15	2012	60 sec

"The Paleo Way" (Menu from School Project)

Reference: "Everyday Paleo" by Sarah Fragoso Victory Belt Publishing Las Vegas

Sugar-Free Almond Cookies

If you haven't been up to date on your latest nutrition news then let me inform you.  Sugar and gluten have been the two culprits for fat-gain.  There is evidence for each one on how it contributes to gaining fat but in moderation they are not nearly as bad as they are made out to be.  However, there is sugar and gluten in almost all processed foods that Americans consume every single day.  It is almost a guarantee if you eat highly processed food you are eating too much sugar.  Don't panic instead try some sugar-free almond cookies that I love to make as a healthy treat.  I know it sounds disgusting to some of you but don't judge until you give them a try!  They can be made with chocolate chips or walnuts as well.  Below is the recipe.  Just subsisting this recipe instead of grabbing your regular sugar-filled gluten cookies will help you a long way.  Let me know if you liked them or not. 

For 12 servings 

1/2 cup butter/ softened                                                                      1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1 cup all natural Stevia                                                                         1 teaspoon hot water

1 egg                                                                                                    1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract                                       1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

1 1/2 cups almond flour                                          2/3 cups walnuts (optional) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter and Stevia until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in almond flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

How to Set Goals-Using SMART Technique

            Reading nutrition articles and/or blogs from different people you will pick up on the strong emphasis on goals.  Goal setting is very important because it holds you accountable and helps you keep track of your progress in a timely fashion.  However, simply setting a goal that is to broad or inconceivable does you no good.  In the next paragraph you will see how to set a goal the right way.

            Use the word SMART.  This acronym has been taught to me by several of my college professors, and I have used it for myself because it is very helpful.  The first letter stands for SPECIFIC.  You can’t set too broad of a goal or you will never reach it.  Example, I am going to start to live a more active lifestyle.  That is a great goal but it isn’t specific at all.  The word more can mean almost anything.  To make it more specific you would have to say something like, I am going to do physical activity at least 30 minutes everyday. 

            The next word is MEASURABLE.  Your goal must be measurable in someway or else it will be impossible to track your results.  Either by the use of a scale, time, body fat measures, or whatever you want it just has to be measureable. 

            Your goal also has to be ACHIEVABLE.  Make the goal most important to you.  Develop ways you can accomplish your goal.  If it is to exercise more, how are you going to do that?  Are you going to prepare food on Sundays for the week?  This is where you really layout a roadmap for success. 

            Make sure you are being REALISTIC.  This one means not to set a goal that you know you will not be able to accomplish.  For example, I want to lose 50 pounds in a month.  I wouldn’t recommend this anyway, but the problem is if you set a goal too high and you fail it is really going to be a hindrance to what you are trying to accomplish.  Try instead; I am going to lose 1-2lbs a week. 

            Timely.  You have to consider time or else you will be trying to accomplish the same goal for years and years without any results.  Put a realistic time frame on your goal to hold yourself accountable.  If you are not seeing results by the time frame you set your goal then maybe it is time to try something different.  The worst mistake someone can make is repeated the same routine over and over with no results. 

            Here is an example of a goal that I am setting for myself.  I want to increase my back squat by 50 lbs from where it is now by April 27, 2013.  I am going to achieve this goal by lifting legs twice a week and eating high protein meals.  

Lift weights to lose weight

If you aren't lifting weights already what are you waiting for?  If you are a woman is it because your afraid of bulking up?  Well that is one of the biggest misconceptions about weightlifting that drives me nuts.  Even if you lift weights for a long period of time you won't "bulk" up.  You will get stronger but you are not going to look like arnold anytime soon. (don't worry).  Lifting weights increases your RMR( resting metabolic rate).  Cardio is great for your heart, but lifting is great for losing weight and adding muscle.  If you are not lifting weights what is your excuse?  I could give you a million reasons why you should just ask me.  If you are looking for that 6-pack beach body then lifting weights is the way to go.  You don't have to become an expert overnight, start with something easy, such as the machines.  So tomorrow morning instead of just going for a run, go lift some weights!  You will be thanking me in the long run. 

6,400 calories crazy right?

Before you read this post you must read http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/eat-to-burn-fat-and-calorie-loading-to-torch-body-fat.html article by Cory Gregory.  I found this article very interesting for a couple different reasons.  First off I have hard of calorie splurging before, but this one was different because of the foods Cory listed compared to foods I have seen from other sources.  Usually the high calorie day would consist of whatever you could get your hands on such as, high sugary snacks and "cheat meals".  Ok so heres the difference, in Cory's whopping 6,400 calorie day he was eating only eggs, cashews, beef, and cheese! That is it.  Albeit that comes out to being over 24 whole eggs in one single day!  Now this caught my eye because I have read books talking bout its not so much the calories you eat, but what you eat.  The article goes into talking about hormonal responses from food.  As we all know the more sugar and carbohydrates we eat the more we build up a insulin insensitivity, which can cause a rise in blood glucose levels.
Ok so what the hell am I saying???? Basically I am going to personally give something similar to this high calorie day from clean foods a try.  Clean I mean low sugar and carbohydrates.  I think Cory might be on to something.  He also talks about low-fat days as well, maybe to balance out all the fat from the calorie day?  I am going to post what I ate and how I felt from my personal experience with this later.  Until then folks :)